X     ^    o  / 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

CHAFTKR  PAGE 

I.    ANTI-DRYASDUST 3 

II.  OF  THE  BIOGRAPHIES  OF  OLIVER 13 

III  OF  THE  CROMWELL  KINDRED 20 

IV.  EVENTS  IN  OLIVER'S  BIOGRAPHY 34 

V.    OF  OLIVER'S  LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES 74 

Part  I. 

TO  THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR,  1636-1642. 

LETTER  I.    To  MR.  STORIE 83 

II.    To  MRS.  ST.  JOHN 91 

Two  YEARS 101 

LETTER  III.    To  MR.  WILLINGUAM 104 

In  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT 107 

Part  n. 

TO  THE  END  OF  THE  FIKST  CIVIL  WAR,  1642-1646. 

PRELIMINARY 119 

LITTER  IV.    To  R.  BARNARD,  Es<^ 125 


iv  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

CAMBRIDGE (  12? 

COM.  CANT.  (  "  CAMBRIDGESHIRE,  To  WIT  "  ) 128 

LETTER  V.    To  SUFFOLK  COMMITTEE 130 

LOWESTOFF 131 

LETTER  VI.    To  THE  MAYOR  OF  COLCHESTER .  136 

VII.    To  SIR  J.  BURGOYNE 138 

VIII.    To  R.  BARNARD,  ESQ 189 

IX.    To  LINCOLN  COMMITTEE 142 

X.    UNKNOWN:  GRANTHAM ;    .    .  144 

XI.    To  THE  MAYOR  OF  COLCHESTER 146 

XII.    To  CAMBRIDGE  COMMISSIONERS 149 

XIII.  UNKNOWN 153 

XIV.  To  CAMBRIDGE  COMMISSIONERS 155 

XV.     To  THE  SAME 157 

XVI.    To  SUFFOLK  COMMITTEE 161 

XVII.    To  O.  ST.  JOHN,  ESQ 163 

XVII I.    To  SUFFOLK  COMMITTEE 165 

WINCEBY  FIGHT 170 

LETTER  XIX.    To  REV.  MR.  HITCH 174 

XX,    To  MAJOR-GENERAL  CRAWFORD 175 

XXI.    To  COL.  WALTON 181 

XXII.     To  ELY  COMMITTEE 185 

XXIII.    To  COL.  WALTON 187 

THREE  FRAGMENTS  OF  SPEECHES,  SELF-DENYING  ORDINANCE  .     .  188 

LETTER  XXIV.     To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 194 

XXV.    To  COMMITTEE  OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS      ....  197 

XXVJ.     To  GOVERNOR  R.  BURGESS  199 


CONTENTS.  v 

PAQK 

XXVII.     To  THE  SAME 200 

XX VIII.    To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 201 

BY  EXPRESS 203 

LETTER  XXIX.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 205 

XXX.    To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 211 

XXXI.    To  HON.  W.  LENTIIALL 217 

XXXII.    To  SIE  T.  FAIRFAX Ml 

.XXXI II.    To  HON.  W.  LENTUALL 225 

XXXIV.    To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 231 

XXXV.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 232 

$art  III. 

HKTUKKN    THE   TWO   CIVIL  WARS.     1646-1648. 

LETTER  XXXVI.    To  T.  KNYVETT,  ESQ 238 

XXXVII.    To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 240 

XXXVIII.    To  THE  SAME .    .'   .  841 

XXXIX.    To  J.  ROSHWORTU,  ESQ 244 

XL.    To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 245 

XLI.    To  MRS.  IRETON «...  247 

XLII.    To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 249 

XLIII.    To  THE  GAME 853 

XUV.    To  THE  SAME 254 

AKMY  MANIFESTO 250 

LETTER  XLV.    To  ARCHBISHOP  OF  YORK 273 

XI. VI.    To  COL.  JONES 270 

XIA'lI.    To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 878 

XI. VIII.     To  TIIK  SAME gw 


vi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XLIX.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 282 

L.    To  COL.  WUALLEY ,284 

LI.    To  DR.  T.  HILL 285 

LII.    To  COL.  HAMMOND 287 

LIII.    To  COL.  NORTON 290* 

LIV.    To  SIR  T.  FAIRFAX 294 

FREE  OFFER 295 

LETTER  LV.    To  COL.  NORTON 296 

LVI.    To  THE  SAME 297 

LVII.    To  COL.  HAMMOND 300 

LVIII.    To  COL.  KENRICK 302 

PRATER-MEETING 302 

Part   IV. 

SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.     1648. 

LETTER  LIX.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 312 

LX.     To  MAJOR  T.  SAUNDERS 313 

LXI.    To  LORD  (LATE  SIR  THOMAS)  FAIRFAX  ....  316 

LXII.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 322 

PRESTON  BATTLE 323 

LETTER  LXIII.    To  LANCASHIRE  COMMITTEE 327 

LXIV.     To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 329 

LXV.    To  YORK  COMMITTEE 343 

LXVI.    To  THE  SAME 344 

LIVII.    To  OLIVER  ST.  JOHN 347 

LIV1II.    To  LORD  WHARTON 349 

DECLARATION                                                                                   .  352 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

LETTER  LXIX.    To  LOKD  FAIRFAX 354 

LXX.    To  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  BERWICK 355 

LXXI.    To  LORD  MARQUIS  OF  ARGYLK 356 

LXX11.    To  SCOTS  COMMITTEE  OF  ESTATES 358 

LXXIU.    To  EARL  OF  LOUDON 360 

PROCLAMATION 361 

LETTER  LXXIV.    To  SCOTS  COMMITTEE  OF  ESTATES     ....  365 

LXXV.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 367 

LXXVI.    To  LORD  FAIRFAX 370 

LXXVII.    To  SCOTS  COMMITTEE  OF  ESTATES     ....  372 

LXXVIII.    To  HON.  W.  LJSNTHALL 375 

LXXIX.    To  THE  SAME 376 

LXXX.    To  GOVERNOR  MORRIS 379 

LXXXI.    To  DERBY  HOUSE  COMMITTEE 380 

LXXXII.    To  JENNER  AND  ASUE 383 

LXXX1II.    To  LORD  FAIRFAX 387 

LXXXIV.    To  THOMAS  ST.  NICHOLAS 389 

LXXXV.    To  COL.  ROBERT  HAMMOND 390 

LXX XVI.    To  MASTER  AND  FELLOWS  OF  TRINITY  HALL, 

CAMBRIDGE 399 

DKATH  WARRANT 400 

$art  V. 
CAMPAIGN   IN    IRELAND.     1649. 

LETTER  LXXXV11.     To  REV.  Miu  ROBINSON 405 

PAS» 406 

LKTTBR  LXX XVIII.    To  HICIURU  MAYOR                         ...  408 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

ORDER 409 

LETTER  LXXXIX.    To  RICHARD  MAYOR 411 

XC.    To  THE  SAME 412 

XCI.    To  DR,  LOVE 414 

XC1I.    To  RICHARD  MAYOR 416 

XCIII.      "        "              " ,     .  420 

XC1V.       "         "              "      .     .     . 422 

XCV.       "        "              «« 423 

XCVI.      "        "              "      .     .         ......  424 

THE  LEVELLERS 426 

LETTER  XCVII.    To  SIR  J.  HARRINGTON 436 

XCVIII.    To  HON  W.  LENTHALL 438 

XCIX.    To  RICHARD  MAYOR .440 

• 

C.    To  THE  SAME 442 

CI.    To  MRS.  RICHARD  CROMWELL 444 

CII.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 446 

DECLARATION  BY  THE  LORD  LIEUTENANT  OF  IRELAND     .    .    .     .  448 

IRISH  WAR 450 

LETTER  CHI.    To  THE  CHIEF  OFFICER  IN  DUNDALK      ....  456 

CIV.     To  PRESIDENT  BRADSHAW 457 

CV.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 458 

CVI.      "      "       "           " 465 

CVII.      "      "       "           "       467 

CVIII.    To  GOVERNOR  TAAFF 479 

CIX.      "          "             " 481 

CX.     "          "             " 482 

CXI.     "                         "    .  483 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PAQK 

CXII.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 484 

CX1II.    To  RICIIAED  MAYOII 486 

CXIV.    To  HON.  TIIOMAS  SCOTT 488 

CXV.    To  HON.  W.  LENTUALL 489 

CXVI.     "      "       "           "       495 

CXVII.     "      "       "           "       600 

CXVIU.    To  HON.  LORD  WIJABTOS      .                 ,    .    ,     ,  505 


OLIVER    CROMWELL'S    LETTERS 
AND    SPEECHES. 

WITH     ELUCIDATIONS. 


VOL.  XVIL 


OLIVER    CROMWELL'S    LETTERS 
AND    SPEECHES. 


INTRODUCTION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

ANTI-DRYASDUST. 

WHAT  and  how  great  are  the  interests  which  connect  them- 
selves with  the  hope  that  England  may  yet  attain  to  some 
practical  belief  and  understanding  of  its  History  during  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  need  not  be  insisted  on  at  present ;  such 
hope  being  still  very  distant,  very  uncertain.  We  have  wan- 
dered far  away  from  the  ideas  which  guided  us  in  that  Century, 
•and  indeed  which  had  guided  us  in  all  preceding  Centuries,  but 
of  which  that  Century  was  the  ultimate  manifestation  :  we 
have  wandered  very  far ;  and  must  endeavor  to  return,  and  con- 
nect ourselves  therewith  again !  It  is  with  other  feelings  than 
those  of  poor  peddling  Dilettantism,  other  aims  than  the  writing 
of  successful  or  unsuccessful  Publications,  that  an  earnest  man 
ocr-upics  himself  in  those  dreary  provinces  of  the  dead  and 
l)u rit-d.  The  last  glimpse  of  the  Godlike  vanishing  from  this 
Kn;laud;  conviction  and  veracity  giving  place  to  hollow  cant 
and  formulism  —  antique  "  Reign  of  God,"  which  all  true  men 
in  their  several  dialects  and  modes  have  always  striven  for, 
giving  place  to  modern  Reign  of  the  No-God,  whom  men  name 
Devil:  this,  in  its  multitudinous  meanings  and  results,  is  a  sight 
to  create  reflections  in  the  earnest  man  !  One  wishes  there  were 
;i  History  of  English  Puritanism,  the  last  of  all  our  Heroisms ,* 
•  •s  small  prospect  of  such  a  thing  at  present. 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

"Few  nobler  Heroisms/'  says  a  well-known  Writer  long 
occupied  on  this  subject,  "at  bottom  perhaps  no  nobler  Hero- 
ism ever  transacted  itself  on  this  Eartli ;  and  it  lies  as  good  as 
lost  to  us ;  overwhelmed  under  such  an  avalanche  of  Human 
Stupidities  as  no  Heroism,  before  ever  did.  Intrinsically  and 
extrinsically  it  may  be  considered  inaccessible  to  these  genera- 
tions. Intrinsically,  the  spiritual  purport  of  it  has  become 
inconceivable,  incredible  to  the  modern  mind.  Extrinsically, 
the  documents  and  records  of  it,  scattered  waste  as  a  shore- 
less chaos,  are  not  legible.  They  lie  there,  printed,  written, 
to  the  extent  of  tons  and  square  miles,  as  shot-rubbish ;  un- 
edited, unsorted,  not  so  much  as  indexed ;  full  of  every  con- 
ceivable confusion;  —  yielding  light  to  very  few;  yielding 
darkness,  in  several  sorts,  to  very  many.  Dull  Pedantry, 
conceited  idle  Dilettantism,  —  prurient  Stupidity  in  what  shape 
soever,  —  is  darkness  and  not  light !  There  are  from  Thirty 
to  Fifty  Thousand  unread  Pamphlets  of  the  Civil  War  in  the 
British  Museum  alone :  huge  piles  of  mouldering  wreck, 
wherein,  at  the  rate  of  perhaps  one  pennyweight  per  ton,  lie 
things  memorable.  They  lie  preserved  there,  waiting  happier 
days;  under  present  conditions  they  cannot,  except  for  idle 
purposes,  for  dilettante  excerpts  and  such  like,  be  got  exam- 
ined. The  Kush  worths,  Whitlocks,  Nalsons,  Thurloes;  enor- 
mous folios,  these  and  many  others  have  been  printed,  and 
some  of  them  again  printed,  but  never  yet  edited,  —  edited  as 
you  edit  wagon-loads  of  broken  bricks  and  dry  mortar,  simply 
by  tumbling  up  the  wagon  !  Not  one  of  those  monstrous  old 
volumes  has  so  much  as  an  available  Index.  It  is  the  general 
rule  of  editing  on  this  matter.  If  your  editor  correct  the 
press,  it  is  an  honorable  distinction  to  him. 

"Those  dreary  old  records,  they  were  compiled  at  first  by 
Human  Insight,  in  part ;  and  in  great  part,  by  Human  Stu- 
pidity withal ;  —  but  then  it  was  by  Stupidity  in  a  laudable 
diligent  state,  and  doing  its  best ;  which  was  something :  — 
and,  alas,  they  have  been  successively  elaborated  by  Human 
Stupidity,  in  the  idle  state,  falling  idler  and  idler,  and  only  pre- 
tending to  be  diligent;  whereby  now,  for  us,  in  these  late 
days,  they  have  grown  very  dim  indeed  !  To  Dryasdust  Print- 


PITAP.  I.  ANTI-DRYASDUST.  6 

ing  Societies,  and  such  like,  they  afford  a  sorrowful  kind  of 
pabulum;  but  for  all  serious  purposes,  they  are  as  if  non- 
extant  ;  might  as  well,  if  matters  are  to  rest  as  they  are,  not 
have  been  written  or  printed  at  all.  The  sound  of  them  is 
not  a  voice,  conveying  knowledge  or  memorial  of  any  earthly 
or  heavenly  thing  ;  it  is  a  wide-spread  inarticulate  slumberous 
inumblement,  issuing  as  if  from  the  lake  of  Eternal  Sleep. 
Craving  for  oblivion,  for  abolition  and  honest  silence,  as  a 
blessing  in  comparison  I  — 

"This  then,"  continues  our  impatient  friend,  "is  the  Ely- 
sium we  English  have  provided  for  our  Heroes !  The  Rush- 
wurthian  Elysium.  Dreariest  continent  of  shot-rubbish  the 
eye  ever  saw.  Confusion  piled  on  confusion  to  your  utmost 
horizon's  edge:  obscure,  in  lurid  twilight  as  of  the  shadow  of 
Death ;  trackless,  without  index,  without  finger-post,  or  mark 
of  any  human  foregoer ;  —  where  your  human  footstep,  if  you 
are  still  human,  echoes  bodeful  through  the  gaunt  solitude, 
peopled  only  by  somnambulant  Pedants,  Dilettants,  and  dole- 
ful creatures,  by  Phantasms,  errors,  inconceivabilities,  by  Night- 
mares, pasteboard  Norroys,  griffins,  wiverns,  and  chimeras 
dire !  There,  all  vanquished,  overwhelmed  under  such  waste 
lumber-mountains,  the  wreck  and  dead  ashes  of  some  six  un- 
believing generations,  does  the  Age  of  Cromwell  and  his  Puri- 
tans lie  hidden  from  us.  This  is  what  we,  for  our  share,  have 
been  able  to  accomplish  towards  keeping  our  Heroic  Ones  in 
memory.  By  way  of  sacred  poet  they  have  found  voluminous 
1  >i  yasdust,  and  his  Collections  and  Philosophical  Histories. 

"  To  Dryasdust,  who  wishes  merely  to  compile  torpedo  Ilis- 

s  of  the  philosophical  or  other  sorts,  and  gain  immortal 

1  iiiK-ls  for  himself  by  writing  about  it  and  about  it,  all  this 

is  sport ;  but  to  us  who  struggle  piously,  passionately,  to  be- 

liold,  if  but  in  glimpses,  the  faces  of  our  vanished  Fathers,  it 

itli!  —  O  Dryasdust,  my  voluminous  friend,  had  Human 

Stupidity  continued  in  tho  diligent  state,  think  you  it  had 

ever  come  to  this  ?     Surely  at  least  you  might  have  made  an 

Indi-x  for  those  huge  books !     Even  your  genius,  had  you  Ix-i-n 

faithful,  was  adequate  to  that.     Those  thirty  thousand  or  fifty 

nid  old  Nowspa|>ors  and  Pamphlets  of  the  King's  Library, 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

it  is  you,  my  voluminous  friend,  that  should  have  sifted  them, 
many  long  years  ago.  Instead  of  droning  out  these  melan- 
choly scepticisms,  constitutional  philosophies,  torpedo  narra- 
tives, you  should  have  sifted  those  old  stacks  of  pamphlet 
matter  for  us,  and  have  had  the  metal  grains  lying  here 
accessible,  and  the  dross-heaps  lying  there  avoidable ;  you 
had  done  the  human  memory  a  service  thereby ;  some  human 
remembrance  of  this  matter  had  been  more  possible  ! " 

Certainly  this  description  does  not  want  for  emphasis :  but 
all  ingenuous  inquirers  into  the  Past  will  say  there  is  too 
much  truth  in  it.  Nay,  in  addition  to  the  sad  state  of  our 
Historical  Books,  and  what  indeed  is  fundamentally  the  cause 
and  origin  of  that,  our  common  spiritual  notions,  if  any  notion 
of  ours  may  still  deserve  to  be  called  spiritual,  are  fatal  to  a 
right  understanding  of  that  Seventeenth  Century.  The  Chris- 
tian Doctrines  which  then  dwelt  alive  in  every  heart,  have  now 
in  a  manner  died  out  of  all  hearts,  —  very  mournful  to  behold ; 
and  are  not  the  guidance  of  this  world  any  more.  Nay  worse 
still,  the  Cant  of  them  does  yet  dwell  alive  with  us,  little 
doubting  that  it  is  Cant ;  —  in  which  fatal  intermediate  state 
the  Eternal  Sacredness  of  this  Universe  itself,  of  this  Human 
Life  itself,  has  fallen  dark  to  the  most  of  us,  and  we  think 
that  too  a  Cant  and  a  Creed.  Thus  the  old  names  suggest  new 
tilings  to  us,  —  not  august  and  divine,  but  hypocritical,  pitia- 
ble, detestable.  The  old  names  and  similitudes  of  belief  still 
circulate  from  tongue  to  tongue,  though  now  in  such  a  ghastly 
condition:  not  as  commandments  of  the  Living  God,  which 
we  must  do,  or  perish  eternally ;  alas,  no,  as  something  very 
different  from  that !  Here  properly  lies  the  grand  unintelligi- 
bility  of  the  Seventeenth  Century  for  us.  From  this  source 
has  proceeded  our  maltreatment  of  it,  our  miseditings,  mis- 
writings,  and  all  the  other  "avalanche  of  Human  Stupidity," 
wherewith,  as  our  impatient  friend  complains,  we  have  allowed 
it  to  be  overwhelmed.  We  have  allowed  some  other  things  to 
be  overwhelmed !  Would  to  Heaven  that  were  the  worst  fruit 
we  had  gathered  from  our  Unbelief  and  our  Cant  of  Belief!  — 
Our  impatient  friend  continues  :  — 

"I  have  known  Nations  altogether  destitute  of  printer'^- 


CHAP.  I.  ANTI-DRYASDUST.  7 

types  and  learned  appliances,  with  nothing  better  than  old 
songs,  monumental  stoneheaps  and  Quipo-thrums  to  keep 
record  by,  who  had  truer  memory  of  their  memorable  things 
than  this !  Truer  memory,  I  say  :  for  at  least  the  voice  of 
their  Past  Heroisms,  if  indistinct,  and  all  awry  as  to  dates  and 
statistics,  was  still  melodious  to  those  Nations.  The  body  of 
it  might  be  dead  enougli ;  but  the  soul  of  it,  partly  harmon- 
ized, put  in  real  accordance  with  the  'Eternal  Melodies/  was 
alive  to  all  hearts,  and  could  not  die.  The  memory  of  their 
ancient  Brave  Ones  did  not  rise  like  a  hideous  huge  leaden 
vapor,  an  amorphous  emanation  of  Chaos,  like  a  petrifying 
Medusa  Spectre,  on  those  poor  Nations:  no,  but  like  a  Heav- 
en's Apparition,  which  it  was,  it  still  stood  radiant  beneficent 
before  all  hearts,  calling  all  hearts  to  emulate  it,  and  the  recog- 
nition of  it  was  a  Psalm  and  Song.  These  things  will  require 
to  be  practically  meditated  by  and  by.  Is  human  Writing, 
then,  the  art  of  burying  Heroisms  and  highest  Facts  in  Chaos; 
so  that  no  man  shall  henceforth  contemplate  them  without 
horror  and  aversion,  and  danger  of  locked-jaw  ?  What  does 
Dryasdust  consider  that  he  was  born  for ;  that  paper  and  ink 
were  made  for  ? 

"  It  is  very  notable,  and  leads  to  endless  reflections,  how 
the  Greeks  hud  their  living  Iliad,  where  we  have  such  a 
deadly  indescribable  Cromwelliad.  The  old  Pantheon,  home 
of  all  the  gods,  has  become  a  Peerage-Hook,  —  with  black  and 
white  surplice  controversies  superadded,  not  unsuitably.  The 
Greeks  had  their  Homers,  Hesiods,  where  we  have  our  Hymn  , 
Kushworths,  our  Norroys,  Garter-Kings,  and  Bishops  Cobweb. 
Very  notable,  I  say.  By  the  genius,  wants  and  instincts  and 
opportunities  of  the  one  People,  striving  to  keep  themselves 
in  mind  of  what  was  memorable,  there  had  fashioned  itself, 
in  the  effort  of  successive  centuries,  a  Homer's  Iliad:  by  those 
of  the  other  People,  in  successive  centuries,  a  Collins's  Peeraya 
improved  by  Sir  Egerton  Brydges.  By  their  Pantheons  ye 
shall  know  them  !  Have  not  we  English  a  talent  for  Silence  ? 
Our  very  Speech  :md  I'rinted-Speeeh,  such  a  force  of  torpor 
dwelling  in  it,  is  properly  a  higher  power  of  Silence.  Then; 
is  no  Silence  like  the  Speech  you  cannot  listen  to  without 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

danger  of  locked-jaw !  Given  a  divine  Heroism,  to  smother  it 
well  in  human  Dulness,  to  touch  it  with  the  mace  of  Death,  so 
that  no  human  soul  shall  henceforth  recognize  it  for  a  Heroism, 
but  all  souls  shall  fly  from  it  as  from  a  chaotic  Torpor,  an 
Insanity  and  Horror,  —  I  will  back  our  English  genius  against 
the  world  in  such  a  problem ! 

"  Truly  we  have  done  great  things  in  that  sort ;  down  from 
Norman  William  all  the  way,  and  earlier :  and  to  the  English 
mind  at  this  hour,  the  past  History  of  England  is  little  other 
than  a  dull  dismal  labyrinth,  in  which  the  English  mind,  if 
candid,  will  confess  that  it  has  found  of  knowable  (meaning 
even  conceivable),  of  lovable,  or  memorable,  —  next  to  nothing. 
As  if  we  had  done  no  brave  thing  at  all  in  this  Earth;  —  as 
if  not  Men  but  Nightmares  had  written  of  our  History !  The 
English,  one  can  discern  withal,  have  been  perhaps  as  brave  a 
People  as  their  neighbors ;  perhaps,  for  Valor  of  Action  and 
true  hard  labor  in  this  Earth,  since  brave  Peoples  were  first 
made  in  it,  there  has  been  none  braver  anywhere  or  anywhen : 
—  but,  also,  it  must  be  owned,  in  Stupidity  of  Speech  they 
iave  no  fellow !  What  can  poor  English  Heroisms  do  in  such 
case,  but  fall  torpid  into  the  domain  of  the  Nightmares  ?  For 
of  a  truth,  Stupidity  is  strong,  most  strong.  As  the  Poet 
Schiller  sings :  '  Against  Stupidity  the  very  gods  fight  unvic- 
torious.'  There  is  in  it  an  opulence  of  murky  stagnancy,  an 
inexhaustibility,  a  calm  infinitude,  which  will  baffle  even  the 
gods, — which  will  say  calmly,  'Yes,  try  all  your  lightnings 
here ;  see  whether  my  dark  belly  cannot  hold  them  ! ' 

'  Mit  der  Dummheit  kampfen  Cotter  selbst  vergebens.' " 

Has  our  impatient  friend  forgotten  that  it  is  Destiny  withal 
as  well  as  "  Stupidity ; "  that  such  is  the  case  more  or  less 
with  Human  History  always !  By  very  nature  it  is  a  laby- 
rinth and  chaos,  this  that  we  call  Human  History ;  an  abatis 
of  trees  and  brushwood,  a  world-wide  jungle,  at  once  growing 
and  dying.  Under  the  green  foliage  and  blossoming  fruit- 
trees  of  To-day,  there  lie,  rotting  slower  or  faster,  the  forests 
of  all  other  Years  and  Days.  Some  have  rotted  fast,  plants 
of  annual  growth,  and  are  long  since  quite  gone  to  inorganic 


CH.U-.  I.  ANTI-DRYASDUST.  9 

mould ;  others  arc  like  the  aloe,  growths  that  last  a  thousand 
or  three  thousand  years.  You  will  find  them  in  all  stages  of 
decay  and  preservation ;  down  deep  to  the  beginnings  of  the 
History  of  Man.  Think  where  our  Alphabetic  Letters  came 
From,  where  our  Speech  itself  came  from ;  the  Cookeries  we 
live  by,  the  Masonries  we  lodge  under !  You  will  iiud  fibrous 
roots  of  this  day's  Occurrences  among  the  dust  of  Cadmus  and 
Trismegistus,  of  Tubal-cain  and  Triptolomus ;  the  tap-roots  of 
them  are  with  Father  Adam  himself  and  the  cinders  of  Eve's 
first  fire!  At  bottom,  there  is  no  perfect  History;  there  is 
none  such  conceivable. 

All  past  Centuries  have  rotted  down,  and  gone  confusedly 
dumb  and  quiet,  even  as  that  Seventeenth  is  now  threatening. 
to  do.  Histories  are  as  perfect  as  the  Historian  is  wise,  and 
is  gifted  with  an  eye  and  a  soul!  For  the  leafy  blossoming 
Present  Time  springs  from  the  whole  Past,  remembered  and 
unreineinberable,  so  confusedly  as  we  say:  —  and  truly  the 
Art  of  History,  the  grand  difference  between  a  Dryasdust  and 
a  sacred  Poet,  is  very  much  even  this :  To  distinguish  well 
what  does  still  reach  to  the  surface,  and  is  alive  and  frondent 
jor  us ;  and  what  reaches  no  longer  to  the  surface,  but  moul- 
ders safe  under  ground,  never  to  send  forth  leaves  or  fruit  for 
mankind  any  more :  of  the  former  we  shall  rejoice  to  hear ;  to 
hear  of  the  hitter  will  be  an  affliction  to  us;  of  the  latter  only 
I'edants  and  Dullards,  and  disastrous  7/ta/efactors  to  the  world, 
v.  ill  find  good  to  speak.  By  wise  memory  and  by  wise  obliv- 
ion: it  lies  all  there!  Without  oblivion,  there  is  no  remem- 
1  nance  possible.  When  both  oblivion  and  memory  are  wise, 
when  the  general  soul  of  man  is  clear,  melodious,  true,  there 
may  come  a  modern  Iliad  as  memorial  of  the  Past:  when  both 
:oolish,  and  the  general  soul  is  overclouded  with  confu- 
sions, with  unveracities  and  discords,  there  is  a  "  Rushworth- 
ian  chaos."  Let  Dryasdust  be  blamed,  beaten  with  stripes  it 
you  will;  but  let  it  !*•  with  pity,  with  blame  to  Fate  chiHly. 
Alas,  when  sacred  Priests  are  arguing  about  "black  and  white 
surplices;"  and  sacred  Poets  have  long  professedly  deserted 
Truth,  and  gone  a  wool-gathering  after  "Ideals"  and  such  like, 
what.  IMII  you  expect  of  pour  .M-mlar  Pedants?  The  labyrinth 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

of  History  must  grow  ever  darker,  more  intricate  and  dismal ; 
vacant  cargoes  of  "  Ideals "  will  arrive  yearly,  to  be  cast  into 
the  oven ;  and  noble  Heroisms  of  Fact,  given  up  to  Dryasdust, 
will  be  buried  in  a  very  disastrous  manner !  — 

But  the  thing  we  had  to  say  and  repeat  was  this,  That 
Puritanism  is  not  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  but  of  the 
Seventeenth ;  that  the  grand  unintelligibility  for  us  lies  there. 
The  Fast-day  Sermons  of  St.  Margaret's  Church  Westminster, 
in  spite  of  printers,  are  all  grown  dumb!  In  long  rows  of 
little  dumpy  quartos,  gathered  from  the  bookstalls,  they  in- 
deed stand  here  bodily  before  us  :  by  human  volition  they  can 
be  read,  but  not  by  any  human  memory  remembered.  We 
forget  them  as  soon  as  read ;  they  have  become  a  weariness  to 
the  soul  of  man.  They  are  dead  and  gone,  they  and  what 
they  shadowed ;  the  human  soul,  got  into  other  latitudes,  can- 
not now  give  harbor  to  them.  Alas,  and  did  not  the  honorable 
Houses  of  Parliament  listen  to  them  with  rapt  earnestness,  as 
to  an  indisputable  message  from  Heaven  itself  ?  Learned  and 
painful  Dr.  Owen,  learned  and  painful  Dr.  Burgess ;  Stephen 
Marshall,  Mr.  Spurstow,  Adoniram  Byfield,  Hugh  Peters, 
Philip  Nye :  the  Printer  has  done  for  them  what  he  could, 
and  Mr.  Speaker  gave  them  the  thanks  of  the  House :  —  and 
no  most  astonishing  Review-Article,  or  tenth-edition  Pam- 
phlet, of  our  day  can  have  half  such  "  brilliancy,"  such  "  spirit," 
"  eloquence,"  —  such  virtue  to  produce  belief,  which  is  the  high- 
est and  in  reality  the  only  literary  success,  —  as  these  poor 
little  dumpy  quartos  once  had.  And  behold,  they  are  become 
inarticulate  quartos ;  spectral ;  and  instead  of  speaking,  do 
but  screech  and  gibber !  All  Puritanism  has  grown  inarticu- 
late ;  its  fervent  preachings,  prayings,  pamphleteerings  are 
sunk  into  one  indiscriminate  moaning  hum,  mournful  as  the 
voice  of  subterranean  winds.  So  much  falls  silent:  human 
Speech,  unless  by  rare  chance  it  touch  on  the  "  Eternal  Melo- 
dies," and  harmonize  with  them ;  human  Action,  Interest,  if 
divorced  from  the  Eternal  Melodies,  sinks  all  silent.  The 
fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away. 

The  Age  of  the  Puritans  is  not  extinct  only  and  gone  away 
from  us,  but  it  is  as  if  fallen  beyond  the  capabilities  of 


CHAT.  i.  ANTI-DRYASDUST.  11 

Memory  herself  ;  it  is  grown  unintelligible,  what  we  may  call 
incredible.  Its  earnest  Purport  awakens  now  no  resonance 
in  our  frivolous  hearts.  We  understand  not  even  in  imagina- 
tion, one  of  a  thousand  of  us,  what  it  ever  could  have  meant. 
It  seems  delirious,  delusive ;  the  sound  of  it  has  become  tedious 
as  a  tale  of  past  stupidities.  Not  the  body  of  heroic  Puritan- 
ism only,  which  was  bound  to  die,  but  the  soul  of  it  also,  which 
was  and  should  have  been,  and  yet  shall  be  immortal,  has  for 
the  present  passed  away.  As  Harrison  said  of  his  Banner,  and 
Lion  of  the  Tribe  of  Judali :  "  Who  shall  rouse  him  up  ?  " 

"lror  indisputably,"  exclaims  the  above-cited  Author  in  his 
vehement  way,  "  this  too  was  a  Heroism ;  and  the  soul  of  it 
remains  part  of  the  eternal  soul  of  things  !  Here,  of  our  own 
land  and  lineage,  in  practical  English  shape,  were  Heroes  on 
the  Earth  once  more.  Who  knew  in  every  fibre,  and  with 
heroic  daring  laid  to  heart,  That  an  Almighty  Justice  does 
verily  rule  this  world ;  that  it  is  good  to  fight  on  God's  side, 
and  bad  to  fight  on  the  Devil's  side !  The  essence  of  all  Hero- 
isms and  Veracities  that  have  been,  or  that  will  be.  —  Perhaps 
it  was  among  the  nobler  and  noblest  Human  Heroisms,  this 
Puritanism  of  ours  :  but  English  Dryasdust  could  not  discern 
it  for  a  Heroism  at  all;  —  as  the  Heaven's  lightning,  born  of 
its  black  tempest,  and  destructive  to  pestilential  Mud-giants, 
is  mere  horror  and  terror  to  the  Pedant  species  everywhere ; 
which,  like  the  owl  in  any  sudden  brightness,  has  to  shut  its 
eyes,  —  or  hastily  procure  smoked-spectacles  on  an  improved 
principle.  Heaven's  brightness  would  be  intolerable  other- 
wise. Only  your  eagle  dares  look  direct  into  the  fire-radiance  ; 
only  your  Schiller  climbs  aloft  'to  discover  whence  the  light- 
ning is  coming.'  'Godlike  men  love  lightning,'  says  one. 
( >ur  old  Norse  fathers  called  it  a  God ;  the  sunny  blue-eyed 
Thor,  with  his  all-conquering  thunder-hammer,  —  who  again, 
in  calmer  season,  is  beneficent  Summer-heat.  Godless  men 
it  not ;  shriek  murder  when  they  see  it ;  shutting  their 
>  eyes,  and  hastily  procuring  smoked-spectacles.  O  Dryasdust, 
thou  art  great  and  thrice-great !  "  — 

1  P>ut,  alas,"  exclaims  he  elsewhere,  getting  his  eye  on  tho 
real  nodus  of  tho  matter,  "  what  is  it,  all  this  Kushworthian 


V 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

inarticulate  rubbish-continent,  in  its  ghastly  dim  twilight,  with 
its  haggard  wrecks  and  pale  shadows ;  what  is  it,  but  the  com- 
mon Kingdom  of  Death  ?  This  is  what  we  call  Death,  this 
mouldering  dumb  wilderness  of  things  once  alive.  Behold 
here  the  final  evanescence  of  Formed  human  things ;  they  had 
form,  but  they  are  changing  into  sheer  formlessness  ;  —  ancient 
human  speech  itself  has  sunk  into  unintelligible  maundering. 
This  is  the  collapse,  —  the  etiolation  of  human  features  into 
mouldy  blank ;  dissolution ;  progress  towards  utter  silence 
and  disappearance ;  disastrous  ever-deepening  Dusk  of  Gods 
and  Men !  —  Why  has  the  living  ventured  thither,  down  from 
the  cheerful  light,  across  the  Lethe-swamps  and  Tartarean 
Phlegethons,  onwards  to  these  baleful  halls  of  Dis  and  the 
three-headed  Dog  ?  Some  Destiny  drives  him.  It  is  his  sins, 
I  suppose  :  —  perhaps  it  is  his  love,  strong  as  that  of  Orpheus 
for  the  lost  Eurydice,  and  likely  to  have  no  better  issue  ! " 

Well,  it  would  seem  the  resuscitation  of  a  Heroism  from  tne 
Past  Time  is  no  easy  enterprise.  Our  impatient  friend  seems 
really  getting  sad !  We  can  well  believe  him,  there  needs 
pious  love  in  any  "  Orpheus  "  that  will  risk  descending  to  the 
Gloomy  Halls  ;  —  descending,  it  may  be,  and  fronting  Cerberus 
and  Dis,  to  no  purpose  !  For  it  oftenest  proves  so ;  nay,  as 
the  Mythologists  would  teach  us,  always.  Here  is  another 
My  thus.  Balder  the  white  Sungod,  say  our  Norse  Skalds, 
Balder,  beautiful  as  the  summer-dawn,  loved  of  Gods  and 
]ju'n,  was  dead.  His  Brother  Herrnoder,  urged  by  his  Mother's 
tears  and  the  tears  of  the  Universe,  went  forth  to  seek  him. 
He  rode  through  gloomy  winding  valleys,  of  a  dismal  leaden 
color,  full  of  howling  winds  and  subterranean  torrents ;  nine 
days  ;  ever  deeper,  down  towards  Hela's  Death-realm  :  at  Lone- 
some Bridge,  which,  with  its  gold  gate,  spans  the  River  of 
Moaning,  he  found  the  Portress,  an  ancient  woman,  called 
Modgudr,  "  the  Vexer  of  Minds,"  keeping  watch  as  usual : 
Modgudr  answered  him,  "  Yes,  Balder  passed  this  way ;  but 
he  is  not  here  ;  he  is  down  yonder,  —  far,  still  far  to  the  North, 
within  Hela's  Gates  yonder."  Hermoder  rode  on,  still  daunt- 
less, on  his  horse,  named  "  Swiftness  "  or  "  Mane  of  Gold  ; " 


CHAP.  II.  r.HMjUAmiES   OF    OLIVER.  13 

reached  Hela's  Gates ;  leapt  sheer  over  them,  mounted  as  he 
was;  suit-  I  Wilder,  the  very  Balder,  with  his  eyes:  —  but  could 
not  bring  him  back !  The  Nornas  were  inexorable  ;  Balder 
was  never  to  come  back.  Balder  beckoned  him  mournfully 
a  still  adieu ;  Nanna,  Baldens  Wife,  sent  "  a  thimble  "  to  her 
mother  as  a  memorial :  Balder  never  could  return  !  —  Is  not 
this  an  emblem  ?  Old  Portress  Modgudr,  I  take  it,  is  Dryas- 
dust in  Norse  petticoat  and  hood ;  a  most  unlovely  beldame, 
the  "Vexer  of  Minds"! 

We  will  here  take  final  leave  of  our  impatient  friend,  occu- 
pied in  this  almost  desperate  enterprise  of  his ;  we  will  wish 
him,  which  it  is  very  easy  to  do,  more  patience,  and  better  suo- 
ihan  he  seems  to  hope.     And  now  to  our  own  small  enter- 
prise, and  solid  despatch  of  business  in  plain  prose  1 


CHAPTER  II. 

OF    THE    BIOGRAPHIES    OF    OLIVER. 

OURS  is  a  very  small  enterprise,  but  seemingly  a  useful  one ; 
tratory  perhaps  to  greater  and  more  useful,  on  this  same 
matter  :  The  collecting  of  the  Letters  and  Speeches  of  Oliver 
( 'nnnwelly  and  presenting  them  in  natural  sequence,  with  the 
still  possible  elucidation,  to  ingenuous  readers.  This  is  a  thing 
that  can  be  done ;  and  after  some  reflection,  it  has  appeared 
worth  doing.  No  great  thing :  one  other  dull  Book  added  to 
the  thousand,  dull  every  one  of  them,  which  have  been  issued 
on  this  subject!  But  situated  as  we  are,  new  Dulness  is 
unhappily  inevitable  ;  readers  do  not  reascend  out  of  deep 
con  fusions  without  some  trouble  as  they  climb. 

These  authentic  utterances  of  the  man  Oliver  himself  —  I 
•jrithered  them  from  far  and  near;  fished  them  up  from 
>ul  Lethean  qna-niires  where   they  lay  buried ;    I   have 
i  endeavored  to  wash  them  clean  from  foreign  stu- 
pidities i  sueh  a  job  of  buckwashing  as  I  do  not  long  to  repeat)  ; 
:ui.l  •  '   shall  now  se.e,  them  in  their  own  shape.    Work- 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

ing  for  long  years  in  those  unspeakable  Historic  Provinces,  of 
which  the  reader  has  already  had  account,  it  becomes  more  and 
more  apparent  to  one,  That  this  man  Oliver  Cromwell  was, 
as  the  popular  fancy  represents  him,  the  soul  of  the  Puritan 
Revolt  without  whom  it  had  never  been  a  revolt  transcend- 
ently  memorable,  and  an  Epoch  in  the  World's  History ;  that 
in  fact  he,  more  than  is  common  in  such  cases,  does  deserve  to 
give  his  name  to  the  Period  in  question,  and  have  the  Puritan 
llevolt  considered  as  a  Cromwelliad,  which  issue  is  already 
very  visible  for  it.  And  then  farther,  altogether  contrary  to 
the  popular  fancy,  it  becomes  apparent  that  this  Oliver  was 
not  a  man  of  falsehoods,  but  a  man  of  truths ;  whose  words  do 
carry  a  meaning  with  them,  and  above  all  others  of  that  time 
are  worth  considering.  His  words  —  and  still  more  his  silences, 
and  unconscious  instincts,  when  you  have  spelt  and  lovingly 
deciphered  these  also  out  of  his  words  —  will  in  several  ways 
reward  the  study  of  an  earnest  man.  An  earnest  man,  I  ap- 
prehend, may  gather  from  these  words  of  Oliver's,  were  there 
even  no  other  evidence,  that  the  character  of  Oliver,  and  of 
the  Affairs  he  worked  in,  is  much  the  reverse  of  that  mad  jum- 
ble of  "  hypocrisies,"  &c.  &c.,  which  at  present  passes  current 
as  such. 

But  certainly,  on  any  hypothesis  as  to  that,  such  a  set  of 
Documents  may  hope  to  be  elucidative  in.  various  respects. 
Oliver's  Character,  and  that  of  Oliver's  Performance  in  this 
world :  here  best  of  all  may  we  expect  to  read  it,  whatsoever 
it  was.  Even  if  false,  these  words,  authentically  spoken  and 
written  by  the  chief  actor  in  the  business,  must  be  of  prime 
moment  for  understanding  of  it.  These  are  the  words  this 
man  found  suitablest  to  represent  the  Things  themselves,  around 
him,  and  in  him,  of  which  we  seek  a  History.  The  new-born 
Things  and  Events,  as  they  bodied  themselves  forth  to  Oliver 
Cromwell  from  the  Whirlwind  of  the  passing  Time,  —  this  is 
the  name  and  definition  he  saw  good  to  give  of  them.  To 
get  at  these  direct  utterances  of  his,  is  to  get  at  the  very  heart 
of  the  business ;  were  there  once  light  for  us  in  these,  the 
business  had  begun  again  at  the  heart  of  it  to  be  luminous  !  — 
On  the  whole,  we  will  start  with  this  small  service,  the  Letters 


CHAP  II.  BIOGRAPHIES   OF   OLIVER.  15 

and  Speeches  of  Oliver  Cromwell  washed  into  something  of 
legibility  again,  as  the  preliminary  of  alL  May  it  prosper 
with  a  few  serious  readers  !  The  heart  of  that  Grand  Puritan 
Business  once  again  becoming  visible,  even  in  faint  twilight, 
to  mankind,  what  masses  of  brutish  darkness  will  gradually 
vanish  from  all  fibres  of  it,  from  the  whole  body  and  environ- 
ment of  it,  and  trouble  no  man  any  more  !  Masses  of  foul 
darkness,  sordid  confusions  not  a  few,  as  I  calculate,  which 
now  bury  this  matter  very  deep,  may  vanish  :  the  heart  of 
this  matter  and  the  heart  of  serious  men  once  again  brought 
into  approximation,  to  write  some  "  History  "  of  it  may  be  a 
little  easier,  —  for  my  impatient  friend  or  another. 

To  dwell  on  or  criticise  the  particular  Biographies  of  Crom- 
well, after  what  was  so  emphatically  said  above  on  the  general 
subject,  would  profit  us  but  little.  Criticism  of  these  poor 
Books  cannot  express  itself  except  in  language  that  is  painful. 
They  far  surpass  in  "stupidity  "  all  the  celebrations  any  Hero 
ever  had  in  this  world  before.  They  are  in  fact  worthy  of 
oblivion,  —  of  charitable  Christian  burial. 

Mark  Noble  reckons  up  some  half-dozen  "Original  Biogra- 
phies  of  Cromwell  ;  "  1  all  of  which  and  some  more  I  have  ex- 
amined ;  but  cannot  advise  any  other  man  to  examine.  There 
am  several  laudatory,  worth  nothing  ;  which  ceased  to  be  read 
when  Charles  II.  came  back,  and  the  tables  were  turned.  The 
vituperative  are  many  :  but  the  origin  of  them  all,  the  chief 
fountain  indeed  of  all  the  foolish  lies  that  have  circulated  about 
<  'liver  since,  is  the  mournful  brown  little  Book  called  Flugel- 
/>/,».  or  the  Life  and  Death  of  0.  Cromwell,  the  late  Usurper,  by 
.In  IMPS  Heath  ;  which  was  got  ready  so  soon  as  possible  on  the 
K-u-k  of  tli"  Annus  Mirabilis  or  Glorious  Restoration,'  and  is 
written  in  such  spirit  as  we  may  fancy.  When  restored  poten- 
tates  and  high  dignitaries  had  dug  up  "above  a  hundred  buried 
PS,  and  flung  them  in  a  heap  in  St.  Margaret's  Church- 
:."  the  corpse  of  Admiral  Blake  among  them,  and  Oliver's 


rrmnwell,  i.  294-300.     His  list  is  very  inaccurate  and  incomplete, 
luit  in.t  worth  completing  or  rectifying. 
*  The  First  Ivlitiou  aeeins  to  be  of 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

old  Mother's  corpse ;  and  were  hanging  on  Tyburn  gallows,  as 
some  small  satisfaction  to  themselves,  the  dead  clay  of  Oliver, 
of  Ireton,  and  Bradshaw ;  —  when  high  dignitaries  and  poten- 
tates were  in  such  a  humor,  what  could  be  expected  of  poor 
pamphleteers  and  garreteers  ?  Heath's  poor  little  brown  lying 
Flagellum  is  described  by  one  of  the  moderns  as  a  "  Flagi- 
tium  ;  "  and  Heath  himself  is  called  "  Carrion  Heath,"  —  as 
being  "  an  unfortunate  blasphemous  dullard,  and  scandal  to 
Humanity  ;  —  blasphemous,  I  say ;  who  when  the  image  of 
God  is  shining  through  a  man,  reckons  it  in  his  sordid  soul  to 
be  the  image  of  the  Devil,  and  acts  accordingly ;  who  in  fact 
has  no  soul,  except  what  saves  him  the  expense  of  salt ;  who 
intrinsically  is  Carrion  and  not  Humanity  : "  which  seems  hard 
measure  to  poor  James  Heath.  "He  was  the  son  of  the 
King's  Cutler,"  says  Wood,  "  and  wrote  pamphlets,"  the  best 
he  was  able,  poor  man.  He  has  become  a  dreadfully  dull  indi- 
vidual, in  addition  to  all !  —  Another  wretched  old  Book  of  his, 
called  Chronicle  of  the  Civil  Wars,  bears  a  high  price  in  the 
Dilettante  Sale-catalogues ;  and  has,  as  that  Flagellum  too  has, 
here  and  there  a  credible  trait  not  met  with  elsewhere :  but 
in  fact,  to  the  ingenuous  inquirer,  this  too  is  little  other  than  a 
tenebrific  Book ;  cannot  be  read  except  with  sorrow,  with  torpor 
and  disgust,  —  and  in  fine,  if  you  be  of  healthy  memory,  with 
oblivion.  The  latter  end  of  Heath  has  been  worse  than  the 
beginning  was  !  From  him,  and  his  Flagellums  and  scandalous 
Human  Platitudes,  let  no  rational  soul  seek  knowledge. 

Among  modern  Biographies,  the  great  original  is  that  of 
Mark  Noble  above  cited ; a  such  "  original "  as  there  is :  a  Book, 
if  we  must  call  it  a  Book,  abounding  in  facts  and  pretended 
facts  more  than  any  other  on  this  subject.  Poor  Noble  has 
gone  into  much  research  of  old  leases,  marriage-contracts, 
deeds  of  sale  and  such  like  :  he  is  learned  in  parish-registers 
and  genealogies,  has  consulted  pedigrees  "measuring  eight  feet 
by  two  feet  four  ;  "  goes  much  upon  heraldry  ;  —  in  fact,  has 
amassed  a  large  heap  of  evidences  and  assertions,  worthless 
and  of  worth,  respecting  Cromwell  and  his  Connections  ;  from 

1  Memoirs  of  the  Protectoral  House  of  Cromwell,  by  the  Rev.  Mark  Noble. 
2  vols.  London,  1787. 


CHAP.  n.  BIOGRAPHIES   OF   OLIVER.  17 

which  the  reader,  by  his  own  judgment,  is  to  extract  what  he 
oan.  For  Noble  himself  is  a  man  of  extreme  imbecility  ;  his 
judgment,  for  most  part,  seeming  to  lie  dead  asleep ;  and 
indeed  it  is  worth  little  when  broadest  awake.  He  falls  into 
manifold  mistakes,  commits  and  omits  in  all  ways  ;  plods  along 
contented,  in  an  element  of  perennial  dimness,  purblindness ; 
has  occasionally  a  helpless  broad  innocence  of  platitude  which 
is  almost  interesting.  A  man  indeed  of  extreme  imbecility ;  to 
whom  nevertheless  let  due  gratitude  be  borne. 

His  Book,  in  fact,  is  not  properly  a  Book,  but  rather  an 
Aggregate  of  bewildered  jottings ;  a  kind  of  Croinwellian  Bio- 
graphical Dictionary,  wanting  the  alphabetical,  or  any  other, 
arrangement  or  index :  which  latter  want,  much  more  remedi- 
able than  the  want  of  judgment,  is  itself  a  great  sorrow  to  the 
reader.  Such  as  it  is,  this  same  Dictionary  without  judgment 
and  without  arrangement,  "  bad  Dictionary  gone  to  pie,"  as  we 
may  call  it,  is  the  storehouse  from  which  subsequent  Biogra- 
phies have  all  furnished  themselves.  The  reader,  with  con- 
tinual vigilance  of  suspicion,  once  knowing  what  man  he  has 
to  do  with,  digs  through  it,  and  again  through  it ;  covers  the 
margins  of  it  with  notes  and  contradictions,  with  references, 
Deductions,  rectifications,  execrations,  —  in  a  sorrowful,  but  not 
"iitirely  unprofitable  manner.  Another  Book  of  Noble's,  called 
-  of  the  licyicides,  written  some  years  afterwards,  during 
French  Jacobin  time,  is  of  much  more  stupid  character ; 
nearly  meaningless  indeed ;  mere  water  bewitched ;  which  no 
man  need  buy  or  read.  And  it  is  said  he  has  a  third  Book,  on 
some  other  subject,  stupider  still ;  which  latter  point,  however, 
may  be  considered  questionable. 

For  the  rest,  this  poor  Noble  is  of  very  impartial  mind  re- 
ing  Cromwell ;  open  to  receive  good  of  him,  and  to  receive 
evil,  even  inconsistent  evil :  the  helpless,  incoherent,  but  placid 
and  favorable  notion  he  has  of  Cromwell  in  1787  contrasts 
notably  with  that  which  Carrion  Heath  had  gathered  of  him  in 
1663.  For,  in  spite  of  the  stupor  of  Histories,  it  is  beautiful, 
once  more,  to  see  how  the  Memory  of  Cromwell,  in  its  huge 
inarticulate  si  niitiram-e,  not  able  to  speak  a  wise  word  for  itself 
to  any  one,  has  nevertheless  been  steadily  growing  clearer  and 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

clearer  in  the  popular  English  mind  ;  how  from  the  day  when 
high  dignitaries  and  pamphleteers  of  the  Carrion  species  did 
their  ever-memorable  feat  at  Tyburu,  onwards  to  this  day,  the 
progress  does  not  stop. 

In  1698,1  one  of  the  earliest  words  expressly  in  favor  of 
Cromwell  was  written  by  a  Critic  of  Ludlow's  Memoirs.  The 
anon}rmous  Critic  explains  to  solid  Ludlow  that  he,  in  that 
solid  but  somewhat  wooden  head  of  his,  had  not  perhaps  seen 
entirely  into  the  centre  of  the  Universe,  and  workshop  of  the 
Destinies ;  that,  in  fact,  Oliver  was  a  questionable  uncommon 
man,  and  he  Ludlow  a  common  handfast,  honest,  dull  and  in- 
deed partly  wooden  man,  —  in  whom  it  might  be  wise  to  form 
no  theory  at  all  of  Cromwell.  By  and  by,  a  certain  "  Mr. 
Banks,"  a  kind  of  Lawyer  and  Playwright,  if  I  mistake  not, 
produced  a  still  more  favorable  view  of  Cromwell,  but  in  a 
work  otherwise  of  no  moment ;  the  exact  date,  and  indeed  the 
whole  substance  of  which  is  hardly  worth  remembering.2 

The  Letter  of  "  John  Maidston  to  Governor  Winthrop  "  — 
Winthrop  Governor  of  Connecticut,  a  Suffolk  man,  of  much 
American  celebrity  —  is  dated  1659 ;  but  did  not  come  into 
print  till  1742,  along  with  Thurloe's  other  Papers.8  Maidston 
had  been  an  Officer  in  Oliver's  Household,  a  Member  of  his 
Parliaments,  and  knew  him  well.  An  Essex  man  he ;  probably 
an  old  acquaintance  of  Winthrop's ;  visibly  a  man  of  honest 
affections,  of  piety,  decorum  and  good  sense.  Whose  loyalty 
to  Oliver  is  of  a  genuine  and  altogether  manful  nature, — mostly 
silent,  as  we  can  discern.  His  Letter  gives  some  really  lucid 
traits  of  those  dark  things  and  times ;  especially  a  short  por- 
traiture of  the  Protector  himself,  which,  the  more  you  know 
him,  you  ascertain  the  more  to  be  a  likeness.  Another  Officer 
of  Oliver's  Household,  not  to  be  confounded  with  this  Maid- 
ston,  but  a  man  of  similar  position  and  similar  moral  character 
to  Maidston's ;  a  "  Groom  of  the  Bedchamber,"  whose  name  one 

1  So  dated  in  Somers  Tracts  (London,  1811),  vi.  416, — but  liable  to  correc- 
tion if  needful.     Poor  Noble  (i.  297)  gives  the  same  date,  and  then  placidly, 
in  the  next  line,  subjoins  a  fact  inconsistent  with  it.     As  his  manner  is ! 

2  Short  Critical  Review  of  the  Life  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  by  a  Gentleman  of  the 
Middle  Temple.     London,  1739. 

8  Thurloe,  i.  763-768  ;  —  and  correct  Noble,  i.  94. 


CHAP.  n.  BIOGRAPHIES  OF  OLIVER.  19 

at  length  dimly  discovers  to  be  Harvey,1  not  quite  unknown 
otherwise ;  is  also  well  worth  listening  to  on  this  matter.  He, 
in  1659,  a  few  months  before  Maidston  wrote,  had  published 
a  credible  and  still  interesting  little  Pamphlet,  Passages  con- 
cerning his  late  Highnesses  last  Sickness ;  to  which,  if  space 
permit,  we  shall  elsewhere  refer.  In  these  two  little  off-hand 
bits  of  writing,  by  two  persons  qualified  to  write  and  witness, 
there  is  a  clear  credibility  for  the  reader ;  and  more  insight 
obtainable  as  to  Oliver  and  his  ways  than  in  any  of  the  express 
Biographies. 

That  anonymous  Life  of  Cromwell,  which  Noble  very  igno- 
rantly  ascribes  to  Bishop  Gibson,  which  is  written  in  a  neutral 
spirit,  as  an  impartial  statement  of  facts,  but  not  without  a 
secret  decided  leaning  to  Cromwell,  came  out  in  1724.  It  is 
the  Life  of  Cromwell  found  commonly  in  Libraries  : a  it  went 
through  several  editions  in  a  pure  state ;  and  I  have  seen  a 
"fifth  edition"  with  foreign  intermixtures,  "printed  at  Bir- 
mingham in  1778,"  on  gray  paper,  seemingly  as  a  Book  for 
Hawkers.  The  Author  of  it  was  by  no  means  "  Bishop  Gibson," 
1  ut  one  Kirnber,  a  Dissenting  Minister  of  London,  known  other- 
wise as  a  compiler  of  books.  He  has  diligently  gathered  from 
old  Newspapers  and  other  such  sources ;  narrates  in  a  dull, 
steady,  concise,  but  altogether  unintelligent  manner ;  can  be 
read  without  offence,  but  hardly  with  any  real  instruction. 
Image  of  Cromwell's  self  there  is  none,  express  or  implied,  in 
this  Book ;  for  the  man  himself  had  none,  and  did  not  feel  the 
want  of  any :  nay  in  regard  to  external  facts  also,  there  are 
inaccuracies  enough, — here  too,  what  is  the  general  rule  in 
these  books,  you  can  find  as  many  inaccuracies  as  you  like : 
dig  where  you  please,  water  will  come  !  As  a  crown  to  all  the 
modern  Biographies  of  Cromwell,  let  us  note  Mr.  Forster's  late 
one :  *  full  of  interesting  original  excerpts,  and  indications  of 

1  Th«  "Cofferer,"  elsewhere  called  Steward  of  the  Household,  la  "Mr. 
M:\ii|*ton  :  "  "Gentlemen  of  the  Bedchamber,  Mr.  Charles  Harvey,  Mr.  Under- 
wood." Prestwick's  Funeral  of  the  Protector  (reprinted  in  Forster's  Briti$h 
Stiitetmen,  v.  436,  4c.). 

1  The  Life  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  Lord  Protector  of  the  Commonwralth ;  impartially 
collected  £c.    London,  1724.     Di»tiugiiished  also  by  a  not  intolerable  Portrait. 
• -tinmen  of  the  Commonwealth,  by  John  Former  (London,  1840),  volx  iv. 
and  v 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

what  is  notablest  in  the  old  Books  ;  gathered  and  set  forth  with 
real  merit,  with  energy  in  abundance  and  superabundance; 
amounting  in  result,  we  may  say,  to  a  vigorous  decisive  tearing- 
up  of  all  the  old  hypotheses  on  the  subject,  and  an  opening  of 
the  general  mind  for  new. 

Of  Cromwell's  actual  biography,  from  these  and  from  all 
Books  and  sources,  there  is  extremely  little  to  be  knoAvn.  It 
is  from  his  own  words,  as  I  have  ventured  to  believe,  from  his 
own  Letters  and  Speeches  well  read,  that  the  world  may  first 
obtain  some  dim  glimpse  of  the  actual  Cromwell,  and  see  him 
darkly  face  to  face.  What  little  is  otherwise  ascertainable, 
cleared  from  the  circumambient  inanity  and  insanity,  may  be 
stated  in  brief  compass.  So  much  as  precedes  the  earliest  still 
extant  Letters,  I  subjoin  here  in  the  form  most  convenient. 


CHAPTER  III. 

/>F   THE    CROMWELL    KINDRED. 

OLIVER  CROMWELL,  afterwards  Protector  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  England,  was  born  at  Huntingdon,  in  St.  John's 
Parish  there,  on  the  25th  of  April,  1599.  Christened  on  the 
29th  of  the  same  month ;  as  the  old  Parish-registers  of  that 
Church  still  legibly  testify.1 

His  Father  was  Eobert  Cromwell,  younger  son  of  Sir  Henry 
Cromwell,  and  younger  brother  of  Sir  Oliver  Cromwell,  Knights 
both ;  who  dwelt  successively,  in  rather  sumptuous  fashion,  at 
the  Mansion  of  Hinchinbrook  hard  by.  His  Mother  was  Eliza- 
beth Steward,  daughter  of  William  Steward,  Esquire,  in  Ely ; 
an  opulent  man,  a  kind  of  hereditary  Farmer  of  the  Cathedral 
Tithes  and  Church  lands  round  that  city ;  in  which  capacity 
his  son,  Sir  Thomas  Steward,  Knight,  in  due  time  succeeded 
him,  resident  also  at  Ely.  Elizabeth  was  a  young  widow  when 
Kobert  Cromwell  married  her  :  the  first  marriage,  to  one  "  Wil- 
liam Lynne,  Esquire,  of  Bassingbourne  in  Cambridgeshire," 

1  Noble,  i.  92. 


CHAP.  III.  THE   CROMWELL   KINDRED.  21 

had  lasted  but  a  year :  husband  and  only  child  are  buried  in 
Ely  Cathedral,  where  their  monument  still  stands;  the  date 
of  their  deaths,  which  followed  near  on  one  another,  is  1589.1 
The  exact  date  of  the  young  widow's  marriage  to  Robert  Crom- 
well is  nowhere  given  ;  but  seems  to  have  been  in  1591.*  Our 
Oliver  was  their  fifth  child;  their  second  boy;  but  the  first 
soon  died.  They  had  ten  children  in  all ;  of  whom  seven  came 
to  maturity,  and  Oliver  was  their  only  son.  I  may  as  well 
print  the  little  Note,  smelted  long  ago  out  of  huge  dross-heaps 
in  Noble's  Book,  that  the  reader  too  may  have  his  small  benefit 
of  it8 

This  Elizabeth  Steward,  who  had  now  become  Mrs.  Robert 
Cromwell,  was,  say  the  genealogists,  "indubitably  descended 
from  the  Royal  Stuart  Family  of  Scotland ; "  and  could  still 
f-ount  kindred  with  them.  "  From  one  Walter  Steward,  who 
had  accompanied  Prince  James  of  Scotland,"  when  our  inhos- 
pitable politic  Henry  IV.  detained  the  poor  Prince,  driven  in 

1  Noble,  ii.  198,  and  MS.  penes  me.  *  Ibid.  i.  88. 

*  OLIVER  CROMWELL'S  BROTHERS  AND  SISTERS. 

Oliver's  Mother  had  been  a  widow  (Mrs.  Lynne  of  Bassingbourne)  before 
marrying  Robert  Cromwell;  neither  her  age  nor  his  is  discoverable  here. 

1.  First  child  (seemingly),  Joan,  baptized  24th  September,  1592;  ahe  died 
in  1600  (Noble,  i.  88). 

2.  Elizabeth,  14th  October,  1593 ;  died  unmarried,  thinks  Noble,  in  1672,  at 
I'lv  _  gee  Appendix,  No.  23,  a  Letter  in  regard  to  her,  which  has  turned  up. 
( \:*e  of  1857.) 

3  Henry,  31st  August,  1595;  died  young,  "before  1617." 

4  Catherine,   7th   February,    1596-7;   married  to    Whitstooe,  a  Parlia- 
mentary Officer;  then  to  Colonel  Jones. 

r>.  OIIVKR,  born  25th  April,  1599. 

6.  Margaret,  22d  February,  1600-1 ;  she  became  Mrs.  Wanton,  or  Walton, 
Huntingdonshire  ;  her  son  was  killed  at  Marston  Moor,  — as  we  shall  see. 

7  Anna,  2d  January.  1602-3;  Mrs.  Sewster,  Huntingdonshire;  died 
l-t  November,  1646:  — her  Brother  Oliver  had  just  ended  the  "first  Civil 
\Vr»r  "  thon. 

a  Jane,  19th  January,  16O5-6;  Mrs.  Desborow,  Cambridgeshire ;  died, 
ttrmin<ili(t  in  1R56. 

9.  Hobert,  18th  January,  1608-9:  died  same  April. 

10.  Robina,  HO  named  for  the  above  Robert:  uncertain  date:  became  Mrs. 
Pr   French  ;  then  wife  of  Bishop  Wilkins     her  daughter  by  French,  her  ono 
•  '-ild,  wtf  married  to  Ar<-liM*li«.|,  Tillotson. 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

by  stress  of  weather  to  him  here.  Walter  did  not  return  with 
the  Prince  to  Scotland ;  having  "  fought  tournaments,"  —  hav- 
ing made  an  advantageous  marriage-settlement  here.  One  of 
his  descendants,  Robert  Steward,  happened  to  be  Prior  of  Ely 
when  Henry  VIII.  dissolved  the  Monasteries;  and  proving 
pliant  on  that  occasion,  Robert  Steward,  last  Popish  Prior,  be- 
came the  first  Protestant  Dean  of  Ely,  and  —  "  was  remarka- 
bly attentive  to  his  family,"  says  Noble.  The  profitable 
Farming  of  the  Tithes  at  Ely,  above  mentioned  ;  this,  and 
other  settlements,  and  good  dotations  of  Church  lands  among 
his  Nephews,  were  the  fruits  of  Robert  Steward's  pliancy  on 
that  occasion.  The  genealogists  say,  there  is  no  doubt  of  this 
pedigree ;  —  and  explain  in  intricate  tables,  how  Elizabeth 
Steward,  Mother  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  was  indubitably  either 
the  ninth,  or  the  tenth,  or  some  other  fractional  part  of  half  a 
cousin  to  Charles  Stuart,  King  of  England. 

Howsoever  related  to  Charles  Stuart  or  to  other  parties, 
Robert  Cromwell,  younger  son  of  the  Knight  of  Hinchinbrook, 
brought  her  home,  we  see,  as  his  Wife,  to  Huntingdon,  about 
1591 ;  and  settled  with  her  there,  on  such  portion,  with  such 
prospects  as  a  cadet  of  the  House  of  Hinchinbrook  might  have. 
Portion  consisting  of  certain  lands  and  messuages  round  and 
in  that  Town  of  Huntingdon,  —  where,  in  the  current  name 
"  Cromwell's  Acre,"  if  not  in  other  names  applied  to  lands  and 
messuages  there,  some  feeble  echo  of  him  and  his  possessions 
still  survives,  or  seems  to  survive.  These  lands  he  himself 
farmed :  the  income  in  all  is  guessed  or  computed  to  have  been 
about  £300  a  year ;  a  tolerable  fortune  in  those  times ;  per- 
haps somewhat  like  £1000  now.  Robert  Cromwell's  Father, 
as  we  said,  and  then  his  elder  Brother,  dwelt  successively  in 
good  style  at  Hiuchinbrook  near  by.  It  was  the  Father  Sir 
Henry  Cromwell,  who  from  his  sumptuosity  was  called  the 
"  Golden  Knight,"  that  built,  or  that  enlarged,  remodelled  and 
as  good  as  built,  the  Mansion  of  Hinchinbrook ;  which  had  been 
a  Nunnery,  while  Nunneries  still  were :  it  was  the  son,  Sir 
Oliver,  likewise  an  expensive  man,  that  sold  it  to  the  Mon- 
tagues, since  Earls  of  Sandwich,  whose  seat  it  still  is.  A 
stately  pleasant  house,  among  its  shady  lawns  and  expanses, 


CHAP.  m.  THE   CROMWELL   KINDRED.  23 

on  the  left  bank  of  the  Ouse  river,  a  short  half-mile  west  of 
Huntingdon  ;  —  still  stands  pretty  much  as  Oliver  Cromwell's 
Grandfather  left  it ;  rather  kept  good  and  defended  from  the 
inroads  of  Time  and  Accident,  than  substantially  altered. 
Several  Portraits  of  the  Cromwells,  and  other  interesting  por- 
traits and  memorials  of  the  seventeenth  and  subsequent  cen- 
turies, are  still  there.  The  Cromwell  blazonry  "  on  the  great 
bay  window,"  which  Noble  makes  so  much  of,  is  now  gone, 
destroyed  by  fire  ;  has  given  place  to  Montague  blazonry  ;  and 
no  dull  man  can  bore  us  with  that  any  more. 

Huntingdon  itself  lies  pleasantly  along  the  left  bank  of  the 
Ouse;  sloping  pleasantly  upwards  from  Ouse  Bridge,  which 
connects  it  with  the  old  village  of  Godmanchester ;  the  Town 
itself  consisting  mainly  of  one  fair  street,  which  towards  the 
north  end  of  it  opens  into  a  kind  of  irregular  market-place,  and 
thru  contracting  again  soon  terminates.  The  two  churches  of 
All-Saints  and  St.  John's,  as  you  walk  up  northward  from  the 
iJridge,  appear  successively  on  your  left;  the  church-yards 
Hanked  with  shops  or  other  houses.  The  Ouse,  which  is  of 
very  circular  course  in  this  quarter,  "winding  as  if  reluctant 
to  niter  the  Fen-country,"  says  one  Topographer,  has  still  a 
respectable  drab-color,  gathered  from  the  clays  of  Bedford- 
shire;  has  not  yet  the  Stygian  black  which  in  a  few  miles 
farther  it  assumes  for  good.  Huntingdon,  as  it  were,  looks 
over  into  the  Fens  ;  Godmanchester,  just  across  the  river, 
already  stands  on  black  bog.  The  country  to  the  East  is  all 
Kun  (mostly  unreclaimed  in  Oliver's  time,  and  still  of  a  very 
ilropsical  character);  to  the  West  it  is  hard  green  ground, 
ably  broken  into  little  heights,  duly  fringed  with  wood, 
and  bearing  marks  of  comfortable  long-continued  cultivation. 
I  I'Te,  on  the  edge  of  the  firm  green  land,  and  looking  over  into 
tin?  black  marshes  with  their  alder-trees  and  willow-trees,  did 
Oliver  Cromwell  pass  his  young  years.  Drunken  Barnabee, 
who  travelled,  and  drank,  and  made  Latin  rhymes,  in  that 
country  about  1  <;;;."».  through  whose  glistening  satyr-eyes  one 
till  discern  this  ami  the  other  feature  of  the  Past,  rep- 
its  to  us  on  the  height  brhiml  (Juilniancliester,  as  you 
approach  the  scene  fnuu  Cambridge  and  the  south,  a  big 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

Oak-tree,  —  which  has  now  disappeared,  leaving  no  notable 
successor. 

"  Vent  Godmanchester,  uoi 
Ut  Ixion  captus  nube, 
Sic,  frc." 

And  he  adds  in  a  Note, 

"  Quercus  anilis  erat,  tamen  eminus  oppida  spectat ; 
Stirpe  viam  monstrat,  plumea  frotide  tegit;"  — 

Or  in  his  own  English  version, 

"  An  aged  Oak  takes  of  this  Town  survey, 
Finds  birds  their  nests,  tells  passengers  their  way. "  » 

If  Oliver  Cromwell  climbed  that  Oak-tree,  in  quest  of  bird- 
nests  or  boy-adventures,  the  Tree,  or  this  poor  ghost  of  it,  may 
still  have  a  kind  of  claim  to  memory. 

The  House  where  Robert  Cromwell  dwelt,  where  his  son 
Oliver  and  all  his  family  were  born,  is  still  familiar  to  every 
inhabitant  of  Huntingdon :  but  it  has  been  twice  rebuilt  since 
that  date,  and  now  bears  no  memorial  whatever  which  even 
Tradition  can  connect  with  him.  It  stands  at  the  upper  or 
northern  extremity  of  the  Town,  —  beyond  the  Market-place 
we  spoke  of ;  on  the  left  or  river-ward  side  of  the  street.  It 
is  at  present  a  solid  yellow  brick  house,  with  a  walled  court- 
yard ;  occupied  by  some  townsman  of  the  wealthier  sort.  The 
little  Brook  of  Hinchin,  making  its  way  to  the  Ouse  which  is 
not  far  off,  still  flows  through  the  court-yard  of  the  place,  — 
offering  a  convenience  for  malting  or  brewing,  among  other 
things.  Some  vague  but  confident  tradition  as  to  Brewing 
attaches  itself  to  this  locality  ;  and  traces  of  evidence,  I  under- 
stand, exist  that  before  Robert  Cromwell's  time,  it  had  been 
employed  as  a  Brewery  :  but  of  this  or  even  of  Robert  Crom- 
well's own  brewing,  there  is,  at  such  a  distance,  in  such  an 
element  of  distracted  calumny,  exaggeration  and  confusion, 
little  or  no  certainty  to  be  had.  Tradition,  "  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Lort's  Manuscripts,"  Carrion  Heath,  and  such  testimonies,  are 
extremely  insecure  as  guides  !  Thomas  Harrison,  for  example, 
is  always  called  "  the  son  of  a  Butcher ; "  which  means  only 

1  Bamabce  Itinerarium  (London,  1818),  p.  96. 


CHAP.  HI.  THE   CROMWELL   KINDRED.  25 

that  his  Father,  as  farmer  or  owner,  had  grazing-lands,  down  in 
Staffordshire,  wherefrom  naturally  enough  proceeded  cattle, 
fat  cattle  as  the  case  might  be,  —  well  fatted,  I  hope.  Thomas 
Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex  in  Henry  Eighth's  time,  is  in  like 
manner  called  always  "  the  son  of  a  Blacksmith  at  Putney ; " 
—  and  whoever  figures  to  himself  a  man  in  black  apron  with 
hammer  in  hand,  and  tries  to  rhyme  this  with  the  rest  of 
Thomas  Cromwell's  history,  will  find  that  here  too  he  has  got 
into  an  insolubility.  "  The  splenetic  credulity  and  incredulity, 
the  calumnious  opacity,  the  exaggerative  ill-nature,  and  general 
flunkyism  and  stupidity  of  mankind,"  says  my  Author,  "are 
ever  to  be  largely  allowed  for  in  such  circumstances."  We 
will  leave  Robert  Cromwell's  brewing  in  a  very  unilluminated 
state.  Uncontradicted  Tradition,  and  old  printed  Royalist 
Lampoons,  do  call  him  a  Brewer  :  the  Brook  of  Hinchin,  run- 
ning through  his  premises,  offered  clear  convenience  for  malt- 
ing or  brewing;  —  in  regard  to  which,  and  also  to  his  Wife's 
assiduous  management  of  the  same,  one  is  very  willing  to  be- 
lieve Tradition.  The  essential  trade  of  Robert  Cromwell  was 
that  of  managing  those  lands  of  his  in  the  vicinity  of  Hunt- 
ingdon :  the  grain  of  them  would  have  to  be  duly  harvested, 
thrashed,  brought  to  market;  whether  it  was  as  corn  or  as 
malt  that  it  came  to  market,  can  remain  indifferent  to  us. 

For  the  rest,  as  documents  still  testify,  this  Robert  Crom- 
well, did  Burgh  and  Quarter-Session  duties ;  was  not  slack  but 
moderately  active  as  a  country-gentleman ;  sat  once  in  Parlia- 
ment in  his  younger  years;1  is  found  with  his  elder  or  other 
Brothers  on  various  Public  Commissions  for  Draining  the  Fens 
of  that  region,  or  more  properly  for  inquiring  into  the  possi- 
Mlity  of  such  an  operation;  a  thing  much  noised  of  then; 
which  Robert  Cromwell,  among  others,  reported  to  be  very  fea- 
sible, very  promising,  but  did  not  live  to  see  accomplished,  or 
even  attempted.  His  social  rank  is  sufficiently  indicated  ;  — 
and  much  flunkyism,  falsity  and  other  carrion  ought  to  bo 
Imri.'d !  Better  than  all  social  rank,  he  is  understood  to  have 
been  a  wise,  devout,  steadfast  and  worthy  man,  and  to  have 
lired  a  modest  and  manful  life  in  his  station  there. 

1  "35to  Eliz. :"  Feb.-April,  1593  (Noble,  i.  83;  from  Willis). 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

Besides  the  Knight  of  Hinchiubrook,  he  had  other  Brothers 
settled  prosperously  in  the  Fen  regions,  where  this  Cromwell 
Family  had  extensive  possessions.  One  Brother  Henry  was 
"  seated  at  Upwood,"  a  fenny  district  near  Kamsey  Mere  ;  one 
of  his  daughters  came  to  be  the  wife,  second  wife,  of  Oliver 
St.  John,  the  Ship-money  Lawyer,  the  political  "  dark-lantern," 
as  men  used  to  name  him ;  of  whom  we  shall  hear  farther. 
Another  Brother  "  was  seated "  at  Biggin  House  between 
Kamsey  and  Upwood  ;  a  moated  mansion,  with  ditch  and 
painted  paling  round  it.  A  third  Brother  was  seated  at  — 
my  informant  kuows  not  where  !  In  fact  I  had  better,  as 
before,  subjoin  the  little  smelted  Note  which  has  already  done 
its  duty,  and  let  the  reader  make  of  that  what  he  can.1  Of 

1  OLIVER'S  UNCLES. 

1.  Sir  Oliver  of  Hinchinbrook :    his  eldest  son  John,  born  in  1589  (ten 
years  older  than  our  Oliver),  went  into  the  army,  "  Colonel  of  an  English 
regiment  in  the  Dutch  service  :  "  this  is  the  Colonel  Cromwell  who  is  said, 
or  fabled,  to  have  sought  a  midnight  interview  with  Oliver,  in  the  end  of 
1648,  for  the  purpose  of  buying  off  Charles  I. ;  to  have  "  laid  his  hand  on  his 
sword,"  &c.  &c.     The  story  is  in  Noble,  i.  51  ;  with  no  authority  but  that  of 
Carrion  Heath.     Other  sons  of  his  were  soldiers,  Royalists  these :  there  are 
various  Cousin  Cromwells  that  confusedly  turn  up  on  both  sides  of  the  quar- 
rel. —  Robert  Cromwell,  our  Oliver's  Father,  was  the  next  Brother  of  the 
Hinchinbrook  Knight.     The  third  Brother,  second  uncle,  was 

2.  Henry  Cromwell,  of  Upwood   near  Ramsey  Mere:  adventurer  in  the 
Virginia  Company:    sat  in   Parliament   1603-1611;    one  of  his   daughters 
Mrs.  St.  John.     Died  1630  (Noble,  i.  28). 

3.  Richard:  "buys  in  1607  "  a  bit  of  ground  in  Huntingdon;  died  "at 
Ramsey,"  1628;  was  Member  for  Huntingdon  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time:  — 
Lived  in  Ramsey  ?     Is  buried  at  Upwood. 

4=  Sir  Philip  :  Biggin  House;  knighted  at  Whitehall,  1604  (Noble,  i.  31). 
His  second  son,  Philip,  was  in  Colonel  Ingoldsby's  regiment;  —  wounded  at 
the  storm  of  Bristol,  in  1645.  Third  son,  Thomas,  was  in  Ireland  with  Straf- 
ford  (signs  Montnorris's  death-warrant  there,  in  1630)  ;  lived  afterwards  in 
London ;  became  Major,  and  then  Colonel,  in  the  King's  Army.  Fourth  son, 
Oliver,  was  in  the  Parliamentary  Army ;  had  watched  the  King  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  —  went  with  his  cousin,  our  Oliver,  to  Ireland  in  1649,  and  died  or 
was  killed  there.  Fifth  son,  Robert,  "poisoned  his  Master,  an  Attorney,  and 
was  hanged  at  London,"  — if  there  be  truth  in  "  Heath's  Flayellum  [Noble,  i.  35] 
and  some  Pedigrees ; "  —  year  not  given ;  say  about  1635,  when  the  lad,  "  born 
1617,"  was  in  his  18th  year  ?  I  have  found  no  hint  of  this  affair  in  any  other 
quarter,  not  in  the  wildest  Royalist-Birkenhead  or  Walker's-Independency 


CHAP.  III.  THE  CROMWELL  KINDRED.  27 

our  Oliver's  Aunts  one  was  Mrs.  Hampden  of  Great  Hampden, 
Bucks:  an  opulent,  zealous  person,  not  without  ambitions; 
already  a  widow  and  mother  of  two  Boys,  one  of  whom 
proved  very  celebrated  as  JOHN  HAMPDEN  ;  —  she  was  Robert 
Cromwell's  Sister.  Another  Cromwell  Aunt  of  Oliver's  was 
married  to  "  Whalley,  heir  of  the  Whalley  family  in  Notts ; " 
another  to  the  "heir  of  the  Dunches  of  Pusey,  in  Berkshire ; " 
another  to —  In  short  the  stories  of  Oliver's  "poverty,"  if 
they  were  otherwise  of  any  moment,  are  all  false ;  and  should 
be  mentioned  here,  if  still  here,  for  the  last  time.  The  family 
was  of  the  rank  of  substantial  gentry,  and  duly  connected 
with  such  in  the  counties  round,  for  three  generations  back. 
Of  the  numerous  and  now  mostly  forgettable  cousinry  we 
specify  farther  only  the  Mashams  of  Otes  in  Essex,  as  like 
to  be  of  some  cursory  interest  to  us  by  and  by. 

There  is  no  doubt  at  all  but  Oliver  the  Protector's  family 
was  related  to  that  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex,  the 

lampoon ;  and  consider  it  very  possible  that  a  Robert  Cromwell  having  suf- 
fered "  for  poisoning  an  Attorney,"  he  may  have  been  called  the  cousin  of 
Cromwell  by  "  Heath  and  some  Pedigrees."  But  of  course  anybody  can 
"  poison  an  Attorney,"  and  be  hanged  for  it ! 


Oliver's  Aunt  Elizabeth  was  married  to  William  Hampden  of  Great 
Hampden,  Bucks  (year  not  given,  Noble,  i.  36,  nor  at  p.  68  of  vol.  ii. ;  nor  in 
Lord  Nugent's  Memorials  of  Hampden):  he  died  in  1597;  she  survived  him 
67  years,  continuing  a  widow  (Noble,  ii.  69).  Buried  in  Great  Hampden 
Church,  1664,  aged  90.  She  had  two  sons,  John  and  Richard :  John,  born 
1594,  —  Richard,  an  Oliverian  too,  died  in  1659  (Noble,  ii.  70). 

Aunt  Joan  (elder  than  Elizabeth)  was  "  Lady  Barrington  ;  "  Aunt  Frances 
(younger)  was  Mrs.  Whalley.  Richard  Whalley  of  Kerton,  Notts;  a  man  of 
mark ;  sheriff,  &c. ;  three  wives,  children  only  by  his  second,  this  "  Aunt 
Fanny."  Three  children  :  —  Thomas  Whalley  (no  years  given,  Noble,  ii.  141 ) 
dic<l  in  his  father's  lifetime  ;  left  a  son  who  was  a  kind  of  Royalist,  but 
yet  had  a  certain  acceptance  with  Oliver  too.  Edward  Whalley,  the  famed 
"  Colonel,"  and  Henry  Whalley,  the  "  Judge-Advocate  :  "  wretched  biographiti 
of  these  two  are  in  Noble,  pp.  141,  143-156.  Colonel  Whalley  and  Colonel 
Guff,  after  the  Restoration,  fled  to  New  England;  lived  in  " caves "  tber", 
and  had  a  sore  time  of  it :  New  England,  in  a  vague  manner,  still  remeir.l  era 
tlit-m. 

of  the  Cousinry !  — 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

Putney  "  Blacksmith's "  or  Iron-master's  son,  transiently  men- 
tioned above  ;  the  Malleus  Monachorum,  or,  as  old  Fuller  ren- 
ders it,  "  Mauler  of  Monasteries/'  in  Henry  Eighth's  time.  The 
same  old  Fuller,  a  perfectly  veracious  and  most  intelligent  per- 
son, does  indeed  report  as  of  "  his  own  knowledge,"  that  Oliver 
Protector,  once  upon  a  time  when  Bishop  Goodman  came  dedi- 
cating to  him  some  unreadable  semi-popish  jargon  about  the 
"mystery  of  the  Holy  Trinity,"  and  some  adulation  about 
"  his  Lordship's  relationship  to  the  former  great  Purifier  of  the 
Church,"  and  Mauler  of  Monasteries,  —  answered  impatiently, 
"  My  family  has  no  relation  to  his  ! "  This  old  Fuller  reports, 
as  of  his  own  knowledge.  I  have  consulted  the  unreadable 
semi-popish  jargon,  for  the  sake  of  that  Dedication ;  I  find  that 
Oliver's  relationship  to  Thomas  Cromwell  is  in  any  case  stated 
wrong  there,  not  right :  I  reflect  farther  that  Bishop  Goodman, 
oftener  called  "  Bishop  Badmau  "  in  those  times,  went  over  to 
Popery ;  had  become  a  miserable  impoverished  old  piece  of 
confusion,  and  at  this  time  could  appear  only  in  the  character 
of  begging  bore,  —  when,  at  any  rate,  for  it  was  in  the  year  1653, 
Oliver  himself,  having  just  turned  out  the  Long  Parliament,1 
was  busy  enough !  I  infer  therefore  that  Oliver  said  to  him 
impatiently,  without  untruth,  "  You  are  quite  wrong  as  to  all 
that :  good  morning  ! "  —  and  that  old  Fuller,  likewise  without 
untruth,  reports  it  as  above. 

But,  at  any  rate,  there  is  other  very  simple  evidence  en- 
tirely conclusive.  Eichard  or  Sir  Richard  Cromwell,  great- 

1  The  date  of  Goodman's  Book  is  25th  June,  1653  ;  here  is  the  correct  title 
of  it  (King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  73,  §  1) :  "  The  two  great  Mysteries  of 
Christian  Religion;  the  Ineffable  Trinity  and  Wonderful  Incarnation:  by 
G.  G.  G."  (meaning  Godfrey  Goodman,  Glocestrensis).  Unfortunate  persons 
who  have  read  Laud's  writings  are  acquainted  with  this  Bishop  Goodman,  or 
Badman ;  he  died  a  declared  Papist.  Poor  man,  his  speculations,  now  become 
jargon  to  us,  were  once  very  serious  and  eloquent  to  him.  Such  is  the  fate 
that  soon  overtakes  all  men  who,  quitting  the  "  Eternal  Melodies,"  take  up 
their  abode  in  the  outer  Temporary  Discords,  and  see!;  their  subsistence  there ! 
This  is  the  part  of  the  Dedication  that  concerns  us  :  — 

"  To  his  Excellency  my  Lord  Oliver  Cromwell,  Lord  General.  My  Lord,  — 
Fifty  years  since,  the  name  of  Socinus,"  &c.  —  "  Knowing  that  the  Lord  Cronv 
well  (your  Lordship's  great-uncle)  was  then  in  great  favor,"  &c.  "GODFREB 
GOODMAN." 


CHAP.  in.  THE  CROMWELL  KINDRED.  29 

grandfather  of  Oliver  Protector,  was  a  man  well  known  in  his 
day  j  had  been  very  active  in  the  work  of  suppressing  monas- 
teries ;  a  right-hand  man  to  Thomas  the  Mauler :  and  indeed 
it  was  on  Monastic  Property,  chiefly  or  wholly,  that  he  had 
made  for  himself  a  sumptuous  estate  in  those  Fen  regions. 
Now,  of  this  Richard  Cromwell  there  are  two  Letters  to 
Thomas  Cromwell,  "  Vicar-General,"  Earl  of  Essex,  which  re- 
main yet  visible  among  the  Manuscripts  of  the  British  Museum ; 
in  both  of  which  he  signs  himself  with  his  own  hand,  "your 
most  bounden  Nephew,"  —  an  evidence  sufficient  to  set  the 
point  at  rest.  Copies  of  the  Letters  are  in  my  possession; 
but  I  grudge  to  inflict  them  on  the  reader.  One  of  them,  the 
longer  of  the  two,  stands  printed,  with  all  or  more  than  all 
its  original  misspelling  and  confused  obscurity,  in  Noble : l  it 
is  dated  "Stamford,"  without  day  or  year;  but  the  context 
farther  dates  it  as  contemporary  with  the  Lincolnshire  Rebel- 
lion, or  Anti-Reformation  riot,  which  was  directly  followed 
by  the  more  formidable  "  Pilgrimage  of  Grace  "  in  Yorkshire 
to  the  like  effect,  in  the  autumn  of  1536.a  Richard,  in  com- 
pany with  other  higher  official  persons,  represents  himself  as 
straining  every  nerve  to  beat  down  and  extinguish  this  traitor- 
ous fanatic  flame,  kindled  against  the  King's  Majesty  and  his 
Reform  of  the  Church ;  has  an  eye  in  particular  to  a  certain 
Sir  John  Thymbleby  in  Lincolnshire,  whom  he  would  fain 
capture  as  a  ringleader ;  suggests  that  the  use  of  arms  should 
be  prohibited  to  these  treasonous  populations,  except  under 
conditions ;  —  and  seems  hastening  on,  with  almost  furious 
speed ;  towards  Yorkshire  and  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  we 
may  conjecture.  The  second  Letter,  also  without  date  except 
"  Tuesday,"  shadows  to  us  an  official  man,  again  on  business 
of  hot  haste  ;  journeying  from  Monastery  to  Monastery  ;  find- 
ing this  Superior  disposed  to  comply  with  the  King's  Majesty, 
and  that  other  not  disposed,  but  capable  of  being  made  so; 
intimates  farther  that  he  will  lie  at  his  own  House  (presum- 
ably Hinchinbrook),  and  then  straightway  "home,"  and  will 
report  progress  to  my  Lord  in  jwrson.  On  the  whole,  as  tins 
IB  the  earliest  articulate  utterance  of  the  Oliver  Family ;  and 

1  i.  242.  *  Herbert  (in  Kc-anet,  ii.  204,  205). 


30  INTRODUCTION. 

casts  a  faint  glimmer  of  light,  as  from  a  single  flint-spark, 
into  the  dead  darkness  of  the  foregone  century  ;  and  touches 
withal  on  an  acquaintance  of  ours,  the  "Prior  of  Ely,"  — 
Robert  Steward,  last  Popish  Prior,  first  Protestant  Dean  of 
Ely,  and  brother  of  Mrs.  llobert  Cromwell's  ancestor,  which 
is  curious  to  think  of,  —  we  will  give  the  Letter,  more  espe- 
cially as  it  is  very  short :  — 

"  To  my  Lord  Cromwell. 

"  I  have  me  most  humbly  commended  unto  your  Lordship. 
I  rode  on  Sunday  to  Cambridge  to  my  bed ; x  and  the  next 
morning  was  up  betimes,  purposing  to  have  found  at  Ely  Mr. 
Pollard  and  Mr.  Williams.  But  they  were  departed  before 
my  coming:  and  so,  [they]  being  at  dinner  at  Somersham 
with  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  I  overtook  them  [there].3  At  which 
time,  I  opened  your  pleasure  unto  them  in  everything.  Your 
Lordship,  I  think,  shall  shortly  perceive  the  Prior  of  Ely  to 
be  of  a  froward  sort,  by  evident  tokens  ; 8  as,  at  our  coming 
home,  shall  be  at  large  related  unto  you. 

"  At  the  writing  hereof  we  have  done  nothing  at  Ramsey ; 
saving  that  one  night  I  communed  with  the  Abbot ;  whom  I 
found  conformable  to  everything,  as  shall  be  at  this  time 
put  in  act.*  And  then,  as  your  Lordship's  will  is,  as  soon  as 
we  have  done  at  Ramsey,  we  go  to  Peterborough.  And  from 
thence  to  my  House ;  and  so  home.5  The  which,  I  trust,  shall 
be  at  the  farthest  on  this  day  come  seven  days. 

"  That  the  Blessed  Trinity  preserve  your  Lordship's  health ! 
"  Your  Lordship's  most  bounden  Nephew, 

"RICHARD  CROMWELL. 

"  From  RAMSEY,  on  Tuesday  in  the  morning."  6 

1  From  London,  we  suppose. 

2  The  words  within  brackets,  [they]  and  [there],  are  added  for  bringing  out 
the  sense ;  a  plan  we  shall  follow  in  all  the  Original  Letters  of  this  Collection. 

*  He  proved  tamable,  Sir  Richard,  —  and  made  your  Great-grandson  rich, 
for  one  consequence  of  that ! 

4  Brought  to  legal  black-on-white.  6  To  London. 

8  MSS.  Cotton.  Cleopatra  E.  IV.  p.  205  b.  The  envelope  and  address  are 
not  here ;  but  this  docket  of  address,  given  in  a  sixteenth-century  hand,  and 


CHAP.  III.  THE  CROMWELL  KINDRED.  31 

The  other  Letter  is  still  more  express  as  to  the  consanguin- 
ity ;  it  says,  among  other  things,  "  And  longer  than  I  may  have 
heart  so,  as  my  most  bounden  duty  is,  to  serve  the  King's 
Grace  with  body,  goods,  and  all  that  ever  I  am  able  to  make ; 
and  your  Lordship,  as  Nature  and  also  your  manifold  kindness 
bindeth,  —  I  beseech  God  I  no  longer  live."  "As  Nature 
bindeth"  Richard  Cromwell  then  thanks  him,  with  a  bow  to 
the  very  ground,  for  "  my  poore  wyef,"  who  has  had  some  kind 
remembrance  from  his  Lordship  ;  thinks  all  "  his  travail  but  a 
pastime ; "  and  remains,  "  at  Stamford  this  Saturday  at  eleven 
of  the  clock,  your  humble  Nephew  most  bounden,"  as  in  the 
other  case.  A  vehement,  swift-riding  man !  Nephew,  it  has 
been  suggested,  did  not  mean  in  Henry  the  Eighth's  time  so 
strictly  as  it  now  does,  brother's  or  sister's  son:  it  meant 
i/ '/IDS  rather,  or  kinsman  of  a  younger  generation:  but  on  all 
hypotheses  of  its  meaning,  the  consanguinity  of  Oliver  Pro- 
tector of  England  and  Thomas  Mauler 'of  Monasteries  is  not 
henceforth  to  be  doubted. 

Another  indubitable  thing  is,  That  this  Richard,  your 
Nephew  most  bounden,  has  signed  himself  in  various  Law- 
dt't-ds  and  Notarial  papers  still  extant,  "Richard  Cromwell 
Williams  ; "  also  that  his  sons  and  grandsons  continued 
to  sign  Cromwell  alias  Williams;  and  even  that  our  Oliver 
himself  in  his  youth  has  been  known  to  sign  so.  And  then  a 
third  indubitable  thing  on  this  matter  is,  That  Leland,  an 
exact  man,  sent  out  by  Authority  in  those  years  to  take  cogni- 
zance, and  make  report,  of  certain  points  connected  with  the 
Church  Establishments  in  England,  and  whose  well-known 
It'tm-rary  is  the  fruit  of  that  survey,  has  written  in  that  Work 
words;  under  the  head,  "Commotes1  in  Glamorgan- 
shire:"— 

"Kibworth  licth,"  extendeth,  "from  the  mouth  of  Remny 

otherwise  indicated  by  tho  trxt,  N  not  doubtful.  Tho  signature  alone,  and 
linn  preceding  tlint,  nro  in  Kirhard's  hand.  In  tho  Letter  printed  by  Noble 
the  addrem  remains,  in  tin-  bund  »f  Kirluird's  clerk. 

1  Commote  in  the  Webb  word  t'wmwd,  now  obsolete  as  an  official  division, 
ileut  to  cuntrtJ,  hundred.     Kihworth  Commote  10  now  Kihbor  Hun- 
feed 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

up  to  an  Hill  in  the  same  Commote,  called  Kevenon,  a  six 
miles  from  the  mouth  of  Remny.  This  Hill  goeth  as  a  wall 
over-thwart  betwixt  the  Rivers  of  Thave  and  Remny.  A  two 
miles  from  this  Hill  by  the  south,  and  a  two  miles  from 
Cardiff,  be  vestigia  of  a  Pile  or  Manor  Place  decayed,  at 
Egglis  Newith  in  the  Parish  of  Llandaff.1  On  the  south  side 
of  this  Hill  was  born  Richard  Williams  alias  Cromwell,  in  the 
Parish  of  Llanilsen."  3 

That  Richard  Cromwell,  then,  was  of  kindred  to  Thomas 
Cromwell;  that  he,  and  his  family  after  him,  signed  "alias 
Williams;"  and  that  Leland,  an  accurate  man,  said  and 
printed,  in  the  official  scene  where  Richard  himself  was  living 
and  conspicuous,  He  was  born  in  Glamorganshire :  these  three 
facts  are  indubitable;  —  but  to  these  three  we  must  limit  our- 
selves. For,  as  to  the  origin  of  this  same  "alias  Williams," 
whether  it  came  from  the  general  "  Williamses  of  Berkshire,"  8 
or  from  "  Morgan  Williams  a  Glamorganshire  gentleman  mar- 
ried to  the  sister  of  Thomas  Cromwell,"  or  from  whom  or  what 
it  came,  we  have  to  profess  ourselves  little  able,  and  indeed 
not  much  concerned  to  decide.  Williamses  are  many :  there 
is  Richard  Cromwell,  in  that  old  Letter,  hoping  to  breakfast 
with  a  Williams  at  Ely, — but  finds  both  him  and  Pollard 
gone !  Facts,  even  trifling  facts,  when  indisputable  may  have 
significance;  but  Welsh  Pedigrees,  "with  seventy  shields  of 
arms,"  "  Glothian  Lord  of  Powys  "  (prior  or  posterior  to  the 
Deluge),  though  "written  on  a  parchment  eight  feet  by  two 
feet  four,  bearing  date  1602,  and  belonging  to  the  Miss 
Cromwells  of  Hampstead," 4  are  highly  unsatisfactory  to  the 

1  "  Kggli8  Newith  "  is  Erjlwys  Newydd,  New  Church,  as  the  Welsh  peasants 
still  name  it,  though  officially  it  is  now  called  White  Church.    River  "  Thave  " 
means  Taff.    The  description  of  the  wall-like  Hill  between  the  two  streams, 
Tuff  and  Remny,  is  recognizably  correct :  Kevenon,  spelt  Cevn-on,  "  Ash-tree 
ridge,"  is  still  the  name  of  the  Hill. 

2  Noble,  i.  238,  collated  with  Leland  (Oxford,  1769),  iv.  fol.  56,  pp.  37,  38. 
Leland  gathered  his  records  "  in  six  years,"  between  1533  and  1540;  he  died, 
endeavoring  to  assort  them,  in  1552.    They  were  long  afterwards  published 
by  Hearne. 

8  Bioyraphia  Britannica  (London,  1789),  iv.  474. 
«  Noble,  i.  1. 


CIIAI-.  III.  THE   CROMWELL   KINDRED.  33 

ingenuous  mind !  We  have  to  remark  two  things  :  First,  that 
the  Welsh  Pedigree,  with  its  seventy  shields  and  ample  extent 
of  sheepskin,  bears  date  London,  1602 ;  was  not  put  together, 
therefore,  till  about  a  hundred  years  after  the  birth  of  Richard, 
and  at  a  great  distance  from  the  scene  of  that  event :  circum- 
stances which  affect  the  unheraldic  mind  with  some  misgivings. 
Secondly,  that  "learned  Dugdale,"  upon  whom  mainly,  apart 
irom  these  uncertain  Welsh  sheepskins,  the  story  of  this 
Welsh  descent  of  the  Cromwells  seems  to  rest,  has  unfortu- 
nately stated  the  matter  in  two  different  ways,  —  as  being,  and 
then  also  as  not  being,  —  in  two  places  of  his  learned  Lumber- 
Book.1  Which  circumstance  affects  the  unheraldic  mind  with 
still  fataler  misgivings,  —  and  in  fact  raises  irrepressibly  tho 
question  and  admonition,  "  What  boots  it  ?  Leave  the  vain 
region  of  blazonry,  of  rusty  broken  shields  and  genealogical 
marine-stores ;  let  it  remain  forever  doubtful !  The  Fates 
themselves  have  appointed  it  even  so.  Let  the  uncertain 
Simulacrum  of  a  Glothian,  prior  or  posterior  to  Noah's  Deluge, 
hover  between  us  and  the  utter  Void;  basing  himself  on  a 
dust-chaos  of  ruined  heraldries,  lying  genealogies,  and  saltires 
cheeky,  the  best  he  can ! " 

The  small  Hamlet  and  Parish  Church  of  Cromwell,  or  Crum- 
well  (the  Well  of  Crum,  whatever  that  may  be),  still  stands 
on  the  Eastern  edge  of  Nottinghamshire,  not  far  from  the  left 
bank  of  the  Trent ;  simple  worshippers  still  doing  in  it  some 
kind  of  divine  service  every  Sunday.  From  this,  without  any 
ghost  to  teach  us,  we  can  understand  that  the  Cromwell  kin- 
dred all  got  their  name,  —  in  very  old  times  indeed.  From 
torpedo  rubbish-records  we  learn  also,  without  great  difficulty, 
that  the  Barons  Cromwell  were  summoned  to  Parliament  from 
Edward  Second's  time  and  downward;  that  they  had  their 
chief  seat  at  Tattershall  in  Lincolnshire ;  that  there  were  Crom- 
of  distinction,  and  of  no  distinction,  scattered  in  reason- 
able abundance  over  that  Fen-country. — Cromwells  Sheriffs 
of  their  Counties  there  in  Richard's  own  time.8  The  Putney 
Blacksmith,  Father  of  the  Malleus,  or  Hammer  that  smote 

1  DugdAle's  Baronage,  ii.  374,  393. 

*  Fuller's  Wartkut,  §  Cambridgeshire,  Ac. 

VOI        XVII  \j 


34  INTRODUCTION. 

Monasteries  on  the  head,  —  a  Figure  worthy  to  take  his  place 
beside  Hephaistos,  or  Smith  Mimer,  if  we  ever  get  a  Pantheon 
in  this  Nation,  —  was  probably  enough  himself  a  Fen-country 
man ;  one  of  the  junior  branches,  who  came  to  live  by  metal- 
lurgy in  London  here.  Richard,  also  sprung  of  the  Fens,  might 
have  been  his  kinsman  in  many  ways,  have  got  the  name  of 
Williams  in  many  ways,  and  even  been  born  on  the  Hill  be- 
hind Cardiff,  independently  of  Glothian.  Enough :  Richard 
Cromwell,  on  a  background  of  heraldic  darkness,  rises  clearly 
visible  to  us ;  a  man  vehemently  galloping  to  and  fro,  in  that 
sixteenth  century ;  tourneying  successfully  before  King  Harry,1 
who  loved  a  man  ;  quickening  the  death-agonies  of  Monas- 
teries ;  growing  great  on  their  spoil ;  —  and  fated,  he  also,  to 
produce  another  Malleus  Cromwell  that  smote  a  thing  or  two. 
And  so  we  will  leave  this  matter  of  the  Birth  and  Genealogy. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

EVENTS  IN  OLIVER'S  BIOGRAPHY. 

THE  few  ascertained,  or  clearly  imaginable,  Events  in  Oliver's 
Biography  may  as  well  be  arranged,  for  our  present  purpose, 
in  the  form  of  annals. 


Early  in  January  of  this  year,  the  old  Grandfather,  Sir 
Henry,  «  the  Golden  Knight,"  at  Hinchinbrook,  died  :  3  our 
Oliver,  not  quite  four  years  old,  saw  funeralia  and  crapes,  saw 
Father  and  Uncles  with  grave  faces,  and  understood  not  well 
what  it  meant,  —  understood  only,  or  tried  to  understand,  that 
the  good  old  Grandfather  was  gone  away,  and  would  never  pat 

1  Stowe's  Chronicle  (London,  1631),  p.  580;  Stowe's  Survey,  Holinshecl,  &c. 

2  Poor  Noble,  unequal  sometimes  to  the  copying  of  a  Parish-register,  with 
his  judgment  asleep,  dates  this  event  1603-4  (at  p.  20,  vol.  i.),  and  then  placidly 
(at  p.  40)  states  a  fact  inconsistent  therewith. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS   IN  OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  35 

his  head  any  more.  The  maternal  Grandfather,  at  Ely,  was 
yet,  and  for  above  a  dozen  years  more,  living. 

The  same  year,  four  months  afterwards,  King  James,  com- 
ing from  the  North  to  take  possession  of  the  English  crown, 
lodged  two  nights  at  Hinchinbrook ;  with  royal  retinue,  with 
immense  sumptuosities,  addressings,  knight-makings,  ceremo- 
nial exhibitions;  which  must  have  been  a  grand  treat  for  little 
Oliver.  His  Majesty  came  from  the  Belvoir-Castle  region, 
"  hunting  all  the  way,"  on  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday,  27th 
April,  1G03 ;  and  set  off,  through  Huntingdon  and  Godman- 
chester,  towards  Royston,  on  Friday  forenoon.1  The  Cam- 
bridge Doctors  brought  him  an  Address  while  here ;  Uncle 
Oliver,  besides  the  'ruinously  splendid  entertainments,  gave 
him  hounds,  horses  and  astonishing  gifts  at  his  departure.  In 
return  there  were  Knights  created,  Sir  Oliver  first  of  the  batch, 
we  may  suppose ;  King  James  had  decided  that  there  should 
be  no  reflection  for  the  want  of  Knights  at  least.  Among  the 
large  batches  manufactured  next  year  was  Thomas  Steward  of 
Ely,  henceforth  Sir  Thomas,  Mrs.  Robert  Cromwell's  Brother, 
our  Oliver's  Uncle.  Hinchinbrook  got  great  honor  by  this 
and  other  royal  visits ;  but  found  it,  by  and  by,  a  dear-bought 
honor.  — 

( Uiver's  Biographers,  or  rather  Carrion  Heath  his  first  Biog- 
rapher whom  the  others  have  copied,  introduce  various  tales 
into  these  early  years  of  Oliver ;  of  his  being  run  away  with 
i-y  an  ape  along  the  leads  of  Hinchinbrook,  and  England  being 
all  but  delivered  from  him,  had  the  Fates  so  ordered  it;  of  his 
ig  prophetic  spectres ;  of  his  robbing  orchards,  and  fight- 
ing tyrannously  with  boys ;  of  his  acting  in  School  Plays ;  of 
his  &c.  &c. — The  whole  of  which,  grounded  on  "Human  Stu- 
pidity" and  Carrion  Heath  alone,  begs  us  to  give  it  Christian 
burial  once  for  all.  Oliver  attended  the  Public  School  of 
Huntingdon,  which  was  then  conducted  by  a  worthy  Dr.  Beard, 
of  whose  writing  I  possess  a  Book,*  of  whom  we  shiill  In  ar 


rhrrmirlf,  f»12,  tup.. 

•  Thf  Thfatre  (if  (,'nf*  .hitltjmrnts :  hi/  Tf><im<i*  Rmrd,  Doctor  of  Divinity, 
and  Prmrher  of  the  Word  of  (<<nl  in  tin  Ti»m  »/'  HwNtiltgJb*  :  Thirtl  Kditiim,  m- 
treated  by  many  new  Erample*  ("  V.\:\\\\\>\>-~  "  "f  God's  Justice  vindicating  ii«<  If 


36  INTRODUCTION. 

again :  he  learned,  to  appearance  moderately  well,  what  the 
sons  of  other  gentlemen  were  taught  in  such  places ;  went 
through  the  universal  destinies  which  conduct  all  men  from 
childhood  to  youth,  in  a  way  not  particularized  in  any  one 
point  by  an  authentic  record.  Readers  of  lively  imagination 
can  follow  him  on  his  bird-nesting  expeditions,  to  the  top  of 
"  Barnabee's  big  Tree,"  and  else-whither,  if  they  choose  j  on 
his  fen-fowling  expeditions,  social  sports  and  labors  manifold ; 
vacation-visits  to  his  Uncles,  to  Aunt  Hampden  and  Cousin 
John  among  others :  all  these  things  must  have  been ;  but  how 
they  specially  were  is  forever  hidden  from  all  men.  He  had 
kindred  of  the  sort  above  specified ;  parents  of  the  sort  above 
specified,  rigorous  yet  affectionate  persons,  and  very  religious, 
as  all  rational  persons  then  were.  He  had  two  sisters  elder, 
and  gradually  four  younger;  the  only  boy  among  seven. 
Readers  must  fancy  his  growth  there,  in  the  North  end  of 
Huntingdon,  in  the  beginning  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  as 
they  can. 

In  January,  1603-4,1  was  held  at  Hampton  Court  a  kind  of 

openly  on  Violators  of  God's  Law,  —  that  is  the  purport  of  the  Book) :  Lon- 
don, 1631. — A  kindly  ingenious  little  Book;  still  partly  readable,  almost 
lovable  ;  some  thin  but  real  vein  of  perennial  ingenuity  and  goodness  recog- 
nizable in  it.  What  one  might  call  a  Set  of  "  Percy- Anecdotes  ;  "  but  Anec- 
dotes authentic,  solemnly  select,  and  with  a  purpose :  "  Percy- Anecdotes  "  for 
a  more  earnest  Century  than  ours  !  Dedicated  to  the  Mayor  and  Burgesses 
of  Huntingdon,  —  for  sundry  good  reasons ;  among  others,  "  because,  Mr. 
Mayor,  you  were  my  scholar,  and  brought  up  in  my  house." 

1  Here,  more  fitly  perhaps  than  afterwards,  it  may  be  brought  to  mind, 
that  the  English  year  in  those  times  did  not  begin  till  March ;  that  New- 
Year's  Day  was  the  25th  of  March.  So  in  England,  at  that  time,  in  all  records, 
writings  and  books;  as  indeed  in  official  records  it  continued  so  till  1752.  In 
Scotland  it  was  already  not  so ;  the  year  began  with  January  there  ever  siuce 
1  COO ;  —  as  in  all  Catholic  countries  it  had  done  ever  since  the  Papal  alteration 
of  the  Stylt;  in  1532  ;  an7  as  in  most  Protestant  countries,  excepting  England, 
it  soon  after  that  began  to  do.  Scotland  in  respect  of  the  day  of  the  month  still 
followed  the  Old  Style. 

"New- Year's  Day  the  25th  of  March  : "  this  is  the  whole  compass  of  the 
fact ;  with  which  a  reader  in  those  old  books  has,  not  without  more  difficulty 
than  he  expects,  to  familiarize  himself.  It  has  occasioned  more  misdatings 
and  consequent  confusions  to  modern  editorial  persons  than  any  other  as 
simple  circumstance.  So  learned  a  man  as  Whitaker  Historian  of  WhaHey, 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS   IN   OLIVER'S  BIOGRAPHY.  37 

Theological  Convention,  of  intense  interest  all  over  England, 
and  doubtless  at  Huntingdon  too ;  now  very  dimly  known,  if 
at  all  known,  as  the  "  Hampton-Court  Conference."  It  was 
a  meeting  for  the  settlement  of  some  dissentient  humors  in 
religion.  The  Millennary  Petition,  —  what  we  should  now  call 
the  "  Monster  Petition,"  for  the  like  in  number  of  signatures 
was  never  seen  before,  —  signed  by  near  a  thousand  Clergy- 
men, of  pious  straitened  consciences  :  this  and  various  other 
Petitions  to  his  Majesty,  by  persons  of  pious  straitened  con- 
sciences, had  been  presented ;  craving  relief  in  some  cere- 
monial points,  which,  as  they  found  no  warrant  for  them  in 
the  Bible,  they  suspected  (with  a  very  natural  shudder  in  that 
case)  to  savor  of  Idol-worship  and  Mimetic  Dramaturgy,  instead 
of  God-worship,  and  to  be  very  dangerous  indeed  for  a  man  to 
have  concern  with  !  Hampton-Court  Conference  was  accord- 
ingly summoned.  Four  world-famous  Doctors,  from  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  represented  the  pious  straitened  class,  now 
1» •Binning  to  be  generally  conspicuous  under  the  nickname 
I'uritiDis.  The  Archbishop,  the  Bishop  of  London,  also  world- 
famous  men,  with  a  considerable  reserve  of  other  bishops,  deans 
and  dignitaries,  appeared  for  the  Church  by  itself  Church. 
Lord  Chancellor,  the  renowned  Egerton,  and  the  highest  offi- 
cial i>ersons,  many  lords  and  courtiers  with  a  tincture  of  sacred 
science,  in  fact  the  flower  of  England,  appeared  as  witnesses ; 
with  breathless  interest.  The  King  himself  presided;  having 
real  gifts  of  speech,  and  being  very  learned  in  Theology,  — 
which  it  was  not  then  ridiculous  but  glorious  for  him  to  be. 

filling  Sir  George  Raddiffe't  Corm/xwufcnce  (London,  1810),  with  the  lofty  air 
which  sita  well  on  him  on  other  occasions,  has  altogether  forgotten  the  above 
small  circumstance  :  in  consequence  of  which  we  have  Oxford  Carriers  dying 
in  January,  or  the  first  half  of  March,  ami  to  our  great  amazement  going  on 
t..  forward  hutter-boxes  in  the  May  following;  —  and  similar  miracles  not  a 
few  occurring  :  ami  b  short  the  whole  CormpOftdMm  in  jumlilt-d  to  pieces; 
:i  dm-  Lit  of  topsy-turvy  being  introduced  into  the  Spring  of  every  year;  and 
the  learned  F.ditor  ."its,  with  IMH  lofty  air.  presiding  over  more  ChaoH  come 
I !  —  In  the  text  here,  we  of  course  translate  into  the  modern  year,  hut 
leaving  the  day  of  the  month  as  we  find  it ;  and  if  for  greater  assurance  both 
f..rn.-«  he  written  down,  as  for  instance  1603-4,  the  la*t  figure  in  always  the 
modern  one;  100.1-4  means  1604  for  our  calendar. 


38  INTRODUCTION. 

More  glorious  than  the  monarchy  of  what  we  now  call  Litera- 
ture would  be ;  glorious  as  the  faculty  of  a  Goethe  holding 
visibly  of  Heaven:  supreme  skill  in  Theology  then' meant  that. 
To  know  God,  ©cos,  the  Maker,  —  to  know  the  Divine  Laws 
and  inner  Harmonies  of  this  Universe,  vmist  always  be  the 
highest  glory  for  a  man  !  And  not  to  know  them,  always  the 
highest  disgrace  for  a  man,  however  common  it  be  !  — 

Awful  devout  Puritanism,  decent  dignified  Ceremonialism 
(both  always  of  high  moment  in  this  world,  but  not  of  equally 
high),  appeared  here  facing  one  another  for  the  first  time. 
The  demands  of  the  Puritans  seem  to  modern  minds  very 
limited  indeed :  That  there  should  be  a  new  correct  Trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  (granted?),  and  increased  zeal  in  teaching 
(omitted);  That  "lay  inipropriations "  (tithes  snatched  from 
the  old  Church  by  laymen)  might  be  made  to  yield  a  "seventh 
part"  of  their  amount,  towards  maintaining  ministers  in  dark 
regions  which  had  none  (refused)  ;  That  the  Clergy  in  districts 
might  be  allowed  to  meet  together,  and  strengthen  one  an- 
other's hands  as  in  old  times  (refused  with  indignation) ;  — 
on  the  whole  (if  such  a  thing  durst  be  hinted  at,  for  the  tone 
is  almost  inaudibly  low  and  humble),  That  pious  straitened 
Preachers,  in  terror  of  offending  God  by  Idolatry,  and  useful 
to  human  souls,  might  not  be  cast  out  of  their  parishes  for 
genuflexions,  white  surplices  and  such  like,  but  allowed  some 
Christian  libert}r  in  mere  external  things  :  these  were  the 
claims  of  the  Puritans  ;  —  but  his  Majesty  eloquently  scouted 
them  to  the  winds,  applauded  by  all  bishops,  and  dignitaries 
lay  and  clerical ;  said,  If  the  Puritans  would  not  conform, 
he  would  "  hurry  them  out  of  the  country  ;  "  —  and  so  sent 
Puritanism  and  the  Four  Doctors  home  again,  cowed  into* 
silence  for  the  present.  This  was  in  January,  1604.1  News 
of  this,  speech  enough  about  it,  could  not  fail  in  Robert 
Cromwell's  house  among  others.  Oliver  is  in  his  fifth  year,  — 
always  a  year  older  than  the  Century. 

In  November,  1605,  there  likewise  came  to  Robert  Crom- 
well's house,  no  question  of  it,  news  of  the  thrice  unutter- 
able Gunpowder  Plot.  Whereby  King,  Parliament,  and  God's 

1  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans  (London,  1754),  i.  411. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS   IN   OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  89 

Gospel  in  England,  were  to  have  been,  in  one  infernal  moment, 
blown  aloft;  and  the  Devil's  Gospel,  and  accursed  incredi- 
bilities, idolatries,  and  poisonous  confusions  of  the  Romish 
Babylon,  substituted  in  their  room  !  The  eternal  Truth  of  the 
Living  God  to  become  an  empty  formula,  a  shamming  grimace 
o[  the  Three-hatted  Chimera !  These  things  did  fill  Huntingdon 
and  Robert  Cromwell's  house  with  talk  enough,  in  the  winter 
of  Oliver's  sixth  year.  And  again,  in  the  summer  of  his 
eleventh  year,  in  May,  1610,  there  doubtless  failed  not  news 
ami  talk,  How  the  Great  Henry  was  stabbed  in  Paris  streets; 
assassinated  by  the  Jesuits  j  —  black  sons  of  the  scarlet  woman, 
murderous  to  soul  and  to  body. 

Other  things,  in  other  years,  the  diligent  Historical  Student 
will  supply  according  to  faculty.  The  History  of  Europe,  at 
that  epoch,  meant  essentially  the  struggle  of  Protestantism 
against  Catholicism,  —  a  broader  form  of  that  same  struggle, 
of  devout  Puritanism  against  dignified  Ceremonialism,  which 
forms  the  History  of  England  then.  Henry  the  Fourth  of 
France,  so  long  as  he  lived,  was  still  to  be  regarded  as  the 
head  of  Protestantism ;  Spain,  bound  up  with  the  Austrian 
Empire,  as  that  of  Catholicism.  Henry's  "  Grand  Scheme  " 
naturally  strove  to  carry  Protestant  England  along  with  it ; 
James,  till  Henry's  death,  held  on,  in  a  loose  way,  by  Henry ; 
and  his  Political  History,  so  far  as  he  has  any,  may  be  consid- 
ered to  lie  there.  After  Henry's  death,  he  fell  off  to  "  Span- 
ish Infantas,"  to  Spanish  interests ;  and,  as  it  were,  ceased  to 
have  any  History,  nay  began  to  have  a  negative  one. 

Among  the  events  which  Historical  Students  will  supply 
for  Robert  Cromwell's  house,  and  the  spiritual  pabulum  of 
young  Oliver,  the  Death  of  Prince  Henry  in  1612,1  and  the 
l»ective  accession  of  Prince  Charles,  fitter  for  a  ceremo- 
nial Archbishop  than  a  governing  King,  as  some  thought, — 
will  not  be  forgotten.  Then  how  the  Elector  Palatine  was 
married  ;  and  troubles  began  to  brew  in  Germany ;  and  little 
I>r.  Laud  was  maoV  Archdeacon  of  Huntingdon;  —  such  news 
the  Historical  Student  can  supply.  And  on  the  whole,  all 
students  and  persons  can  know  always  thut  Oliver's  mind  was 

1  6th  Nov.  (Caiiideu'B  Annals). 


40  INTRODUCTION. 

kept  full  of  news,  and  never  wanted  for  pabulum !  But  from 
the  day  of  his  Birth,  which  is  jotted  down,  as  above,  in  the 
Parish-register  of  St.  John's  Huntingdon,  there  is  no  other 
authentic  jotting  or  direct  record  concerning  Oliver  himself  to 
be  met  with  anywhere,  till  in  the  Admission-Book  of  Sidney- 
Sussex  College,  Cambridge,  we  come  to  this,1 

1616. 

"  A  Festo  Annunciationis  ad  Festum  Sancti  Michaelis  Arch- 
angeli,  1616 : "  such  (meaning  merely,  From  New-year  s-day,  or 
25th  March,  to  29th  September)  is  the  general  Heading  of  the 
List  of  Scholars,  or  Admissi,  for  that  Term; — and  first  in 
order  there  stands,  "  Oliveritis  Cromwell  Huntingdoniensis  ad- 
missus  ad  commeatum  Sociorum,  Aprilis  vicesimo  tertio  ;  Tutore 
Magistro  Ricardo  Howlet:"  Oliver  Cromwell  from  Hunting- 
don admitted  Fellow  Commoner,  23d  April,  1616 ;  Tutor  Mr. 
Richard  Howlet.  —  Between  which  and  the  next  Entry  some 
zealous  individual  of  later  date  has  crowded  in  these  lines  : 
"  Hie  fuit  grandis  ille  Impostor,  Carnifex  perditissimiis,  qui 
pientissimo  Rege  Carolo  Primo  nefarid  ccede  sublato,  ipsum 
usurjtavit  Thronum,  et  Tria  Regna  per  quinque  ferme  annorum 
spatium,  sttb  Protectoris  nomine,  indomitd  tyrannide  vexavit." 
Had  the  zealous  individual  specifically  dated  this  entry,  it 
had  been  a  slight  improvement, — on  a  thing  not  much  im- 
provable. We  can  guess,  After  1660,  and  not  long  after. 

Curious  enough,  of  all  days,  on  this  same  day  Shakspeare, 
as  his  stone  monument  still  testifies,  at  Stratford-on-Avon, 
died :  — 

"  Obiit  Anno  Domini  1616. 
jEtatis  53.  Die  23  Apr."  2 

While  Oliver  Cromwell  was  entering  himself  of  Sidney-Sussex 
College,  William  Shakspeare  was  taking  his  farewell  of  this 
world.  Oliver's  Father  had,  most  likely,  come  with  him; 
it  is  but  some  fifteen  miles  from  Huntingdon ;  you  can  go 
and  come  in  a  day.  Oliver's  Father  saw  Oliver  write  in  the 
Album  at  Cambridge :  at  Stratford,  Shakspeare's  Ann  Hatha- 

1  Nohle,  i.  254 ; —  corrected  by  the  College  Book  itself. 

2  Collier's  Life  of  Shakspeare  (London,  1845),  p.  253. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS  IN   OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  41 

way  was  weeping  over  his  bed.  The  first  world-great  thiug 
that  remains  of  English  History,  the  Literature  of  Shakspeare, 
was  ending ;  the  second  world-great  thing  that  remains  of 
English  History,  the  armed  Appeal  of  Puritanism  to  the  In- 
visible God  of  Heaven  against  many  very  visible  Devils,  on 
Earth  and  Elsewhere,  was,  so  to  speak,  beginning.  They 
have  their  exits  and  their  entrances.  And  one  People,  in  its 
time,  plays  many  parts. 

Chevalier  Florian,  in  his  Life  of  Cervantes,  has  remarked 
that  Shakspeare's  death-day,  23d  of  April,  161G,  was  likewise 
that  of  Cervantes  at  Madrid.  "  Twenty  -third  of  April"  is, 
sure  enough,  the  authentic  Spanish  date :  but  Chevalier  Florian 
has  omitted  to  notice  that  the  English  twenty-third  is  of  Old 
Style,  The  brave  Miguel  died  ten  days  before  Shakspeare  ;  and 
already  lay  buried,  smoothed  right  nobly  into  his  long  rest. 
The  Historical  Student  can  meditate  on  these  things.  — 

In  the  foregoing  winter,  here  in  England,  there  was  much 
trying  of  Ker  Earl  of  Somerset  and  my  Lady  once  of  Essex, 
and  the  poisoners  of  Overbury;  and  before  Christmas  the 
inferior  murderers  and  infamous  persons  were  mostly  got 
hanged ;  and  in  these  very  days,  while  Oliver  began  his 
studies,  my  Lord  of  Somerset  and  my  Lady  were  tried,  and 
not  hanged.  And  Chief-Justice  Coke,  Coke  upon  Lyttleton, 
had  got  into  difficulties  by  the  business.  And  England  gen- 
erally was  overspread  with  a  very  fetid  atmosphere  of  Court- 
news,  murders,  and  divorce-cases,  in  those  months;  which 
still  a  little  affects  even  the  History  of  England.  Poor  Somer- 
set Ker,  King's  favorite,  "son  of  the  Laird  of  Ferniehirst," 
he  and  his  extremely  unedifying  affairs,  —  except  as  they 
might  transiently  affect  the  nostrils  of  some  Cromwell  of 
importance, —  do  not  much  belong  to  the  History  of  Eng- 
land !  Carrion  ought  at  length  to  be  buried.  Alas,  if  "  wise 
memory"  is  ever  to  prevail,  there  is  need  of  much  "wise 
oblivion  "  first.  — 

Oliver's  Tutor  in  Cambridge,  of  whom  legible  History  and  I 
know  nothing,  was  "  Magister  Richard  Howlet :  "  whom  readers 
must  fancy  a  grave  ancient  Puritan  and  Scholar,  in  dark  anti- 
quarian clothes  aud  dark  antiquarian  ideas,  according  to  their 


42  INTRODUCTION. 

faculty.  The  indubitable  fact  is,  that  he  Richard  Howlet  did, 
in  Sidney-Sussex  College,  with  his  best  ability,  endeavor  to 
infiltrate  something  that  he  called  instruction  into  the  soul  of 
Oliver  Cromwell  and  of  other  youths  submitted  to  him  :  but 
how,  of  what  quality,  with  what  method,  with  what  result, 
will  remain  extremely  obscure  to  every  one.  In  spite  of  moun- 
tains of  books,  so  are  books  written,  all  grows  very  obscure. 
About  this  same  date,  George  Radcliffe,  Wentworth  Strafford's 
George,  at  Oxford,  finds  his  green-baize  table-cover,  which  his 
mother  had  sent  him,  too  small ;  has  it  cut  into  "  stockings," 
and  goes  about  with  the  same.1  So  unfashionable  were  young 
Gentlemen  Commoners  !  Queen  Elizabeth  was  the  first  person 
in  this  country  who  ever  wore  knit  stockings. 

1617. 

In  March  of  this  year,  1617,  there  was  another  royal  visit  at 
Hinchinbrook.2  But  this  time,  I  conceive,  the  royal  entertain- 
ment would  be  much  more  moderate ;  Sir  Oliver's  purse  grow- 
ing lank.  Over  in  Huntingdon,  Robert  Cromwell  was  lying 
sick,  somewhat  indifferent  to  royal  progresses. 

King  James,  this  time,  was  returning  northward  to  visit 
poor  old  Scotland  again,  to  get  his  Pretended-Bishops  set  into 
activity,  if  he  could.  It  is  well  known  that  he  could  not,  to 
any  satisfactory  extent,  neither  now  nor  afterwards :  his  Pre- 
tended-Bishops, whom  by  cunning  means  he  did  get  instituted, 
had  the  name  of  Bishops,  but  next  to  none  of  the  authority, 
of  the  respect,  or,  alas,  even  of  the  cash,  suitable  to  the  reality 
of  that  office.  They  were  by  the  Scotch  People  derisively 
called  Tulchan  Bishops.  —  Did  the  reader  ever  see,  or  fancy  in 
his  mind,  a  Tulchan  ?  A  Tulchan  is,  or  rather  was,  for  the 

1   "  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE,  OXFORD,  4th  Dec.,  1610. 

"  LOVING  MOTHER,  — .  .  .  Send  also,  I  pray  you,  by  Briggs  [this  is  Briggs 
the  Carrier,  who  dies  in  January,  and  continues  forwarding  butter  in  May], 
a  green  table-cloth  of  a  yard  and  half  a  quarter,  and  two  linen  table-cloths. 
...  If  the  green  table-cloth  be  too  little,  I  will  make  a  pair  of  warm  stock- 
ings of  it.  ...  —  Thus  remembering  my  humble  duty,  I  take  my  leave.  — 
Your  loving  Son,  GEORGE  RAHCUFFE." 

Raddiffe's  Letters,  by  Whitaker  (London,  1810),  pp.  64,65. 
*  Camden's  Annals ;  Nichols's  Progresses. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS   IN   OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  43 

thing  is  long  since  obsolete,  a  Calf-skin  stuffed  into  the  rude 
similitude  of  a  Calf,  —  similar  enough  to  deceive  the  imperfect 
perceptive  organs  of  a  Cow.  At  inilking-time  the  Tulchan, 
with  head  duly  bent,  was  set  as  if  to  suck ;  the  fond  cow  look- 
ing round  fancied  that  her  calf  was  busy,  and  that  all  was 
right,  and  so  gave  her  milk  freely,  which  the  cunning  maid 
was  straining  in  white  abundance  into  her  pail  all  the  while  ! 
The  Scotch  milkmaids  in  those  days  cried,  "  Where  is  the  Tul- 
clmn  ;  is  the  Tulchan  ready?"  So  of  the  Bishops.  Scotch 
Lairds  were  eager  enough  to  "  milk "  the  Church  Lands  and 
Tithes,  to  get  the  rents  out  of  them  freely,  which  was  not 
always  easy.  They  were  glad  to  construct  a  Form  of  Bishops 
to  please  the  King  and  Church,  and  make  the  milk  come  with- 
out disturbance.  The  reader  now  knows  what  a  Tulchan 
Bishop  was.  A  piece  of  mechanism  constructed  not  without 
difficulty,  in  Parliament  and  King's  Council,  among  the  Scots  ; 
and  torn  asunder  afterwards  with  dreadful  clamor,  and  scat- 
tered to  the  four  winds,  so  soon  as  the  Cow  became  awake 
to  it!  — 

Villiers  Buckingham,  the  new  favorite,  of  whom  we  say 
little,  was  of  the  royal  party  here.  Dr.  Laud,  too,  King's 
Chaplain,  Archdeacon  of  Huntingdon,  attended  the  King  on 
this  occasion ;  had  once  more  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Hunt- 
ingdon, the  cradle  of  his  promotions,  and  the  birthplace  of 
Oliver.  In  Scotland,  Dr.  Laud,  much  to  his  regret,  found 
"no  religion  at  all,"  no  surplices,  no  altars  in  the  east  or 
anywhere ;  no  bowing,  no  responding ;  not  the  smallest  regu- 
larity of  fuglemanship  or  devotional  drill-exercise ;  in  short 
"no  religion  at  all  that  I  could  see,"  —  which  grieved  me 
much.1 

What  to  us  is  greatly  more  momentous  :  while  these  royal 
things  went  on  in  Scotland,  in  the  end  of  this  same  June  at 
Huntingdon,  Robert  Cromwell  died.  His  Will  is  dated  6th 
.Iiiiit-.2  His  burial-day  is  marked  in  the  Church  of  All-Saints, 
24th  June,  1617.  For  Oliver,  the  chief  mourner,  one  of  the 
moat  pregnant  epochs.  The  same  year,  died  his  old  Graud- 

1  Wharton's  Laud  (London,  1695),  pp.  97,  10<J,  138. 
*  Noble,  i.  84. 


44  INTRODUCTION. 

father  Steward,  at  Ely.  Mrs.  Robert  Cromwell  saw  herself  at 
once  fatherless  and  a  second  time  widowed  in  this  year  of  be- 
reavement. Left  with  six  daughters  and  an  only  son,  of  whom 
three  were  come  to  years. 

Oliver  was  now,  therefore,  a  young  heir ;  his  age  eighteen 
last  April.  How  many  of  his  Sisters,  or  whether  any  of  them, 
were  yet  settled,  we  do  not  learn  from  Noble's  confused  search- 
ing of  records  or  otherwise.  Of  this  Huntingdon  household, 
and  its  new  head,  we  learn  next  to  nothing  by  direct  evidence ; 
but  can  decisively  enough,  by  inference,  discern  several  things. 
"  Oliver  returned  no  more  to  Cambridge."  It  was  now  fit  that 
he  should  take  his  Father's  place  here  at  Huntingdon,  that  he 
should,  by  the  swiftest  method,  qualify  himself  in  some  degree 
for  that. 

The  universal  very  credible  tradition  is,  that  he,  "soon 
after,"  proceeded  to  London,  to  gain  some  knowledge  of  Law. 
"  Soon  after "  will  mean  certain  months,  we  know  not  how 
many,  after  July,  1617.  Noble  says,  he  was  entered  "  of  Lin- 
coln's Inn."  The  Books  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  of  Gray's  Inn,  of  all 
the  Inns  of  Court  have  been  searched ;  and  there  is  no  Oliver 
Cromwell  found  in  them.  The  Books  of  Gray's  Inn  con- 
tain these  Cromwell  Names,  which  are  perhaps  worth  tran- 
scribing :  — 

"Thomas  Cromwell,  1524;  Francis  Cromwell,  1561 ; 
Gilbert  Cromwell,  1609;  Henry  Cromwell,  1620; 
Henry  Cromwell,  22d  February,  1653." 

The  first  of  which  seems  to  me  probably  or  possibly  to  mean 
Thomas  Cromwell  Malleus  Monachorum,  at  that  time  returned 
from  his  Italian  adventures,  and  in  the  service  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey  ;  —  taking  the  opportunity  of  hearing  the  "readers," 
old  Benchers  who  then  actually  read,  and  of  learning  Law. 
The  Henry  Cromwell  of  February,  1653-4  is  expressly  entered 
as  "  Second  sonne  to  his  Highness  Oliver,  Lord  Protector : " 
an  interesting  little  fact,  since  it  is  an  indisputable  one.  For 
the  rest,  Henry  Cromwell  was  already  a  Colonel  in  the  Army 
in  1651 : *  in  1654,  during  the  spring  months  he  was  in  Ire- 

1  Old  Newspaper,  in  Cromwettiana,  p.  91. 


CHAP.  IV.        EVENTS   IN    OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  45 

land  :  in  the  month  of  June  he  was  at  Chippenham  in  Cam- 
bridgeshire with  his  father-in-law,  being  already  married ; 1 
and  next  year  he  went  again  on  political  business  to  Ireland, 
where  he  before  long  became  Lord  Deputy  : 2  if  for  a  while,  in 
the  end  of  1654,  he  did  attend  in  Gray's  Inn,  it  can  only  have 
been,  like  his  predecessor  the  Malleus,  to  gain  some  inkling  of 
Law  for  general  purposes  ;  and  not  with  any  view  towards  Ad- 
vocateship,  which  did  not  lie  in  his  course  at  all,  and  was  never 
very  lovely  either  to  his  Father  or  himself.  Oliver  Cromwell's, 
as  we  said,  is  not  a  name  found  in  any  of  the  Books  in  that 
period. 

Whence  is  to  be  inferred  that  Oliver  was  never  of  any  Inn ; 
that  he  never  meant  to  be  a  professional  Lawyer  ;  that  he  had 
entered  himself  merely  in  the  chambers  of  some  learned  gentle- 
man, with  an  eye  to  obtain  some  tincture  of  Law,  for  doing 
County  Magistracy,  and  the  other  duties  of  a  gentleman  citizen, 
in  a  reputable  manner.  The  stories  of  his  wild  living  while  in 
Town,  of  his  gambling  and  so  forth,  rest  likewise  exclusively 
on  Carrion  Heath ;  and  solicit  oblivion  and  Christian  burial 
from  all  men.  We  cannot  but  believe  he  did  go  to  Town  to 
gain  some  knowledge  of  Law.  But  when  he  went,  how  long 
he  stayed,  cannot  be  known  except  approximately  by  years ; 
under  whom  he  studied,  with  what  fruit,  how  he  conducted 
himself  as  a  young  man  and  law-student,  cannot  be  known  at 
all.  Of  evidence  that  he  ever  lived  a  wild  life  about  Town  or 
elsewhere,  there  exists  no  particle.  To  assert  the  affirmative 
was  then  a  great  reproach  to  him ;  fit  for  Carrion  Heath  and 
others  :  it  would  be  now,  in  our  present  strange  condition  of 
the  Moral  Law,  one  knows  not  what.  With  a  Moral  Law  gone 
all  to  such  a  state  of  moonshine ;  with  the  hard  Stone-tables, 
the  god-given  Precepts  and  eternal  Penalties,  dissolved  all  in 
cant  and  mealy-mouthed  official  flourishiugs,  —  it  might  per- 

1  "  10  May,  1653,  —  Mr.  Henry  Cromwell  to  Elizabeth  Russel"  (Registers 
«f  Kensington  Church,  in  Faulkeuer's  History  of  Kensington,  p.  360). 

3  Here  are  the  successive  dates  ;  4th  March,  1653-4,  he  arrives  at  Dublin 
(Thiir:  AJ/WTI,  ii.  149)  ;  is  at  Chippenham,  18th  June,  1654  (i'6.  ii. 

Ml) ,  arrives  at  Chester  on  his  way  to  Ireland  again,  22d  June,  1655  (16.  Hi. 
681 ) ;  —  produces  his  commiMiou  as  Lord  Deputy,  24th  or  25th  November. 
1067  (Noble,  i.  202). 


46  INTRODUCTION. 

haps,  with  certain  parties,  be  a  credit;  the  admirers  and  the 
censurers  of  Cromwell  have  alike  no  word  to  record  on  the 
subject. 

1618. 

Thursday,  29th  October,  1618.  This  morning,  if  Oliver,  as 
is  probable,  were  now  in  Town  studying  Law,  he  might  be 
eye-witness  of  a  great  and  very  strange  scene ;  the  last  scene 
in  the  Life  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.1  Raleigh  was  beheaded  in 
Old  Palaceyard ;  he  appeared  on  the  scaffold  there  "  about  eight 
o'clock  "  that  morning ;  "  an  immense  crowd,"  all  London,  and 
in  a  sense  all  England,  looking  on.  A  cold  hoar-frosty  morn- 
ing. Earl  of  Arundel,  now  known  to  us  by  his  Greek  Marbles  ; 
Earl  of  Doncaster  ("  Sardanapalus  "  Hay,  ultimately  Earl  of 
Carlisle) ;  these  with  other  earls  and  dignitaries  sat  looking 
through  windows  near  by ;  to  whom  Raleigh  in  his  last  brief 
manful  speech  appealed,  with  response  from  them.  He  had 
failed  of  finding  Eldorados  in  the  Indies  lately ;  he  had  failed, 
and  also  succeeded,  in  many  things  in  his  time  :  he  returned 
home  "with  his  brain  and  his  heart  broken,"  as  he  said;  — 
and  the  Spaniards,  who  found  King  James  willing,  now  wished 
that  he  should  die.  A  very  tragic  scene.  Such  a  man,  with 
his  head  grown  gray ;  with  his  strong  heart  "  breaking,"  — 
still  strength  anough  in  it  to  break  with  dignity.  Somewhat 
proudly  he  laid  his  old  gray  head  on  the  block ;  as  if  saying, 
in  better  than  words,  "  There  then  !  "  The  Sheriff  offered  to 
let  him  warm  himself  again,  within  doors  again  at  a  fire. 
"  Nay,  let  us  be  swift,"  said  Raleigh ;  "  in  few  minutes  my 
ague  will  return  upon  me,  and  if  I  be  not  dead  before  that, 
they  will  say  I  tremble  for  fear."  —  If  Oliver,  among  the  "  im- 
mense crowd,"  saw  this  scene,  as  is  conceivable  enough,  he 
would  not  want  for  reflections  on  it. 

What  is  more  apparent  to  us,  Oliver  in  these  days  is  a 
visitor  in  Sir  James  Bourchier's  Town  residence.  Sir  James 
Bourchier,  Knight,  a  civic  gentleman ;  not  connected  at  all  with 
the  old  Bourchiers  Earls  of  Essex,  says  my  heraldic  friend  ; 
but  seemingly  come  of  City  merchants  rather,  who  by  some  of 

1  Camden ;  Biog.  Britan. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS   IN    OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY  47 

their  quartet-ings  and  cognizances  appear  to  have  been  "  Fur- 
riers," says  he  :  —  Like  enough.  Not  less  but  more  important, 
it  appears  this  Sir  James  Bourchier  was  a  man  of  some  opu- 
lence, and  had  daughters  ;  had  a  daughter  Elizabeth,  not  with- 
out charms  for  the  youthful  heart.  Moreover  he  had  landed 
property  near  Felsted  in  Essex,  where  his  usual  residence  was. 
Kdsted,  where  there  is  still  a  kind  of  School  or  Free-School, 
which  was  of  more  note  in  those  days  than  now.  That  Oliver 
visited  in  Sir  James's  in  Town  or  elsewhere,  we  discover  with 
great  certainty  by  the  next  written  record  of  him. 

1620. 

The  Registers  of  St.  Giles's  Church,  Cripplegate,  London, 
are  written  by  a  third  party  as  usual,  and  have  no  autograph 
signatures ;  but  in  the  List  of  Marriages  for  "  August,  1620," 
stand  these  words,  still  to  be  read  sic :  — 

"  Oliver  Cromwell  to  Elizabeth  Bourcher.     22." 

Milton's  burial-entry  is  in  another  Book  of  the  same  memo- 
nil  .le  Church,  "12  Nov.  1674;"  where  Oliver  on  the  22d  of 
August,  1620,  was  married. 

Oliver  is  twenty-one  years  and  four  months  old  on  this  his 
wi-iMm.i,'-day.  He  repaired,  speedily  or  straightway  we  believe, 
to  Huntingdon,  to  his  Mother's  house,  which  indeed  was  now 
his.  His  Law-studies,  such  as  they  were,  had  already  ended, 
we  infer :  he  had  already  set  up  house  with  his  Mother ;  and 
was  now  bringing  a  wife  home ;  the  due  arrangements  for  that 
pud  having  been  completed.  Mother  and  Wife  were  to  live 
:I«T;  the  Sisters  had  got  or  were  getting  married, — 
NoMc's  researches  and  confused  jottings  do  not  say  specially 
when :  the  Son,  as  new  head  of  the  house,  an  inexperienced 
head,  but  a  teachable,  ever-learning  one,  was  to  take  his  Father's 
place ;  and  with  a  wise  Mother  and  a  good  Wife,  harmonizing 
tolerably  well  we  shall  hope,  was  to  manage  as  he  best  might 
he  continued,  unnoticeable  but  easily  imaginable  by 
lli-tury.  for  almost  ten  years:  farming  lands  ;  most  probably 
.  lin^'  quarter-sessions;  doing  the  civic,  industrial,  and 
social  duties,  in  the  common  way;  —  living  ;is  his  Father 


48  INTRODUCTION. 

before  him  had  done.  His  first  child  was  born  here,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1621 ;  a  son,  Robert,  baptized  at  St.  John's  Church  on  the 
13th  of  the  month,  of  whom  nothing  farther  is  known.1  A 
second  child,  also  a  son,  Oliver,  followed,  whose  baptismal  date 
is  6th  February,  1623,  of  whom  also  we  have  almost  no  farther 
account, — except  one  that  can  be  proved  to  be  erroneous.2 
The  List  of  his  other  children  shall  be  given  by  and  by. 

1623. 

In  October,  1623,  there  was  an  illumination  of  tallow  lights, 
a  ringing  of  bells,  and  gratulation  of  human  hearts  in  all 
Towns  in  England,  and  doubtless  in  Huntingdon  too ;  on  the 
safe  return  of  Prince  Charles  from  Spain  without  the  Infanta.8 
A  matter  of  endless  joy  to  all  true  Englishmen  of  that  day, 
though  no  Englishman  of  this  day  feels  any  interest  in  it  one 
way  or  the  other.  But  Spain,  even  more  than  Rome,  was  the 
chosen  throne  of  Popery ;  which  in  that  time  meant  temporal 
and  eternal  Damnability,  Falsity  to  God's  Gospel,  love  of  pros- 
perous Darkness  rather  than  of  suffering  Light,  —  infinite  base- 
ness rushing  short-sighted  upon  infinite  peril  for  this  world 
and  for  all  worlds.  King  James,  with  his  worldly-wise  endeav- 
orings  to  marry  his  son  into  some  first-rate  family,  never  made 
a  falser  calculation  than  in  this  grand  business  of  the  Spanish 
Match.  The  soul  of  England  abhorred  to  have  any  concern 
with  Spain  or  things  Spanish.  Spain  was  as  a  black  Dom- 
daniel,  which,  had  the  floors  of  it  been  paved  with  diamonds, 
had  the  Infanta  of  it  come  riding  in  such  a  Gig  of  Respectability 
as  was  never  driven  since  Phaeton's  Sun-Chariot  took  the 
road,  no  honest  English  soul  could  wish  to  have  concern  with. 

1  Date  of  his  burial  discovered  lately,  in  the  old  Parish-Register  of  Felsted 
in  Essex ;  recorded  in  peculiar  terms,  and  specially  in  the  then  Vic ar's  hand 
"  Robertas  Cromwell,  Filius    honorandi  viri  Mta   [Mi/itis]    Oliver  is  Cromwell  et 
Elizabeths  Uxorls  ejtis,  sepultus  fuit  31°  die  Mail  1639.     Et  Robertas  fuit  eximie 
plus  juvenis,  Deum  timens  supra  multos."     (See  Edinburgh  Review,  No.  209,  Jan 
uary,  1856,  p.  54.)     So  that  Oliver's  first  great  loss  in  his  Family  was  of 
this  Eldest  Son,  then  in  his  18th  year ;  not  of  a  Younger  one  as  was  hitherto 
supposed.     (Note  of  1857.) 

2  Noble,  i.  134. 

8  H.  L.  (Hamond  1'Estrange),  Reign  of  King  Charles  (London,  1656),  p.  & 
"  October  5th,"  the  Prince  arrived. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS   IN   OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  49 

Hence  England  illuminated  itself.  The  articulate  tendency 
of  this  Solomon  King  had  unfortunately  parted  company  alto- 
gether with  the  inarticulate  but  ineradicable  tendency  of  the 
Country  he  presided  over.  The  Solomon  King  struggled  one 
way  ;  and  the  English  Nation  with  its  very  life-fibres  was  com- 
pelled to  struggle  another  way.  The  rent  by  degrees  became 
wide  enough ! 

For  the  present,  England  is  all  illuminated,  a  new  Parliament 
is  summoned ;  which  welcomes  the  breaking  of  the  Spanish 
Match,  as  one  might  welcome  the  breaking  of  a  Dr.  Faustus's 
Bargain,  and  a  deliverance  from  the  power  of  sorcerers.  Uncle 
Oliver  served  in  this  Parliament,  as  was  his  wont,  for  Hunting- 
donshire. They  and  the  Nation  with  one  voice  impelled  the 
poor  old  King  to  draw  out  his  fighting  tools  at  last,  and  beard 
this  Spanish  Apollyon,  instead  of  making  marriages  with  it. 
No  Pitt's  cmsade  against  French  Sansculottism  in  the  end  of 
the  Eighteenth  Century  could  be  so  welcomed  by  English  Pre- 
servers of  the  Game,  as  this  defiance  of  the  Spanish  Apollyon 
was  by  Englishmen  in  general  in  the  beginning  of  the  Seven- 
teenth. The  Palatinate  was  to  be  recovered,  after  all ;  Prot- 
estantism, the  sacred  cause  of  God's  Light  and  Truth  against 
the  Devil's  Falsity  and  Darkness,  was  to  be  fought  for  and 
secured.  Supplies  were  voted  ;  "  drums  beat  in  the  City  "  and 
elsewhere,  as  they  had  done  three  years  ago,1  to  the  joy  of  all 
men,  when  the  Palatinate  was  first  to  be  "  defended :  "  but  now 
it  was  to  be  "  recovered ; "  now  a  decisive  effort  was  to  be  made. 
The  issue,  as  is  well  known,  corresponded  ill  with  these  begin- 
nings. Count  Mansfeldt  mustered  his  levies  here,  and  set  sail ; 
but  neither  France  nor  any  other  power  would  so  much  as  let 
him  land.  Count  Mansfeldt's  levies  died  of  pestilence  in  their 
ships;  "their  bodies,  thrown  ashore  on  the  Dutch  coast,  were 
••at«-n  by  hogs,"  till  half  the  armament  was  dead  on  shipboard : 
nothing  came  of  it,  nothing  could  come.  With  a  Jamea  Stuart 
for  Generalissimo,  there  is  no  good  fighting  possible.  The 
poor  King  himself  soon  after  died ;  *  left  the  matter  to  develop 
itself  in  other  still  fataler  ways. 

»  llth  June,  1620  (Camden's  Annalt). 

*  Sunday,  27th  March,  1625  (Wilson,  in  Keunet,  ii   790). 

TOL    XVII.  4 


50  INTRODUCTION. 

In  those  years  it  must  be  that  Dr.  Simcott,  Physician  in 
Huntingdon,  had  to  do  with  Oliver's  hypochondriac  maladies. 
He  told  Sir  Philip  Warwick,  unluckily  specifying  no  date,  or 
none  that  has  survived,  "  he  had  often  been  sent  for  at  mid- 
night ; "  Mr.  Cromwell  for  many  years  was  very  "  splenetic  " 
(spleen-struck),  often  thought  he  was  just  about  to  die,  and 
also  "had -fancies  about  the  Town  Cross." 1  Brief  intimation  ; 
of  which  the  reflective  reader  may  make  a  great  deal.  Samuel 
Johnson  too  had  hypochondrias;  all  great  souls  are  apt  to 
have,  —  and  to  be  in  thick  darkness  generally,  till  the  eternal 
ways  and  the  celestial  guiding-stars  disclose  themselves,  and 
the  vague  Abyss  of  Life  knit  itself  up  into  Firmaments  for 
them.  Temptations  in  the  Wilderness,  Choices  of  Hercules, 
and  the  like,  in  succinct  or  loose  form,  are  appointed  for  every 
man  that  will  assert  a  soul  in  himself  and  be  a  man.  Let 
Oliver  take  comfort  in  his  dark  sorrows  and  melancholies. 
The  quantity  of  sorrow  he  has,  does  it  not  mean  withal  the 
quantity  of  sympathy  he  has,  the  quantity  of  faculty  and  vic- 
tory he  shall  yet  have  ?  Our  sorrow  is  the  inverted  image  of 
our  nobleness.  The  depth  of  our  despair  measures  what  capa- 
bility and  height  of  claim  we  have  to  hope.  Black  smoke  as 
of  Tophet  filling  all  your  universe,  it  can  yet  by  true  heart- 
energy  become  flame,  and  brilliancy  of  Heaven.  Courage ! 

It  is  therefore  in  these  years,  undated  by  History,  that  we 
must  place  Oliver's  clear  recognition  of  Calvinistic  Christianity ; 
what  he,  with  unspeakable  joy,  would  name  his  Conversion ;  his 
deliverance  from  the  jaws  of  Eternal  Death.  Certainly  a  grand 
epoch  for  a  man :  properly  the  one  epoch ;  the  turning-point 
which  guides  upwards,  or  guides  downwards,  him  and  his 
activity  forevermore.  Wilt  thou  join  with  the  Dragons  ;  wilt 
thou  join  with  the  Gods  ?  Of  thee  too  the  question  is  asked  ;  — 
whether  by  a  man  in  Geneva  gown,  by  a  man  in  "  Four  sur- 
plices at  Allhallowtide,"  with  words  very  imperfect ;  or  by  no 
man  and  no  words,  but  only  by  the  Silences,  by  the  Eternities, 
by  the  Life  everlasting  and  the  Death  everlasting.  That  the 
"Sense  of  difference  between  Right  and  Wrong  "  had  filled  all 
,Time  and  all  Space  for  man,  and  bodied  itself  forth  into  a 

1  Sir  Philip  Warwick's  Memoirs  (London,  1701),  p.  249. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS  IN  OLIVER'S  BIOGRAPHY.  61 

Heaven  and  Hell  for  him;  this  constitutes  the  grand  fea- 
ture of  those  Puritan,  Old-Christian  Ages ;  this  is  the  element 
which  stamps  them  as  Heroic,  and  has  rendered  their  works 
great,  manlike,  fruitful  to  all  generations.  It  is  by  far  the 
meraorablest  achievement  of  our  Species;  without  that  ele- 
ment, in  some  form  or  other,  nothing  of  Heroic  had  ever  been 
among  us. 

For  many  centuries,  Catholic  Christianity,  a  fit  embodiment 
of  that  divine  Sense,  had  been  current  more  or  less,  making 
the  generations  noble :  and  here  in  England,  in  the  Century 
called  the  Seventeenth,  we  see  the  last  aspect  of  it  hitherto,  — 
not  the  last  of  all,  it  is  to  be  hoped.  Oliver  was  henceforth 
a  Christian  man ;  believed  in  God,  not  on  Sundays  only,  but 
on  all  days,  in  all  places  and  in  all  cases. 

1624. 

The  grievance  of  Lay  Impropriations,  complained  of  in  the 
Hampton-Court  Conference  twenty  years  ago,  having  never 
been  abated,  and  many  parts  of  the  country  being  still  thought 
insufficiently  supplied  with  Preachers,  a  plan  was  this  year 
fallen  upon  to  raise  by  subscription,  among  persons  grieved  at 
that  state  of  matters,  a  Fund  for  buying  in  such  Impropriations 
as  might  offer  themselves ;  for  supporting  good  ministers  there- 
with, in  destitute  places ;  and  for  otherwise  encouraging  the 
ministerial  work.  The  originator  of  this  scheme  was  "the 
famous  Dr.  Preston," l  a  Puritan  College  Doctor  of  immense 
"  fame  "  in  those  and  in  prior  years  ;  courted  even  by  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  and  tempted  with  the  gleam  of  bishoprics  ;  but 
mouldering  now  in  great  oblivion,  not  famous  to  any  man.  His 
sHit-me,  however,  was  found  good.  The  wealthy  London  Me- 
diants, almost  all  of  them  Puritans,  took  it  up ;  and  by  degrees 
the  wealthier  Puritans  over  England  at  large.  Considerable 
ever-increasing  funds  were  subscribed  forthis  pious  object ;  were 
rested  in  "  Feoffees,"  —  who  afterwards  made  some  noise  in  the 
world,  under  that  name.  They  gradually  purchased  some  Ad- 
vowsons  or  Impropriations,  such  as  came  to  market ;  and  hired 
or  assisted  in  hiring,  a  great  many  '•  Lecturers,"  persons  not 
*  Heyliu'B  Lift  of 


52  INTRODUCTION. 

generally  in  full  "  Priest's-orders  "  (having  scruples  about  the 
ceremonies),  but  in  "  Deacon's "  or  some  other  orders,  with 
permission  to  preach,  to  "lecture,"  as  it  was  called:  whom 
accordingly  we  find  lecturing  in  various  places,  under  various 
conditions,  in  the  subsequent  years  ;  —  often  in  some  market- 
town,  "  on  market-day ; "  on  "  Sunday-afternoon,"  as  supple- 
mental to  the  regular  Priest  when  he  might  happen  to  be  idle, 
or  given  to  black  and  white  surplices  ;  or  as  "  running  Lectur- 
ers," now  here,  now  there,  over  a  certain  district.  They  were 
greatly  followed  by  the  serious  part  of  the  community ;  and 
gave  proportional  offence  in  other  quarters.  In  some  years 
hence,  they  had  risen  to  such  a  height,  these  Lecturers,  that 
Dr.  Laud,  now  come  into  authority,  took  them  seriously  in  hand, 
and  with  patient  detail  hunted  them  mostly  out ;  nay  brought 
the  Feoffees  themselves  and  their  whole  Enterprise  into  the 
Star-chamber,  and  there,  with  emphasis  enough,  and  heavy 
damages,  amid  huge  rumor  from  the  public,  suppressed  them. 
This  was  in  1633 ;  a  somewhat  strong  measure.  How  would 
the  Public  take  it  now,  if,  —  we  say  not  the  gate  of  Heaven, 
but  the  gate  of  the  Opposition  Hustings  were  suddenly  shut 
against  mankind,  —  if  our  Opposition  Newspapers,  and  their 
morning  Prophesyings,  were  suppressed!  —  That  Cromwell 
was  a  contributor  to  this  Feoffee  Fund,  and  a  zealous  forwarder 
of  it  according  to  his  opportunities,  we  might  already  guess ; 
and  by  and  by  there  will  occur  some  vestige  of  direct  evidence 
to  that  effect. 

Oliver  naturally  consorted  henceforth  with  the  Puritan 
Clergy  in  preference  to  the  other  kind;  zealously  attended 
their  ministry,  when  possible;  —  consorted  with  Puritans  in 
general,  many  of  whom  were  Gentry  of  his  own  rank,  some  of 
them  Mobility  of  much  higher  rank.  A  modest  devout  man, 
solemnly  intent  "  to  make  his  calling  and  his  election  sure ; "  to 
whom,  in  credible  dialect,  the  Voice  of  the  Highest  had  spoken. 
Whose  earnestness,  sagacity  and  manful  worth  gradually  made 
hiin  conspicuous  in  his  circle  among  such.  —  The  Puritans  were 
already  numerous.  John  Hampden,  Oliver's  Cousin,  was  a 
devout  Puritan,  John  Pym  the  like ;  Lord  Brook,  Lord  Say, 
Lord  Montague,  —  Puritans  in  the  better  ranks,  and  in  every 


Cau-.  IV.       EVENTS   IN  OLIVER'S    KIOGRAPHY.  ^3 

rank,  abounded.  Already,  either  in  conscious  act  or  in  clear 
tendency,  the  far  greater  part  of  the  serious  Thought  and 
Manhood  of  England  had  declared  itself  Puritan. 

1625. 

Mark  Noble,  citing  Willis's  Notitia,  reports  that  Oliver 
appeared  this  year  as  Member  "for  Huntingdon"  in  King 
Charles's  first  Parliament."  *  It  is  a  mistake  ;  grounded  on 
mere  blunders  and  clerical  errors.  Browne  Willis,  in  his  No- 
tlti'i  Parliamentarian  does  indeed  specify  as  Member  for  Hunt- 
ingdonshire an  "  Oliver  Cromwell,  Esq.,"  who  might  be  our 
Oliver.  But  the  usual  member  in  former  Parliaments  is  Sir 
Oliver,  our  Oliver's  Uncle.  Browne  Willis  must  have  made,  or 
have  copied,  some  slip  of  the  pen.  Suppose  him  to  have  found 
in  some  of  his  multitudinous  parchments,  an  "  Oliver  Crom- 
well, Knight  of  the  Shire : "  and  in  place  of  putting  in  the 

''to  have  put  in  "  Esq. ;  "  it  will  solve  the  whole  difficulty. 
<  >ur  Oliver,  when  he  indisputably  did  afterwards  enter  Parlia- 
ment, came  in  for  Huntingdon  Town  ;  so  that,  on  this  hypothe- 
sis, he  must  have  first  been  Knight  of  the  Shire,  and  then 
have  sunk  (an  immense  fall  in  those  days)  to  be  a  Burgh  Mem- 

which  cannot  without  other  ground  be  credited.  What 
the  original  Chancery  Parchments  say  of  the  business,  whether 
the  error  is  theirs  or  Browne  Willis's,  I  cannot  decide :  on 
inquiry  at  the  Rolls'  Office,  it  turns  out  that  the  Records,  for 
some  fifty  years  about  this  period,  have  vanished  "a  good 
while  ago."  Whose  error  it  may  be,  we  know  not ;  but  an 
error  we  may  safely  conclude  it  is.  Sir  Oliver  was  then  still 
living  at  Hinrhinbrook.  in  the  vigor  of  his  years,  no  reason 
whatever  why  he  should  not  serve  as  formerly ;  nay,  if  he  had 
withdrawn,  his  young  Nephew,  of  no  fortune  for  a  Knight  of 
the  Shire,  was  not  the  man  to  replace  him.  The  Members  for 
Huntingdon  Town  in  this  Parliament,  as  in  the  preceding 

iro  .1  Mr.  Main  waring  and  a  Mr.  St.  John.     The  County 

hers  in  the  preceding  Parliament,  and  in  this  too  with 
tlu-  c.-rr.M  tii.n  of  the  concluding  syllable  in  this,  are  "Edward 
Montague,  Esquire,"  and  "Oliver  Cromwell,  Knight." 

*  Noble,  i.  100, 


54  INTRODUCTION. 

1626. 

In  the  Ashmole  Museum  at  Oxford  stands  catalogued  a 
"Letter  from  Oliver  Cromwell  to  Mr.  Henry  Downhall,  at 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge  ;  dated,  Huntingdon,  14  October, 
1626 ;  "  l  which  might  perhaps,  in  some  very  faint  way,  have 
elucidated  Dr.  Simcott  and  the  hypochondrias  for  us.  On 
applying  to  kind  friends  at  Oxford  for  a  copy  of  this  Letter, 
I  learn  that  there  is  now  no  Letter,  only  a  mere  selvage  of 
paper,  and  a  leaf  wanting  between  two  leaves.  It  was  stolen, 
none  knows  when  ;  but  stolen  it  is ;  —  which  forces  me  to  con- 
tinue my  Introduction  some  nine  years  farther,  instead  of  end- 
ing it  at  this  point.  Did  some  zealous  Oxford  Doctor  cut  the 
Letter  out,  as  one  weeds  a  hemlock  from  a  parsley-bed ;  that 
so  the  Ashmole  Museum  might  be  cleansed,  and  yield  only 
pure  nutriment  to  mankind?  Or  was  it  some  collector  of 
autographs,  eager  beyond  law  ?  Whoever  the  thief  may  be, 
he  is  probably  dead  long  since ;  and  has  answered  for  this,  — 
and  also,  we  may  fancy,  for  heavier  thefts,  which  were  likely 
to  be  charged  upon  him.  If  any  humane  individual  ever 
henceforth  get  his  eye  upon  the  Letter,  let  him  be  so  kind 
as  send  a  copy  of  it  to  the  Publishers  of  this  Book,  and  no 
questions  will  be  asked.8 

1627. 

A  Deed  of  Sale,  dated  20th  June,  1627,  still  testifies  that 
Hinchinbrook  this  year  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Crom- 
wells  into  those  of  the  Montagues.8  The  price  was  £3,000 ; 
curiously  divided  into  two  parcels,  down  to  shillings  and 
pence,  —  one  of  the  parcels  being  already  a  creditor's.  The 
Purchaser  is  "Sir  Sidney  Montague,  Knight,  of  Barnwell, 
one  of  his  Majesty's  Masters  of  the  Requests."  Sir  Oliver 
Cromwell,  son  of  the  Golden  Knight,  having  now  burnt  out 
his  splendor,  disappeared  in  this  way  from  Hinchinbrook ; 
retired  deeper  into  the  Fens,  to  a  place  of  his  near  Ramsey 

1  Bodleian  Library :   Codices  MSS.  Asfimoleani,  No.  8398. 

2  Letter  found,  worth  nothing  :  Appendix,  No.  1.  (Note  to  Second  Edition.) 
•  Noble,  i.  43. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS   IN   OLIVER'S  BIOGRAPHY.  55 

Mere,  where  he  continued  still  thirty  years  longer  to  reside, 
in  an  eclipsed  manner.  It  was  to  this  house  at  Ramsey  that 
Oliver,  our  Oliver,  then  Captain  Cromwell  in  the  Parliament's 
service,  paid  the  domiciliary  visit  much  talked  of  in  the  old 
Hooks.  The  reduced  Kuight,  his  Uncle,  was  a  Royalist  or 
Malignant;  and  his  house  had  to  be  searched  for  arms,  for  mu- 
nitions, for  furnishings  of  any  sort,  which  he  might  be  minded 
to  send  off  to  the  King,  now  at  York,  and  evidently  intending 
war.  Oliver's  dragoons  searched  with  due  rigor  for  the  arms ; 
while  the  Captain  respectfully  conversed  with  his  Uncle ;  and 
even  "insisted"  through  the  interview,  say  the  old  Books, 
"  on  standing  uncovered  : "  which  latter  circumstance  may  be 
taken  as  an  astonishing  hypocrisy  in  him,  say  the  old  block- 
head Books.  The  arms,  munitions,  furnishings  were  with  all 
rigor  of  law,  not  with  more  rigor  and  not  with  less,  carried 
away  ;  and  Oliver  parted  with  his  Uncle,  for  that  time,  not 
"craving  his  blessing,"  I  think,  as  the  old  blockhead  Books 
say ;  but  hoping  he  might,  one  day,  either  get  it  or  a  better 
th;in  it,  for  what  he  had  now  done.  Oliver,  while  in  military 
charge  of  that  country,  had  probably  repeated  visits  to  pay  to 
his  Uncle ;  and  they  knew  little  of  the  mail  or  of  the  circum- 
stances, who  suppose  there  was  any  likelihood  or  any  need 
of  either  insolence  or  hypocrisy  in  the  course  of  these. 

As  for  the  old  Knight,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of 
easy  temper ;  given  to  sumptuosity  of  hospitality  ;  and  averse 
to  severer  duties.1  When  his  eldest  son,  who  also  showed  a 
turn  for  expense,  presented  him  a  schedule  of  debts,  craving 
;ii«l  towards  the  payment  of  them,  Sir  Oliver  answered  with 
a  Id :md  sigh,  "I  wish  they  were  paid."  Various  Cromwells, 
sons  of  his,  nephews  of  his,  besides  the  great  Oliver,  took  part 
in  the  Civil  War,  some  on  this  side,  some  on  that,  whose  in- 
distinct designations  in  the  old  Books  are  apt  to  occasion  mis- 
takes with  modern  readers.  Sir  Oliver  vanishes  now  from 
Hinchinbrook,  and  all  the  public  business  records,  into  the 
darker  places  of  the  Fens.  His  name  disappears  from  Willis : 
—  in  the  next  Parliament,  the  Knight  of  the  Shire  for  Hunt- 
ingdon becomes,  inM«-;nl  of  him,  "Sir  Capell  Bedall,  Baronet." 

1   Full,  r'.-   W  .ithiet,  §  HuutiiigduiiMliire. 


56  INTRODUCTION. 

The  purchaser  of  Hinchinbrook,  Sir  Sidney  Montague,  was 
brother  of  the  first  Earl  of  Manchester,  brother  of  the  third 
Lord  Montague  of  Boughton ;  and  father  of  "  the  valiant 
Colonel  Montague/'  valiant  General  Montague,  Admiral  Mon- 
tague, who,  in  an  altered  state  of  circumstances,  became  first 
Earl  of  Sandwich,  and  perished,  with  a  valor  worthy  of  a 
better  generalissimo  than  poor  James  Duke  of  York,  in  the 
Sea-fight  of  Solebay  (Southwold  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Suffolk) 
in  1672.1 

In  tnese  same  years,  for  the  dates  and  all  other  circum- 
stances of  the  matter  hang  dubious  in  the  vague,  there  is 
record  given  by  Dugdale,  a  man  of  very  small  authority  on 
these  Cromwell  matters,  of  a  certain  suit  instituted,  in  the 
King's  Council,  King's  Court  of  Requests,  or  wherever  it 
might  be,  by  our  Oliver  and  other  relations  interested,  con- 
cerning the  lunacy  of  his  Uncle,  Sir  Thomas  Steward  of  Ely. 
It  seems  they  alleged,  This  Uncle  Steward  was  incapable  of 
managing  his  affairs,  and  ought  to  be  restrained  under  guar- 
dians. Which  allegation  of  theirs,  and  petition  grounded  on 
it,  the  King's  Council  saw  good  to  deny :  whereupon  —  Sir 
Thomas  Steward  continued  to  manage  his  affairs,  in  an  in- 
capable or  semi-capable  manner;  and  nothing  followed  upon 
it  whatever.  Which  proceeding  of  Oliver's,  if  there  ever  was 
such  a  proceeding,  we  are,  according  to  Dugdale,  to  consider 
an  act  of  villany,  —  if  we  incline  to  take  that  trouble.  What 
we  know  is,  That  poor  Sir  Thomas  himself  did  not  so  con- 
sider it ;  for,  by  express  testament  some  years  afterwards,  he 
declared  Oliver  his  heir  in  chief,  and  left  him  considerable 
property,  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  So  that  there  is  this 
dilemma :  If  Sir  Thomas  was  imbecile,  then  Oliver  was  right ; 
and  unless  Sir  Thomas  was  imbecile,  Oliver  was  not  wrong ! 
Alas,  all  calumny  and  carrion,  does  it  not  incessantly  cry, 
"  Earth,  oh,  for  pity's  sake,  a  little  earth !  " 

1628. 

Sir  Oliver  Cromwell  has  faded  from  the  Parliamentary 
scene  into  the  deep  Fen-country,  but  Oliver  Cromwell,  Esq., 

1  Collins's  Peerage  (London,  1741),  ii.  286-289. 


CHAP.  IV.      EVENTS   IN     OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  57 

appears  there  as  Member  for  Huntingdon,  at  Westminster  on 
".Monday  the  17th  of  March,"  1627-8.  This  was  the  Third 
Parliament  of  Charles :  by  much  the  most  notable  of  all  Par- 
liaments till  Charles's  Long  Parliament  met,  which  proved 
his  last. 

Having  sharply,  with  swift  impetuosity  and  indignation, 
dismissed  two  Parliaments,  because  they  would  not  "supply" 
him  without  taking  "grievances"  along  with  them;  and,  mean- 
while and  afterwards,  having  failed  in  every  operation  foreign 
and  domestic,  at  Cadiz,  at  Rhe,  at  Rochelle ;  and  having  failed, 
too,  in  getting  supplies  by  unparliamentary  methods,  Charles 
"  consulted  with  Sir  Robert  Cotton  what  was  to  be  done ; " 
who  answered,  Summon  a  Parliament  again.  So  this  cele- 
brated Parliament  was  summoned.  It  met,  as  we  said,  in 
March,  1628,  and  continued  with  one  prorogation  till  March, 
1629.  The  two  former  Parliaments  had  sat  but  a  few  weeks 
each,  till  they  were  indignantly  hurled  asunder  again ;  this 
one  continued  nearly  a  year.  Wentworth  (Strafford)  was  of 
this  Parliament;  Hauipden  too,  Selden,  Pym,  Holies,  and 
others  known  to  us :  all  these  had  been  of  former  Parliaments 
as  well ;  Oliver  Cromwell,  Member  for  Huntingdon,  sat  there 
for  the  first  time. 

It  is  very  evident,  King  Charles,  baffled  in  all  his  enter- 
prises, and  reduced  really  to  a  kind  of  crisis,  wished  much  this 
Parliament  should  succeed;  and  took  what  he  must  have 
thought  incredible  pains  for  that  end.  The  poor  King  strives 
visibly  throughout  to  control  himself,  to  be  soft  and  patient ; 
inwardly  writhing  and  rustling  with  royal  rage.  Unfortunate 
King,  we  see  him  chafing,  stamping,  —  a  very  fiery  steed,  but, 
I  «ri. lied,  check-bitted,  by  innumerable  straps  and  considera- 
tions ;  struggling  much  to  be  composed.  Alas,  it  would  not  do. 
This  Parliament  was  more  Puritanic,  more  intent  on  rigorous 
and  divine  Gospel,  than  any  other  had  ever  been.  As 
indeed  all  these  Parliaments  grow  strangely  in  Puritanism ; 
more  and  ever  more  earnest  rises  from  the  hearts  of  them  all, 
"  ' '  Sacred  Majesty,  lead  us  not  to  Antichrist,  to  Illegality,  to 
temporal  and  eternal  Perdition  !  "  The  Nobility  and  Gentry  of 
Engluiid  were  then  a  very  strange  body  of  men.  The  English 


58  INTRODUCTION. 

Squire  of  the  Seventeenth  Century  clearly  appears  to  have 
believed  in  God,  not  as  a  figure  of  speech,  but  as  a  very  fact, 
very  awful  to  the  heart  of  the  English  Squire.  "  He  wore  his 
Bible-doctrine  round  him,"  says  one,  "  as  our  Squire  wears 
his  shot-belt ;  went  abroad  with  it,  nothing  doubting."  King 
Charles  was  going  on  his  father's  course,  only  with  fright- 
ful acceleration :  he  and  his  respectable  Traditions  and  No- 
tions, clothed  in  old  sheepskin  and  respectable  Church-tippets, 
were  all  pulling  one  way;  England  and  the  Eternal  Laws 
pulling  another;  —  the  rent  fast  widening  till  no  man  could 
heal  it 

This  was  the  celebrated  Parliament  which  framed  the  Peti- 
tion of  Bight,  and  set  London  all  astir  with  "  bells  and  bon- 
fires "  at  the  passing  thereof ;  and  did  other  feats  not  to  be 
particularized  here.  Across  the  murkiest  element  in  which 
any  great  Entity  was  ever  shown  to  human  creatures,  it  still 
rises,  after  much  consideration,  to  the  modern  man,  in  a  dim 
but  undeniable  manner,  as  a  most  brave  and  noble  Parliament. 
The  like  of  which  were  worth  its  weight  in  diamonds  even 
now ;  —  but  has  grown  very  unattainable  now,  next  door  to  in- 
credible now.  We  have  to  say  that  this  Parliament  chastised 
sycophant  Priests,  Mainwariug,  Sibthorp,  and  other  Arminian 
sycophants,  a  disgrace  to  God's  Church;  that  it  had  an  eye 
to  other  still  more  elevated  Church-Sycophants,  as  the  main- 
spring of  all ;  but  was  cautious  to  give  offence  by  naming  them. 
That  it  carefully  "  abstained  from  naming  the  Duke  of  Buck 
ingham."  That  it  decided  on  giving  ample  subsidies,  but  not 
till  there  were  reasonable  discussion  of  grievances.  That  in 
manner  it  was  most  gentle,  soft-spoken,  cautious,  reverential ; 
and  in  substance  most  resolute  and  valiant.  Truly  with  valiant 
patient  energy,  in  a  slow  steadfast  English  manner,  it  carried, 
across  infinite  confused  opposition  and  discouragement,  its 
Petition  of  Right,  and  what  else  it  had  to  carry.  Four  hun- 
dred brave  men,  —  brave  men  and  true,  after  their  sort !  One 
laments  to  find  such  a  Parliament  smothered  under  Dryasdust's 
shot-rubbish.  The  memory  of  it,  could  any  real  memory  of  it 
rise  upon  honorable  gentlemen  and  us,  might  be  admonitory,  — 
would  be  astonishing  at  least.  We  must  clip  one  extract  from 


CHAP.  IV.        EVENTS  IN   OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  59 

Rnshworth's  huge  Rag-fair  of  a  Book;  the  mournfulest  torpedo 
rubbish-heap,  of  jewels  buried  under  sordid  wreck  and  dust 
and  dead  ashes,  one  jewel  to  the  wagon-load;  —  and  let  the 
render  try  to  make  a  visual  scene  of  it  as  he  can.  Here,  we  say, 
is  an  old  Letter,  which  "  old  Mr.  Chamberlain  of  the  Court  of 
Wards,"  a  gentleman  entirely  unknown  to  us,  received  fresh 
and  new,  before  breakfast,  on  a  June  morning  of  the  year  1628 ; 
of  which  old  Letter  we,  by  a  good  chance,1  have  obtained  a  copy 
for  the  reader.  It  is  by  Mr.  Thomas  Alured,  a  good  Yorkshire 
friend,  Member  for  Malton  in  that  county ;  —  written  in  a  hand 
which,  if  it  were  not  naturally  stout,  would  tremble  with  emo- 
tion. Worthy  Mr.  Alured,  called  also  "  Al'red  "  or  «  Aldred ; " 
uncle  or  father,  we  suppose,  to  a  "  Colonel  Alured,"  well  known 
afterwards  to  Oliver  and  us :  he  writes ;  we  abridge  and  pre- 
sent, as  follows  :  — 

"  FRIDAY,  6th  June,  1628. 

"  SIB,  —  Yesterday  was  a  day  of  desolation  among  us  in 
Parliament;  and  this  day,  we  fear,  will  be  the  day  of  our 
dissolution. 

"  Upon  Tuesday  Sir  John  Eliot  moved  that  as  we  intended 
to  furnish  his  Majesty  with  money,  we  should  also  supply  him 
with  counsel.  Representing  the  doleful  state  of  affairs,  he 
:  fd  there  might  be  a  Declaration  made  to  the  King,  of  the 
danger  wherein  the  Kingdom  stood  by  the  decay  and  contempt 
of  religion,  by  the  insufficiency  of  his  Ministers,  by  the  "  &c. 
&c.  "  Sir  Humphrey  May,  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy,  said,  '  it 
was  a  strange  language ; '  yet  the  House  commanded  Sir  John 
Eliot  to  go  on.  Whereupon  the  Chancellor  desired,  'If  he 
went  on,  he  the  Chancellor  might  go  out.'  They  all  bade  him 
'  begone  : '  yet  he  stayed,  and  heard  Sir  John  out.  The  House 
generally  inclined  to  such  a  Declaration  ;  which  was  accordingly 
resolved  to  be  set  about. 

"  But  next  day,  Wednesday,  we  had  a  Message  from  his  Maj- 
esty by  the  Speaker,  That  as  the  Session  was  positively  to  end 

>  KnHhworth'B  Ifiitoneal  CuUtctiant  (London,  1682),  i.  609,  610.     (Note,  v,,Li. 
ii  :iml  iii.  of  thus  Copy  are  of  1680,  *  prior  edition  seemingly  ;  iv.  and  v.  of 
vi.  and  vii.  of  1701  ;  viii.,  Stra fiord1*  Trial,  of  I  Too.) 


60  INTRODUCTION. 

in  a  week,  we  should  husband  the  time,  and  despatch  our  old 
businesses  without  entertaining  new  !" —  Intending  neverthe- 
less "  to  pursue  our  Declaration,  we  had,  yesterday,  Thursday 
morning,  a  new  Message  brought  us,  which  I  have  here  en» 
closed.  Which  requiring  us  Not  to  cast  or  lay  any  aspersion 
upon  any  Minister  of  his  Majesty,  the  House  was  much  affected 
thereby."  Did  they  not  in  former  times  proceed  by  fining 
and  committing  John  of  Gaunt,  the  King's  own  son ;  had 
they  not,  in  very  late  times,  meddled  with  and  sentenced  the 
Lord  Chancellor  Bacon  and  others  ?  What  are  we  arriving 
at!  — 

"  Sir  Robert  Philips  of  Somersetshire  spake,  and  mingled 
his  words  with  weeping.  Mr.  Pyni  did  the  like.  Sir  Edward 
Cook  [old  Coke  upon  Lyttleton],  overcome  with  passion,  seeing 
the  desolation  likely  to  ensue,  was  forced  to  sit  down  when  he 
began  to  speak,  by  the  abundance  of  tears."  Oh,  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain of  the  Court  of  Wards,  was  the  like  ever  witnessed  ? 
"  Yea,  the  Speaker  in  his  speech  could  not  refrain  from  weep- 
ing and  shedding  of  tears.  Besides  a  great  many  whose  grief 
made  them  dumb.  But  others  bore  up  in  that  storm,  and  en- 
couraged the  rest."  We  resolved  ourselves  into  a  Committee, 
to  have  freer  scope  for  speech ;  and  called  Mr.  Whitby  to  the 
chair. 

The  Speaker,  always  in  close  communication  with  his  Maj- 
esty, craves  leave  from  us,  with  much  humility,  to  withdraw 
"  for  half  an  hour ;  "  which,  though  we  knew  well  whither  he 
was  going,  was  readily  granted  him.  It  is  ordered,  "  No  other 
man  leave  the  House  upon  pain  of  going  to  the  Tower."  And 
now  the  speaking  commences,  "  freer  and  frequenter,"  being  in. 
Committee,  and  old  Sir  Edward  Coke  tries  it  again. 

"  Sir  Edward  Cook  told  us,  '  He  now  saw  God  had  not  ac- 
cepted of  our  humble  and  moderate  carriages  and  fair  proceed- 
ings ;  and  he  feared  the  reason  was,  We  had  not  dealt  sincerely 
with  the  King  and  Country,  and  made  a  true  representation  of 
the  causes  of  all  those  miseries.  Which  he,  for  his  part,  re- 
pented that  he  had  not  done  sooner.  And  therefore,  not  know- 
ing whether  he  should  ever  again  speak  in  this  House,  he 
would  now  do  it  freely ;  and  so  did  here  protest,  That  the 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS   IN   OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  61 

author  and  cause  of  all  those  miseries  was  —  THE  DUKE  OF 
BUCKINGHAM.'  Which  was  entertained  and  answered  with  a 
cheerful  acclamation  of  the  House.  [Yea,  yea !  Well  moved, 
well  spoken !  Yea,  yea !]  As,  when  one  good  hound  recovers 
the  scent,  the  rest  come  in  with  full  cry ;  so  they  (we)  pursued 
it,  and  every  one  came  home,  and  laid  the  blame  where  he 
thought  the  fault  was,"  —  on  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  to  wit. 
"  And  as  we  were  putting  it  to  the  question,  Whether  he 
should  be  named  in  our  intended  Remonstrance  as  the  chief 
cause  of  all  our  miseries  at  home  and  abroad,  —  the  Speaker, 
living  been,  not  half  an  hour,  but  three  hours  absent,  and 
with  the  King,  returned;  bringing  this  Message,  That  the 
House  should  then  rise  (being  about  eleven  o'clock),  adjourn 
till  the  morrow  morning,  and  no  Committees  to  sit,  or  other 
business  to  go  on,  in  the  interim."  And  so,  ever  since,  King's 
Majesty,  Speaker,  Duke  and  Councillors,  they  have  been  medi- 
tating it  all  night ! 

"What  we  shall  expect  this  morning,  therefore,  God  of 
Heaven  knows  !  We  shall  meet  betimes  this  morning ;  partly 
for  the  business'  sake ;  and  partly  because,  two  days  ago,  we 
made  an  order,  That  whoever  comes  in  after  Prayers  shall  pay 
twelvepence  to  the  poor. 

"  Sir,  excuse  my  haste :  —  and  let  us  have  your  prayers ; 
whereof  both  you  and  we  have  need.  I  rest,  —  affectionately 
at  your  service, 

"THOMAS  ALURED." 

This  scene  Oliver  saw,  and  formed  part  of;  one  of  the 
memorablest  he  was  ever  in.  Why  did  those  old  honorable 
gentlemen  "  weep  "  ?  How  came  tough  old  Coke  upon  Ly ttle- 
ton,  one  of  the  toughest  men  ever  made,  to  melt  into  tears 
like  a  girl,  and  sit  down  unable  to  speak  ?  The  modern  honor- 
able gentleman  cannot  tell.  Let  him  consider  it,  and  try  if  he 
can  tell !  And  then,  putting  off  his  Shot-belt,  and  striving  to 
put  on  some  Bible-doctrine,  some  earnest  God's  truth  or  other, 
—  try  if  he  can  discover  why  he  cannot  tell !  — 

The  Remonstrance  against  Buckingham  was  perfected ;  the 
hounds  huvin^  ;,'<>t  all  upon  the  scent.  Buckingham  was  ex- 


62  INTRODUCTION. 

pressly  "  named/' — a  daring  feat :  and  so  loud  were  the  hounds, 
and  such  a  tune  in  their  baying,  his  Majesty  saw  good  to  con- 
firm, and  ratify  beyond  shadow  of  cavil,  the  invaluable  Petition 
of  Eight,  and  thereby  produce  "  bonfires,"  and  bob-majors  upon 
all  bells.  Old  London  was  sonorous ;  in  a  blaze  with  joy-fires. 
Soon  after  which,  this  Parliament,  as  London,  and  England, 
and  it,  all  still  continued  somewhat  too  sonorous,  was  hastily, 
with  visible  royal  anger,  prorogued  till  October  next,  —  till 
January  as  it  proved.  Oliver,  of  course,  went  home  to  Hunt- 
ingdon to  his  harvest-work;  England  continued  simmering 
and  sounding  as  it  might. 

The  day  of  prorogation  was  the  26th  of  June.1  One  day 
in  the  latter  end  of  August,  John  Felton,  a  short  swart  Suffolk 
gentleman  of  military  air,  in  fact  a  retired  lieutenant  of  grim 
serious  disposition,  went  out  to  walk  in  the  eastern  parts  of 
London.  Walking  on  Tower  Hill,  full  of  black  reflections 
on  his  own  condition,  and  on  the  condition  of  England,  and  a 
Duke  of  Buckingham  holding  all  England  down  into  the  jaws 
of  ruin  and  disgrace,  — John  Felton  saw,  in  evil  hour,  on  some 
cutler's  stall  there,  a  broad  sharp  hunting-knife,  price  one 
shilling.  John  Felton,  with  a  wild  flash  in  the  dark  heart  of 
him,  bought  the  said  knife ;  rode  down  to  Portsmouth  with 
it,  where  the  great  Duke  then  was;  struck  the  said  knife, 
with  one  fell  plunge,  into  the  great  Duke's  heart.  This  was 
on  Saturday,  the  23d  of  August  of  this  same  year.2' 

Felton  was  tried;  saw  that  his  wild  flashing  inspiration 
had  been  not  of  God,  but  of  Satan.  It  is  known  he  repented : 
when  the  death-sentence  was  passed  on  him,  he  stretched  out 
his  right  hand ;  craved  that  this  too,  as  some  small  expiation, 
might  first  be  stricken  off ;  which  was  denied  him,  as  against 
law.  He  died  at  Tyburn ;  his  body  was  swinging  in  chains 
at  Portsmouth ;  —  and  much  else  had  gone  awry,  when  the 
Parliament  reassembled,  in  January  following,  and  Oliver 
came  up  to  Town  again. 

1  Commons  Journals,  i.  920. 

2  Clarendon  (i.  68);   Hamond  1'Estrange  (p.  90);    D'Ewes  (MS.  Auto- 
biography), &c. ;   all  of  whom  report  the  minute  circumstances  of  the  assassi- 
nation, not  one  of  them  agreeing  completely  with  another. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS  IN  OLIVER'S  BIOGRAPHY.  63 

1629. 

The  Parliament  Session  proved  very  brief;  but  very  ener- 
getic, very  extraordinary.  "  Tonnage  and  Poundage,"  what  we 
now  call  Custom-house  Duties,  a  constant  subject  of  quarrel 
between  Charles  and  his  Parliaments  hitherto,  had  again  been 
levied  without  Parliamentary  consent;  in  the  teeth  of  old 
Tallagio  non  concedendo,  nay  even  of  the  late  solemnly  con- 
firmed Petition  of  Right ;  and  naturally  gave  rise  to  Parlia- 
mentary consideration.  Merchants  had  been  imprisoned  for 
refusing  to  pay  it;  Members  of  Parliament  themselves  had 
been  "  supcena'd : "  there  was  a  very  ravelled  coil  to  deal  with 
in  regard  to  Tonnage  and  Poundage.  Nay  the  Petition  of 
Right  itself  had  been  altered  in  the  Printing;  a  very  ugly 
business  too. 

In  regard  to  Religion  also,  matters  looked  equally  ill. 
Sycophant  Mainwaring,  just  censured  in  Parliament,  had  been 
promoted  to  a  fatter  living.  Sycophant  Montague,  in  the  like 
circumstances,  to  a  Bishopric :  Laud  was  in  the  act  of  con- 
secrating him  at  Croydon,  when  the  news  of  Buckingham's 
death  came  thither.  There  needed  to  be  a  Committee  of 
Religion.  The  House  resolved  itself  into  a  Grand  Committee 
of  Religion ;  and  did  not  want  for  matter.  Bishop  Neile  of 
Winchester,  Bishop  Laud  now  of  London,  were  a  frightfully 
ceremonial  pair  of  Bishops ;  the  fountain  they  of  innumerable 
tendencies  to  Papistry  and  the  old-clothes  of  Babylon!  It 
was  in  this  Committee  of  Religion,  on  the  llth  day  of  Febru- 
ary, 1628-9,  that  Mr.  Cromwell,  Member  for  Huntingdon,  stood 
up  and  made  his  first  Speech,  a  fragment  of  which  has  found 
its  \v:iy  into  History,  and  is  now  known  to  all  mankind.  He 
said  "  He  had  heard  by  relation  from  one  Dr.  Beard  [his  old 
Srhoolmast.T.-it  Huntingdon],  that  Dr..  Alablaster  had  preached 
tint  I'..]... i yat  Paul's  Cross;  and  that  the  Bishop  of  Winchester 
[Dr.  Neile]  had  commanded  him  as  his  Diocesan,  He  should 
•It  not  hi  i  i-.r  t<»  flip  contrary.  Mainwaring,  so  justly  cen- 
sun-d  in  this  House  for  his  sermons,  was  by  the  same  Bishop's 
nirnns  preferred  to  a  rich  living.  If  these  are  the  steps  to 
Church-preferment,  what  aro  we  to  expect?"  l 

1   Parliamrntary  Hintory  (Ixmclou,  1763),  viii.  289. 


64  INTRODUCTION. 

Dr.  Beard,  as  the  reader  knows,  is  Oliver's  old  Schoolmaster 
at  Huntingdon ;  a  grave,  speculative,  theological  old  gentleman, 
seemingly,  —  and  on  a  level  with  the  latest  news  from  Town. 
Of  poor  Dr.  Alablaster  there  may  be  found  some  indistinct, 
and  instantly  forgettable  particulars  in  Wood's  Athence.  Paul's 
Cross,  of  which  I  have  seen  old  Prints,  was  a  kind  of  Stone 
Tent,  "with  leaden  roof,"  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Paul's 
Cathedral,  where  Sermons  were  still,  and  had  long  been, 
preached  in  the  open  air;  crowded  devout  congregations 
gathering  there,  with  forms  to  sit  on,  if  you  came  early. 
Queen  Elizabeth  used  to  "  tune  her  pulpits,"  she  said,  when 
there  was  any  great  thing  on  hand;  as  Governing  Persons 
now  strive  to  tune  their  Morning  Newspapers.  Paul's  Cross,  a 
kind  of  Times  Newspaper,  but  edited  partly  by  Heaven  itself, 
was  then  a  most  important  entity !  Alablaster,  to  the  horror 
of  mankind,  was  heard  preaching  "flat  Popery"  there, — 
"  prostituting  our  columns,"  in  that  scandalous  manner !  And 
Neile  had  forbidden  him  to  preach  against  it :  "  what  are  we 
to  expect  ?  " 

The  record  of  this  world-famous  utterance  of  Oliver  still 
Jies  in  manuscript  in  the  British  Museum,  in  Mr.  Crewe's 
Notebook,  or  another's  :  it  was  first  printed  in  a  wretched  old 
Book  called  Epliemeris  Parliamentaria,  professing  to  be  com- 
piled by  Thomas  Fuller;  and  actually  containing  a  Preface 
recognizable  as  his,  but  nothing  else  that  we  can  so  recognize : 
for  "  quaint  old  Fuller  •*'  is  a  man  of  talent ;  and  this  Book 
looks  as  if  compiled  by  some  spiritual  Nightmare,  rather  than 
a  rational  Man.  Probably  some  greedy  Printer's  compilation  ; 
to  whom  Thomas,  in  ill  hour,  had  sold  his  name.  In  the  Com- 
mons Journals,  of  that  same  day,  we  are  farther  to  remark, 
there  stands,  in  perennial  preservation,  this  notice :  "  Upon 
question,  Ordered,  That  Dr.  Beard  of  Huntingdon  be  written 
to  by  Mr.  Speaker,  to  come  up  and  testify  against  the  Bishop ; 
the  order  for  Dr.  Beard  to  be  delivered  to  Mr.  Cromwell." 
The  first  mention  of  Mr.  Cromwell's  name  in  the  Books  of 
any  Parliament.  — 

A  new  Remonstrance  behooves  to  be  resolved  upon ;  Bishops 
Neile  and  Laud  are  even  to  be  named  there.  Whereupon, 


.  ,,u    IV.        EVENTS   IN   OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  65 

before  they  could  get  well  "  named,"  perhaps  before  Dr.  Beard 
had  well  got  up  from  Huntingdon  to  testify  against  them,  the 
King  hastily  interfered.  This  Parliament,  in  a  fortnight 
more,  was  dissolved ;  and  that  under  circumstances  of  the 
most  unparalleled  sort.  For  Speaker  Finch,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  a  Courtier,  in  constant  communication  with  the  King: 
one  day  while  these  high  matters  were  astir,  Speaker  Finch 
refused  to  "  put  the  question,"  when  ordered  by  the  House ! 
He  said  he  had  orders  to  the  contrary  ;  persisted  in  that ;  — 
and  at  last  took  to  weeping.  What  was  the  House  to  do? 
Adjourn  for  two  days,  and  consider  what  to  do !  On  the 
second  day,  which  was  Wednesday,  Speaker  Finch  signified 
that  by  his  Majesty's  command  they  were  again  adjourned  till 
Monday  next.  On  Monday  next,  Speaker  Finch,  still  recusant, 
would  not  put  the  former  nor  indeed  any  question,  having  the 
Kind's  order  to  adjourn  again  instantly.  He  refused;  was 
reprimanded,  menaced;  once  more  took  to  weeping;  then 
started  up  to  go  his  ways.  But  young  Mr.  Holies,  Denzil 
Holies,  the  Earl  of  Clare's  second  son,  he  and  certain  other 
honorable  members  were  prepared  for  that  movement :  they 
seized  Speaker  Finch,  set  him  down  in  his  chair,  and  by  main 
force  held  him  there  !  A  scene  of  such  agitation  as  was  never 
seen  in  Parliament  before.  "  The  House  was  much  troubled." 
"  Let  him  go ! "  cried  certain  Privy  Councillors,  Majesty's 
Ministers  as  we  should  now  call  them,  who  in  those  days  sat 
in  front  of  the  Speaker;  "Let  Mr.  Speaker  go!"  cried  they 
imploringly. — "No!"  answered  Holies;  "God's  wounds,  he 
shall  sit  there  till  it  please  the  House  to  rise!"  The  House, 
in  a  decisive  though  almost  distracted  manner,  with  their 
Speaker  thus  held  down  for  them,  locked  their  doors;  re- 
dacted Three  emphatic  Resolutions,  their  Protest  against 
Arminianism,  against  Papistry,  against  illegal  Tonnage  and 
Poundage;  and  passed  the  same  by  acclamation;  letting  no 
man  out,  refusing  to  let  even  the  King's  Usher  in;  then 
swiftly  vanishing  so  soon  as  the  resolutions  were  passed,  for 
they  understood  the  Soldiery  was  coming.1  For  which  surpris- 
ing procedure,  vindicated  by  Necessity  the  mother  of  Inven- 

1  Kuahworth,  i   067-669. 
"•i     xvii.  6 


66  INTRODUCTION. 

tion  and  supreme  of  Lawgivers,  certain  honorable  gentlemen, 
Denzil  Holies,  Sir  John  Eliot,  William  Strode,  John  Selden, 
and  others  less  known  to  us,  suffered  fine,  imprisonment  and 
much  legal  tribulation :  nay  Sir  John  Eliot,  refusing  to  sub- 
mit, was  kept  in  the  Tower  till  he  died. 

This  scene  fell  out  on  Monday,  2d  of  March,  1629.  Directly 
on  the  back  of  which,  we  conclude,  Mr.  Cromwell  quitted 
Town  for  Huntingdon  again ;  —  told  Dr.  Beard  also  that  he 
was  not  wanted  now ;  that  he  might  at  leisure  go  on  with  his 
Theatre  of  God's  Judgments  now.1  His  Majesty  dissolved  the 
Parliament  by  Proclamation ;  saying  something  about  "  vipers  " 
that  had  been  there. 

It  was  the  last  Parliament  in  England  for  above  eleven 
years.  The  King  had  taken  his  course.  The  King  went  on 
raising  supplies  without  Parliamentary  law,  by  all  conceivable 
devices  ;  of  which  Ship-money  may  be  considered  the  most 
original,  and  sale  of  Monopolies  the  most  universal.  The 
monopoly  of  "  soap  "  itself  was  very  grievous  to  men.2  Your 
soap  was  dear,  and  it  would  not  wash,  but  only  blister.  The 
ceremonial  Bishops,  Bishop  or  Archbishop  Laud  now  chief  of 
them,  —  they,  on  their  side,  went  on  diligently  hunting  out 
"  Lecturers,"  erecting  "  altars  in  the  east  end  of  churches ;  " 
charging  all  clergymen  to  have,  in  good  repair  and  order, 
"  Four  surplices  at  Allhallowtide."  8  Vexations  spiritual  and 
fiscal,  beyond  what  we  can  well  fancy  now,  afflicted  the  souls 
of  men.  The  English  Nation  was  patient ;  it  endured  in 
silence,  with  prayer  that  God  in  justice  and  mercy  would  look 
upon  it.  The  King  of  England  with  his  chief-priests  was 
going  one  way ;  the  Nation  of  England  by  eternal  laws  was 
going  another  :  the  split  became  too  wide  for  healing.  Oliver 
and  others  seemed  now  to  have  done  with  Parliaments  ;  a 
royal  Proclamation  forbade  them  so  much  as  to  speak  of  such 
a  thing. 

1  Third  Edition,  "increased  with  many  new  examples,"  in  1631. 

2  See  many  old  Pamphlets. 

8  Laud's  Diary,  iu  Whartou's  Laud, 


CHAP  IV,      EVENTS  IN  OLIVER'S  BIOGRAPHY.  67 

1630. 

In  the  "  new  charter  "  granted  to  the  Corporation  of  Hunt- 
ingdon, and  dated  8th  July,  1630,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Esquire, 
Thomas  Beard,  D.D.  his  old  Schoolmaster,  and  Robert  Bar- 
nard, Esquire,  of  whom  also  we  may  hear  again,  are  named 
Justices  of  the  Peace  for  that  Borough.1  I  suppose  there  was 
nothing  new  in  this  nomination ;  a  mere  confirming  and  con- 
tinuing of  what  had  already  been.  But  the  smallest  authentic 
fact,  any  undoubted  date  or  circumstance  regarding  Oliver  and 
his  affairs,  is  to  be  eagerly  laid  hold  of. 

1631. 

In  or  soon  after  1631,  as  we  laboriously  infer  from  the  im- 
broglio records  of  poor  Noble,  Oliver  decided  on  an  enlarged 
sphere  of  action  as  a  Farmer ;  sold  his  properties  in  Hunting- 
don, all  or  some  of  them ;  rented  certain  grazing-lands  at  St. 
Ives,  five  miles  down  the  River,  eastward  of  his  native  place, 
;ind  removed  thither.  The  Deed  of  Sale  is  dated  7th  May, 
1<'».'!l;*  the  properties  are  specified  as  in  the  possession  of 
himself  or  his  Mother;  the  sum  they  yielded  was  £1,800. 
With  this  sum  Oliver  stocked  his  Grazing-Farm  at  St.  Ives. 
The  Mother,  we  infer,  continued  to  reside  at  Huntingdon, 
hut  withdrawn  now  from  active  occupation,  into  the  retire- 
ment befitting  a  widow  advanced  in  years.  There  is  even 
some  gleam  of  evidence  to  that  effect:  her  properties  are 
sold:  but  Oliver's  children  born  to  him  at  St.  Ives  are  still 
christened  at  Huntingdon,  in  the  Church  he  was  used  to; 
which  may  mean  also  that  their  good  Grandmother  was 
still  there. 

Properly  this  was  no  change  in  Oliver's  old  activities;  it 
was  an  enlargement  of  the  sphere  of  them.  His  Mother  still 
at  Huntingdon,  within  few  miles  of  him,  he  could  still  super- 
intend and  protect  her  existence  there,  while  managing  his 
new  operations  at  St  Ives.  He  continued  here  till  the  sum- 

1  Noble,  i.  102  *  Ibid.  i.  103, 104. 


68  INTRODUCTION. 

mer  or  spring  of  1636. l  A  studious  imagination  may  suffi- 
ciently construct  the  figure  of  his  equable  life  in  those  years. 
Diligent  grass-farming ;  mowing,  milking,  cattle-marketing  : 
add  "hypochondria,"  fits  of  the  blackness  of  darkness,  with 
glances  of  the  brightness  of  very  Heaven ;  prayer,  religious 
reading  and  meditation ;  household  epochs,  joys  and  cares  :  — 
we  have  a  solid  substantial  inoffensive  Farmer  of  St.  Ives, 
hoping  to  walk  with  integrity  and  humble  devout  diligence 
through  this  world ;  and,  by  his  Maker's  infinite  mercy,  to 
escape  destruction,  and  find  eternal  salvation,  in  wider  Divine 
Worlds.  This  latter,  this  is  the  grand  clause  in  his  Life, 
which  dwarfs  all  other  clauses.  Much  wider  destinies  than 
he  anticipated  were  appointed  him  on  Earth ;  but  that,  in  com- 
parison to  the  alternative  of  Heaven  or  Hell  to  all  Eternity, 
was  a  mighty  small  matter. 

The  lands  he  rented  are  still  there,  recognizable  to  the 
Tourist ;  gross  boggy  lands,  fringed  with  willow-trees,  at  the 
east  end  of  the  small  Town  of  St.  Ives,  which  is  still  noted 
as  a  cattle-market  in  those  parts.  The  "  Cromwell  Barn,"  the 
pretended  "  House  of  Cromwell,"  the  &c.  &c.  are,  as  is  usual 
in  these  cases,  when  you  come  to  try  them  by  the  documents, 
a  mere  jumble  of  incredibilities,  and  oblivious  human  plati- 
tudes, distressing  to  the  mind. 

But  a  Letter,  one  Letter  signed  Oliver  Cromwell  and  dated 
St.  Ives,  does  remain,  still  legible  and  indubitable  to  us.  What 
more  is  to  be  said  on  St.  Ives  and  the  adjacent  matters  will 
best  arrange  itself  round  that  Document.  One  or  two  entries 
here,  and  we  arrive  at  that,  and  bring  these  imperfect  Intro- 
ductory Chronicles  to  a  close. 

1632. 

In  January  of  this  year  Oliver's  seventh  child  was  born  to 
him  ;  a  boy,  James  ;  who  died  the  day  after  baptism.  There 
remained  six  children,  of  whom  one  other  died  young;  it  is 
not  known  at  what  date.  Here  subjoined  is  the  List  of  them, 

»  Noble,  i.  106. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS  IN   OLIVER'S  BIOGRAPHY.  69 

and  of  those  subsequently  born  ;  in  a  Note,  elaborated,  as 
before,  from  the  imbroglios  of  Noble.1 

This  same  year,  William  Prynne  first  began  to  make  a  noise 
in  England.     A  learned  young  gentleman  "  from  Swainswick, 

1  OLIVER  CROMWELL'S  CHILDREN. 
(Married  to  Elizabeth  Bourchier,  22d  Angnst,  1620.) 

1.  Robert;  bapti/ed  13th  October,  1C21.     Named  for  his  Grandfather.     No 
farther  account  of  him  (except,  now,  supra,  p.  48  n.) ;  he  died  before  ripe 
years. 

2.  Oliver  ;   baptized    6th    February,   1622-3  ;    went    to    Felsted    School. 
"Captain  in  Harrison's  Regiment,"  —  no.     At  Peterborough  in  1643  (Noble, 
i   133,  134).     He  died,  or  was  killed  during  the  War  ;  date  and  place  not  yet 
discoverable.     Noble  says  it  was  at  Appleby;  referring  to  Whitlocke.     Whit- 
locke  (p.  318  of  1st  edition,  322  of  2d),  on   ransacking  the  old  Pamphlets, 
turns  out  to  be  indisputably  in  error.     The  Protector  on  his  death-bed  alludes 
to  this  Oliver's  death  :  "  It  went  to  my  heart  like  a  dagger,  indeed  it  did." 

3.  Bridget ;  baptized  4th  August,  1624.     Married  to  Ireton,  15th  of  Juue, 
1640  (Xohle,  i.  134,  ia  twice  in  error) ;  widow,  26th  November,  1651.     Married 
to  Fleetwood  (exact  date,  after  long  search,  remains  undiscovered ;  Noble, 
ii.  355,  says  "  before  "  June,  1652,  —  at  random  seemingly).     Died  at  Stoke 
N.-wington,  near  London,  September,  1681. 

4.  Richard;  born  4th  October,  1626.     At  Felsted  School.     "  In  Lincoln's 
Inn,  27th  May,  1647  :  "  an  error  ?     Married,  in  1649,  Richard  Mayor's  daugh- 
ter, of  Hursley,  Hants.     First  in  Parliament,  1654.     Protector,  1658.     Dies, 
poor  idle  Triviality,  at  Cheshunt,  12th  July,  1712. 

5.  Henry;  baptized  at  All-Saints  (the  rest  are  at  St.  John's),  Huntingdon, 
20th  January,  1627-8.    Felsted  School.    In  the  army  at  sixteen.    Captain, 
under  Harrison  I  think,  in  1647.     Colonel  in  1640,  and  iu  Ireland  with  his 
Father.     Lord  Deputy  there  in   1657.     In  1060  retired  to  Spiuney  Abbey, 
"  near  Snham,"  nearer  Wicken,  in  Cambridgeshire.     Foolish  story  of  Charles 
II.  and  tho  "  stable-fork  "  there  (Noble,  i.  212).     Died  2:id   March,  1673-4 ; 
Inirieil  in  \Vi<  ken  Church.     A  brave  man  and  true  :  had  he  been  named  Pro- 
tector, there  had,  most  likely,  been  quite  another  History  of  England  to  write, 
at  present ! 

6.  Elizalteth;  baptized  2d  July,   1029.     Mrs.  Claypole,  1645-6.     Died  at 
3  in    the  morning,    Hampton-court,  6th  August,   1058,  —  four  weeks  before 
h»-r  Father.     A  graceful,  bravo  ami  amiable  woman.     The  lamentation  about 
1  >r   Hi-wit,  ami  "  bloodshed  "  (in  Clarendou  and  others)  is  fudge. 

At  St.  Ivos  and  Kly  .  — 

7.  Jnmis:  bapti/.ed  sth  January,  1031-2;  died  next  day. 

8.  Mary;    baptized  (at  Huntingdon  still)  IHh  February,   1630-7.      I 
nberir,  l*tli   November,  U",.r,7.     Dean  Swift  knew  her     "handsome  an. I 

like  her  Father."   (Journal  Iu  Stella,  "  13th   Nov.  1710. "J     Di«d    Uih   Man  b 


70  INTRODUCTION. 

near  Bath,"  graduate  of  Oxford,  now  "  an  Outer  Barrister  of 
Lincoln's  Inn ; "  well  read  in  English  Law,  and  full  of  zeal  for 
Gospel  Doctrine  and  Morality.  He,  struck  by  certain  flagrant 
scandals  of  the  time,  especially  by  that  of  Play-acting  and 
Masking,  saw  good,  this  year,  to  set  forth  his  Histriotnastix, 
or  Player's  Scourge  ;  a  Book  still  extant,  but  never  more  to 
be  read  by  mortal.  For  which  Mr.  William  Prynne  himself, 
before  long,  paid  rather  dear.  The  Book  was  licensed  by  old 
Archbishop  Abbot,  a  man  of  Puritan  tendencies,  but  now  verg- 
ing towards  his  end.  Peter  Heylin,  "lying  Peter"  as  men 
sometimes  call  him,  was  already  with  hawk's  eye  and  the  in- 
tensest  interest  reading  this  now  unreadable  Book,  and,  by 
Laud's  direction,  taking  excerpts  from  the  same.  — 

It  carries  our  thought  to  extensive  world-transactions  over 
sea,  to  reflect  that  in  the  end  of  this  same  year,  "  6th  Novem- 
ber, 1632,"  the  great  Gustavus  died  on  the  Field  of  Liitzen ; 
fighting  against  Wallenstein;  victorious  for  the  last  time. 
While  Oliver  Cromwell  walked  peacefully  intent  on  cattle- 
husbandry,  that  winter-day,  on  the  grassy  banks  of  the  Ouse 
at  St.  Ives,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  shot  through  the  back,  was 
sinking  from  his  horse  in  the  battle-storm  far  off,  with  these 
words :  "  Ich  habe  genug,  Bruder  ;  rette  Dich.  Brother,  I  have 
got  enough  ;  save  thyself."  1 

On  the  19th  of  the  same  month,  November,  1632,  died  like- 
wise Frederick  Elector  Palatine,  titular  King  of  Bohemia,  hus- 
band of  King  Charles's  sister,  and  father  of  certain  Princes, 

1712  (1712-3  ?  is  not  decided  in  Noble).  Eichard  died  within  a  few  months 
of  her. 

9.  Frances;  baptized  (at  Ely  now)  6th  December,  1638.  "Charles  II. 
was  for  marrying  her  :  "  not  improbable.  Married  Mr.  Rich,  Earl  of  War- 
wick's grandson,  llth  November,  1657  :  he  died  in  three  months,  16th  Febru- 
ary, 1657-8.  No  child  by  Rich.  Married  Sir  John  Russel,  —  the  Checquers 
Russels.  Died  27th  January,  1719-20. 

In  all,  5  sons  and  4  daughters  ;  of  whom  3  sons  and  all  the  daughters  came 
to  maturity. 

The  Protector's  Widow  died  at  Norborough,  her  son-in-lav  Claypole's 
place  (now  ruined,  patched  into  a  farm-house ;  near  Market-Deeping ;  it  is 
itself  in  Northamptonshire),  8th  October,  1672. 

1  Schiller,  Geschichte  des  SQjahriyen  Krieget. 


CHAP.  IV.       EVENTS  IN   OLIVER'S   BIOGRAPHY.  71 

Rupert  and  others,  who  came  to  be  well  known  in  our  History. 
Elizabeth,  the  Widow,  was  left  with  a  large  family  of  them  in 
Holland,  very  bare  of  money,  of  resource,  or  immediate  hope ; 
but  conducted  herself,  as  she  had  all  along  done,  in  a  way  that 
gained  much  respect.  "  Alles  fur  Ruhm  und  Ihr,  All  for  Glory 
and  Her,"  were  the  words  Duke  Beruhard  of  Weimar  carried 
on  his  Flag,  through  many  battles  in  that  Thirty- Years  War. 
She  was  of  Puritan  tendency  ;  understood  to  care  little  about 
the  Four  surplices  at  Allhallowtide,  and  much  for  the  root  of 
the  matter. 

Attorney-General  Noy,  in  these  months,  was  busy  tearing 
up  the  unfortunate  old  manufacturers  of  soap ;  tormenting  man- 
kind very  much  about  soap.1  He  tore  them  up  irresistibly, 
reduced  them  to  total  ruin ;  good  soap  became  unattainable. 

1633. 

In  May,  1633,  the  second  year  of  Oliver's  residence  in  this 
new  Farm,  the  King's  Majesty,  with  train  enough,  passed 
through  Huntingdonshire,  on  his  way  to  Scotland  to  be 
crowned.  The  loud  rustle  of  him  disturbing,  for  a  day,  the 
summer  husbandries  and  operations  of  mankind.  His  ostensi- 
ble business  was  to  be  crowned ;  but  his  intrinsic  errand  was, 
what  his  Father's  formerly  had  been,  to  get  his  Pretended- 
Bishops  set  on  foot  there;  his  Tukhans  converted  into  real 
Calves;  —  in  which,  as  we  shall  see,  he  succeeded  still  worse 
than  his  Father  had  done.  Dr.  Laud,  Bishop  Laud,  now  near 
upon  Archbishophood,  attended  his  Majesty  thither  as  for- 
ni. -rly;  still  found  "no  religion  "  there,  but  trusted  now  to 
introduce  one.  The  Chapel  at  Holyrood-house  was  fitted  up 
with  every  equipment  textile  and  metallic;  and  little  Bishop 
Land  in  person  "performed  the  service,"  in  a  way  to  illumi- 
nate tho  oenighted  natives,  as  was  hoped,  — show  them  how 
\  rtist  coul.l  do  it.  He  had  also  some  dreadful  travelling 
through  certain  of  the  savage  districts  of  that  country. 

Crossing  Huntingdonshire,  on  this  occasion,  in  his  way 
Northward,  hi;  Majesty  had  visited  the  Establishment  of 
Nicholas  Ferrar  at  Little  (Jidding,  on  tho  western  border  of 
»  Kutfhwortli,  il.  135, 252,  &c. 


72  INTRODUCTION. 

that  county.1  A  surprising  Establishment,  now  in  full  flower ; 
wherein  above  fourscore  persons,  including  domestics,  with 
Ferrar  and  his  Brother  and  aged  Mother  at  the  head  of  them, 
had  devoted  themselves  to  a  kind  of  Protestant  Monachism, 
and  were  getting  much  talked  of  in  those  times.  They  fol- 
lowed celibacy,  and  merely  religious  duties  ;  employed  them- 
selves in  "  binding  of  Prayer-books,"  embroidering  of  hassocks, 
in  alms-giving  also,  and  what  charitable  work  was  possible  in 
that  desert  region ;  above  all,  they  kept  up,  night  and  day,  a 
continual  repetition  of  the  English  Liturgy  ;  being  divided 
into  relays  and  watches,  one  watch  relieving  another  as  on 
shipboard  ;  and  never  allowing  at  any  hour  the  sacred  fire  to 
go  out.  This  also,  as  a  feature  of  the  times,  the  modern  reader 
is  to  meditate.  In  Izaak  Walton's  Lives  there  is  some  drowsy 
notice  of  these  people,  not  unknown  to  the  modern  reader.  A 
far  livelier  notice  ;  record  of  an  actual  visit  to  the  place,  by  an 
Anonymous  Person,  seemingly  a  religious  Lawyer,  perhaps  re- 
turning from  Circuit  in  that  direction,  at  all  events  a  most  sharp 
distinct  man,  through  whose  clear  eyes  we  also  can  still  look ; 
—  is  preserved  by  Hearne  in  very  unexpected  neighborhood.2 
The  Anonymous  Person,  after  some  survey  and  communing, 
suggested  to  Nicholas  Ferrar,  "  Perhaps  he  had  but  assumed  all 
this  ritual  mummery,  in  order  to  get  a  devout  life  led  peace- 
ably in  these  bad  times  ? "  Nicholas,  a  dark  man,  who  had 
acquired  something  of  the  Jesuit  in  his  Foreign  travels,  looked 
at  him  ambiguously,  and  said,  "I  perceive  you  are  a  person 
who  know  the  world !  "  They  did  not  ask  the  Anonymous 
Person  to  stay  dinner,  which  he  considered  would  have  been 
agreeable.  — 

Note  these  other  things,  with  which  we  are  more  immedi- 
ately concerned.  In  this  same  year  the  Feoffees,  with  their 
Purchase  of  Advowsons,  with  their  Lecturers  and  Running 
Lecturers,  were  fairly  rooted  out,  and  flung  prostrate  into 
total  ruin ;  Laud  having  set  Attorney-General  Noy  upon  them, 

1  Rnshworth,  ii.  178. 

a  Thomse  Caii  Vtndicice  Antiquitatis  Academics  Oxoniensis  (Oxf.  1630),  ii. 
702-794.  There  are  two  Lives  of  Ferrar  ;  considerable  writings  about  him ; 
but,  except  this,  nothing  that  much  deserves  to  be  read. 


CHAT.  IV.       EVENTS   IN    OLIVER'S    BIOGRAPHY.  73 

and  brought  them  into  the  Star-chamber.  "  God  forgive  them,11 
writes  Bishop  Laud,  "and  grant  me  patience!"  — on  hearing  v 
that  they  spake  harshly  of  him ;  not  gratefully,  but  ungrate- 
fully, for  all  this  trouble  he  took !  In  the  same  year,  by  pro- 
curement of  the  same  zealous  Bishop  hounding  on  the  same 
invincible  Attorney-General,  William  Prynne,  our  unreadable 
friend,  Peter  Heylin  having  read  him,  was  brought  to  the  Star- 
chamber  ;  to  the  Pillory,  and  had  his  ears  cropt  off,  for  the 
first  time  ;  —  who  also,  strange  as  it  may  look,  manifested  no 
gratitude,  but  the  contrary,  for  all  that  trouble  ! l 

1634. 

In  the  end  of  this  the  third  year  of  Oliver's  abode  at  St. 
Ives,  came  out  the  celebrated  Writ  of  Ship-uioney.  It  was 
the  last  feat  of  Attorney-General  N  oy  :  a  morose,  amorphous, 
cynical  Law-Pedant,  and  invincible  living  heap  of  learned 
rubbish ;  once  a  Patriot  in  Parliament,  till  they  made  him 
Attorney-General,  and  enlightened  his  eyes :  who  had  fished  up 
from  the  dust-abysses  this  and  other  old  shadows  of  "  prece- 
dents," promising  to  be  of  great  use  in  the  present  distressed 
state  of  the  Finance  Department.  Parliament  being  in  abey- 
ance, how  to  raise  money  was  now  the  grand  problem.  Nby 
himself  was  dead  before  the  Writ  came  out ;  a  very  mixed 
renown  following  him.  The  Vintners,  says  Wood,  illuminated 
at  his  death,  made  bonfires,  and  "  drank  lusty  carouses  : "  to 
them,  as  to  every  man,  he  had  been  a  sore  affliction.  His 
h«';irt,  on  dissection,  adds  old  Anthony,  was  found  "all  shriv- 
elled up  like  a  leather  penny-purse ;  "  which  gave  rise  to  com- 
ments among  the  Puritans.8  His  brain,  said  the  pasquinades 
of  the  day,  was  found  reduced  to  a  mass  of  dust,  his  heart  was 
a  bundle  of  old  sheepskin  writs,  and  his  belly  consisted  of  a 
barrel  of  soap.*  Some  indistinct  memory  of  him  stiM  survives, 
as  of  a  grisly  Law  Pluto,  and  dark  Law  Monster,  kind  of  In- 
fernal King,  Chief  Enchanter  in  the  Domdaniel  of  Attor- 
neys ;  one  of  those  frightful  men,  who,  as  his  contemporaries 

1  Roshworth  ;  Whin-ton's  Lamd. 

1  Wood's  Athena  (Blip's  edition,  London,  1815),  ii.  583. 

'  Kiuhwurtb. 


74  INTRODUCTION. 

passionately  said  and  repeated,  dare  to  "  decree  injustice  by 
a  law" 

The  Ship-money  Writ  has  come  out,  then;  and  Cousin 
Hampden  has  decided  not  to  pay  it !  —  As  the  date  of  Oliver's 
St.  Ives  Letter  is  1635-6,  and  we  are  now  come  in  sight  of 
that,  we  will  here  close  our  Chronology. 


CHAPTER  V. 
OF  OLIVER'S  LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES. 

LETTERS  and  authentic  Utterances  of  Oliver  lie  scattered,  in 
print  and  manuscript,  in  a  hundred  repositories,  in  all  varieties 
of  condition  and  environment.  Most  of  them,  all  the  impor- 
tant of  them,  have  already  long  since  been  printed  and  again 
printed ;  but  we  cannot  in  general  say,  ever  read :  too  often 
it  is  apparent  that  the  very  editor  of  these  poor  utterances 
had,  if  reading  mean  understanding,  never  read  them.  They 
stand  in  their  old  spelling ;  mispunctuated,  misprinted,  un- 
elucidated,  unintelligible,  —  defaced  with  the  dark  incrustations 
too  well  known  to  students  of  that  Period.  The  Speeches 
above  all,  as  hitherto  set  forth  in  The  Somers  Tracts,  in  The 
Milton  State-papers,  in  Burton's  Diary,  and  other  such  Books, 
excel  human  belief :  certainly  no  such  agglomerate  of  opaque 
confusions,  printed  and  reprinted ;  of  darkness  on  the  back  of 
darkness,  thick  and  threefold ;  is  known  to  me  elsewhere  in  the 
history  of  things  spoken  or  printed  by  human  creatures.  Of 
these  Speeches,  all  except  one,  which  was  published  by  au- 
thority at  the  time,  I  have  to  believe  myself,  not  very  exult- 
ingly,  to  be  the  first  actual  reader  for  nearly  two  Centuries 
past. 

Nevertheless  these  Documents  do  exist,  authentic  though 
defaced ;  and  invite  every  one  who  would  know  that  Period,  to 
study  them  till  they  become  intelligible  again.  The  words  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  —  the  meaning  they  had,  must  be  worth  re- 
covering, in  that  point  of  view.  To  collect  these  Letters  and 


CHAP.  V.   OF   OLIVER'S   LETTERS   AND   SPEECHES.  75 

authentic  Utterances,  as  one's  reading  yielded  them,  was  a 
comparatively  grateful  labor;  to  correct  them,  elucidate  and 
make  them  legible  again,  was  a  good  historical  study.  Surely 
"  a  wise  memory "  would  wish  to  preserve  among  men  the 
written  and  spoken  words  of  such  a  man;  —  and  as  for  the 
"  wise  oblivion,"  that  is  already,  by  Time  and  Accident,  done 
to  our  hand.  Enough  is  already  lost  and  destroyed ;  we  need 
not,  in  this  particular  case,  omit  farther. 

Accordingly,  whatever  words  authentically  proceeding  from 
Oliver  himself  I  could  anywhere  find  yet  surviving,  I  have  here 
gathered  ;  and  will  now,  with  such  minimum  of  annotation  as 
may  suit  that  object,  offer  them  to  the  reader.  That  is  the 
purport  of  this  Book.  I  have  ventured  to  believe  that,  to  cer- 
tain patient  earnest  readers,  these  old  dim  Letters  of  a  noble 
English  Man  might,  as  they  had  done  to  myself,  become  dimly 
legible  again ;  might  dimly  present,  better  than  all  other  evi- 
dence, the  noble  figure  of  the  Man  himself  again.  Certainly 
there  is  Historical  instruction  in  these  Letters :  —  Historical, 
and  perhaps  other  and  better.  At  least,  it  is  with  Heroes  and 
god-inspired  men  that  I,  for  my  part,  would  far  rather  con- 
verse, in  what  dialect  soever  they  speak  !  Great,  ever-fruitful ; 
profitable  for  reproof,  for  encouragement,  for  building  up  in 
manful  purposes  and  works,  are  the  words  of  those  that  in 
their  day  were  men.  I  will  advise  serious  persons,  interested 
in  Kngland  past  or  present,  to  try  if  they  can  read  a  little 
in  these  Letters  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  a  man  once  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  same  object.  Heavy  as  it  is,  and  dim  and 
obsolete,  there  may  be  worse  reading,  for  such  persons  in  our 
tinif. 

For  the  rest,  if  each  Letter  look  dim,  and  have  little  light, 
after  all  study  ;  —  yet  let  the  Historical  reader  reflect,  such 
light  as  it  has  cannot  be  disputed  at  all.  These  words,  exposi- 
tory of  that  day  and  hour,  Oliver  Cromwell  did  see  fittest  to 
be  written  down.  The  L-  tt-  r  hangs  there  in  the  dark  abysses 
of  the  Past :  if  like  a  star  almost  extinct,  yet  like  a  real  star  ; 
fixed;  about  which  there  is  no  cavilling  possible.  That  auto- 
graph Letter,  it  was  once  all  luminous  a«  a  burning  beacon, 
y  word  of  it  a  live  coal,  in  its  time  ;  it  was  once  a  piece  of 


76  INTRODUCTION. 

the  general  fire  and  light  of  Human  Life,  that  Letter  !  Neither 
is  it  yet  entirely  extinct :  well  read,  there  is  still  in  it  light 
enough  to  exhibit  its  own  self;  nay  to  diffuse  a  faint  authentic 
twilight  some  distance  round  it.  Heaped  embers  which  in  the 
daylight  looked  black,  may  still  look  red  in  the  utter  darkness. 
These  letters  of  Oliver  will  convince  any  man  that  the  Past  did 
exist !  By  degrees  the  combined  small  twilights  may  produce 
a  kind  of  general  feeble  twilight,  rendering  the  Past  credible, 
the  Ghosts  of  the  Past  in  some  glimpses  of  them  visible  !  Such 
is  the  effect  of  contemporary  letters  always ;  and  I  can  very 
confidently  recommend  Oliver's  as  good  of  their  kind.  A  man 
intent  to  force  for  himself  some  path  through  that  gloomy 
chaos  called  History  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  and  to  look 
face  to  face  upon  the  same,  may  perhaps  try  it  by  this  method 
as  hopefully  as  by  another.  Here  is  an  irregular  row  of 
beacon-fires,  once  all  luminous  as  suns  ;  and  with  a  certain 
inextinguishable  erubescence  still,  in  the  abysses  of  the  dead 
deep  Night.  Let  us  look  here.  In  shadowy  outlines,  in  dim- 
mer and  dimmer  crowding  forms,  the  very  figure  of  the  old 
dead  Time  itself  may  perhaps  be  faintly  discernible  here  ! 

I  called  these  Letters  good,  —  but  withal  only  good  of  their 
kind.  No  eloquence,  elegance,  not  always  even  clearness  of 
expression,  is  to  be  looked  for  in  them.  They  are  written  with 
far  other  than  literary  aims;  written,  most  of  them,  in  the 
very  flame  and  conflagration  of  a  revolutionary  struggle,  and 
with  an  eye  to  the  despatch  of  indispensable  pressing  business 
alone :  but  it  will  be  found,  I  conceive,  that  for  such  end  they 
are  well  written.  Superfluity,  as  if  by  a  natural  law  of  the 
case,  the  writer  has  had  to  discard ;  whatsoever  quality  can  be 
dispensed  with  is  indifferent  to  him.  "With  unwieldy  move- 
ment, yet  with  a  great  solid  step  he  presses  through,  towards 
his  object ;  has  marked  out  very  decisively  what  the  real  steps 
towards  it  are ;  discriminating  well  the  essential  from  the  ex- 
traneous ;  —  forming  to  himself,  in  short,  a  true,  not  an  untrue 
picture  of  the  business  that  is  to  be  done.  There  is,  in  these 
Letters,  as  I  have  said  above,  a  silence  still  more  significant  of 
Oliver  to  us  than  any  speech  they  have.  Dimly  we  discover 
features  of  an  Intelligence,  and  Soul  of  a  Man,  greater  than 


CHAK  V.    OF   OLIVER'S   LETTERS   AND   SPEECHES.  77 

any  speech.  The  Intelligence  that  can,  with  full  satisfaction 
to  itself,  come  out  in  eloquent  speaking,  in  musical  singing,  is, 
after  all,  a  small  Intelligence.  He  that  works  and  does  some 
Poem,  not  he  that  merely  says  one,  is  worthy  of  the  name  of 
Poet.  Cromwell,  emblem  of  the  dumb  English,  is  interesting 
to  me  by  the  very  inadequacy  of  his  speech.  Heroic  insight, 
valor  and  belief,  without  words,  — how  noble  is  it  in  compari- 
son to  the  adroitest  flow  of  words  without  heroic  insight ! 

I  have  corrected  the  spelling  of  these  Letters  ;  I  have  punc- 
tuated, and  divided  them  into  paragraphs,  in  the  modern  man- 
ner. The  Originals,  so  far  as  I  have  seen  such,  have  in  general 
no  paragraphs  :  if  the  Letter  is  short,  it  is  usually  found  written 
on  the  first  leaf  of  the  sheet ;  often  with  the  conclusion,  or 
some  postscript,  subjoined  crosswise  on  the  margin,  —  indicat- 
ing that  there  was  no  blotting-paper  in  those  days ;  that  the 
hasty  writer  was  loath  to  turn  the  leaf.  Oliver's  spelling  and 
pointing  are  of  the  sort  common  to  educated  persons  in  his 
time ;  and  readers  that  so  wish,  may  have  specimens  of  him  in 
abundance,  and  of  all  due  dimness,  in  many  printed  Books : 
but  to  us,  intent  here  to  have  the  Letters  read  and  understood, 
it  seemed  very  proper  at  once  and  altogether  to  get  rid  of  that 
encumbrance.  Would  that  the  rest  were  all  as  easily  got  rid 
of !  Here  and  there,  to  bring  out  the  struggling  sense,  I  have 
added  or  rectified  a  word,  —  but  taken  care  to  point  out  the 
same;  what  words  in  the  Text  of  the  Letters  are  mine,  the 
reader  will  find  marked  off  by  brackets:  it  was  of  course 
my  supreme  duty  to  avoid  altering,  in  any  respect,  not  only 
the  sense,  but  the  smallest  feature  in  the  physiognomy,  of  the 
Original.  And  so,  "  a  minimum  of  annotation  "  having  been 
added,  what  minimum  would  serve  the  purpose,  —  here  are  the 
rs  and  Speeches  of  Oliver  Cromwell ;  of  which  the  reader, 
with  my  best  wishes,  but  not  with  any  very  high  immediate 
hope  of  mine  in  that  particular,  is  to  make  what  he  can. 

Surdy  it  is  far  enough  from  probable  that  these  Letters  of 
Cromwell,  written  originally  for  quite  other  objects,  and 
selected  not  by  the  Genius  of  History,  but  by  blind  Accident 
which  h;is  saved  them  hitherto  and  destroyed  the  rest,  —  can 
illuminate  fur  a  modern  man  this  Period  of  our  Auuals,  which 


78  INTRODUCTION. 

for  all  moderns,  we  may  say,  has  become  a  gulf  of  bottomless 
darkness !  Not  so  easily  will  the  modern  man  domesticate 
himself  in  a  scene  of  things  every  way  so  foreign  to  him.  Nor 
could  any  measurable  exposition  of  mine,  on  this  present 
occasion,  do  much  to  illuminate  the  dead  dark  world  of  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  into  which  the  reader  is  about  to  enter. 
He  will  gradually  get  to  understand,  as  I  have  said,  that  the 
Seventeenth  Century  did  exist ;  that  it  was  not  a  waste  rubbish- 
continent  of  Rushworth-Nalson  State-papers,  of  Philosophical 
Scepticisms,  Dilettantisms,  Dryasdust  Torpedoisms  ;  —  but  an 
actual  flesh-and-blood  Fact;  with  color  in  its  cheeks,  witli 
awful  august  heroic  thoughts  in  its  heart,  and  at  last  with 
steel  sword  in  its  hand !  Theoretically  this  is  a  most  small 
postulate,  conceded  at  once  by  everybody ;  but  practically  it  is 
a  very  large  one,  seldom  or  never  conceded ;  the  due  practical 
conceding  of  it  amounts  to  much,  indeed  to  the  sure  promise 
of  all.  —  I  will  venture  to  give  the  reader  two  little  pieces  of 
advice,  which,  if  his  experience  resemble  mine,  may  prove  fur- 
thersome  to  him  in  this  inquiry :  they  include  the  essence  of 
all  that  I  have  discovered  respecting  it. 

The  first  is,  By  no  means  to  credit  the  wide-spread  report 
that  these  Seventeenth-Century  Puritans  were  superstitious 
crack-brained  persons ;  given  up  to  enthusiasm,  the  most  part 
of  them ;  the  minor  ruling  part  being  cunning  men,  who  knew 
how  to  assume  the  dialect  of  the  others,  and  thereby,  as  skil- 
ful Machiavels,  to  dupe  them.  This  is  a  wide-spread  report ; 
but  an  untrue  one.  I  advise  my  reader  to  try  precisely  the 
opposite  hypothesis.  To  consider  that  his  Fathers,  who  had 
thought  about  this  world  very  seriously  indeed,  and  with  very 
considerable  thinking  faculty  indeed,  were  not  quite  so  far 
behindhand  in  their  conclusions  respecting  it.  That  actually 
their  "enthusiasms,"  if  well  seen  into,  were  not  foolish  but 
wise.  That  Machiavelism,  Cant,  Official  Jargon,  whereby  a 
man  speaks  openly  what  he  does  not  mean,  were,  surprising 
as  it  may  seem,  much  rarer  then  than  they  have  ever  since 
been.  Really  and  truly  it  may  in  a  manner  be  said,  Cant, 
Parliamentary  and  other  Jargon,  were  still  to  invent  in  this 
world.  0  Heavens,  one  could  weep  at  the  contrast!  Cant 


CHAP.  v.  OF  OLIVER'S   LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES.  ?9 

was  not  fashionable  at  all ;  that  stupendous  invention  of 
"  Speech  for  the  purpose  of  concealing  Thought "  was  not  yet 
made.  A  man  wagging  the  tongue  of  him,  as  if  it  were  the 
dapper  of  a  bell  to  be  rung  for  economic  purposes,  and  not 
so  much  as  attempting  to  convey  any  inner  thought,  if  thought 
lit-  have,  of  the  matter  talked  of,  —  would  at  that  date  have 
awakened  all  the  horror  in  men's  minds,  which  at  all  dates,  and 
at  this  ilute  too,  is  due  to  him.  The  accursed  thing!  No  man 
as  yet  dared  to  do  it ;  all  men  believing  that  God  would  judge 
tin-in.  In  the  History  of  the  Civil  War  far  and  wide,  I  have 
not  fallen  in  with  one  such  phenomenon.  Even  Archbishop 
Ijaud  and  Peter  Heylin  meant  what  they  say ;  through  their 
words  you  do  look  direct  into  the  scraggy  conviction  they  have 
formed:  —  or  if  "lying  Peter"  do  lie,  he  at  least  knows  that 
he  is  lying !  Lord  Clarendon,  a  man  of  sufficient  unveracity 
of  heart,  to  whom  indeed  whatsoever  has  direct  veracity  of 
heart  is  more  or  less  horrible,  speaks  always  in  official  lan- 
guage ;  a  clothed,  nay  sometimes  even  quilted  dialect,  yet  al- 
ways with  some  considerable  body  in  the  heart  of  it,  never 
with  none  I  The  use  of  the  human  tongue  was  then  other  than 
it  now  is.  I  counsel  the  reader  to  leave  all  that  of  Cant, 
J>ii|>pry,  Machiavelism,  and  so  forth,  decisively  lying  at  the 
tlnvshold.  He  will  be  wise  to  believe  that  these  Puritans  do 
mean  what  they  say,  and  to  try  unimpeded  if  he  can  discover 
what  that  is.  Gradually  a  very  stupendous  phenomenon  may 
rise  on  his  astonished  eye.  A  practical  world  based  on  Belief 
in  God;  —  such  as  many  centuries  had  seen  before,  but  as 
never  any  century  since  has  been  privileged  to  see.  It  was 
tin-  last  glimpse  of  it  in  our  world,  this  of  English  Puritanism  : 

great,  very  glorious ;   tragical   enough  to  all  thinking 
hearts  that  look  on  it  from  these  days  of  ours. 

My  second  advice  is,  Not  to  imagine  that  it  was  Constifu 
tion,  "  Liberty  of  the  people  to  tax  themselves,"  Privilege  of 
Parliament,  Triennial  or  annual  Parliaments,  or  any  modifica- 
tion of  these  sublime  Privileges  now  waxing  somewhat  faint 
in  our  admirations,  that  mainly  animated  our  Cromwells, 
1'yms,  and  HamjKlens  to  the  heroic  efforts  we  still  admire  in 

pect.      Not  these  very  measurable  "Privileges,"  but  a 


80  INTRODUCTION. 

far  other  and  deeper,  which  could  not  be  measured  ;  of  which 
these,  and  all  grand  social  improvements  whatsoever,  are  the 
corollary.  Our  ancient  Puritan  Eeforiners  were,  as  all  Re- 
formers that  will  ever  much  benefit  this  Earth  are  always, 
inspired  by  a  Heavenly  Purpose.  To  see  God's  own  Law,  then 
universally  acknowledged  for  complete  as  it  stood  in  the  holy 
Written  P>ook,  made  good  in  this  world ;  to  see  this,  or  the 
true  unwearied  aim  and  struggle  towards  this :  it  was  a  thing 
worth  living  for  and  dying  for  !  Eternal  Justice ;  that  God's 
Will  be  done  on  Earth  as  it  is  in  Heaven  ;  corollaries  enough 
will  flow  from  that,  if  that  be  there ;  if  that  be  not  there,  no 
corollary  good  for  much  will  flow.  It  was  the  general  spirit 
of  England  in  the  Seventeenth  Century.  In  other  somewhat 
sadly  disfigured  form  we  have  seen  the  same  immortal  hope 
take  practical  shape  in  the  French  Revolution,  and  once  more 
astonish  the  world.  That  England  should  all  become  a  Church, 
if  you  like  to  name  it  so ;  a  Church  presided  over  not  by  sham- 
priests  in  "  Four  surplices  at  Allhallowtide,"  but  by  true  god- 
consecrated  ones,  whose  hearts  the  Most  High  had  touched 
and  hallowed  with  his  fire  :  —  this  was  the  prayer  of  many,  it 
was  the  godlike  hope  and  effort  of  some. 

Our  modern  methods  of  Reform  differ  somewhat,  —  as  in- 
deed the  issue  testifies.  I  will  advise  my  reader  to  forget  the 
modern  methods  of  Reform ;  not  to  remember  that  he  has  ever 
heard  of  a  modern  individual  called  by  the  name  of  Reformer, 
if  he  would  understand  what  the  old  meaning  of  the  word  was. 
The  Cromwells,  Pyms,  Hampdens,  who  were  understood  on 
the  Royalist  side  to  be  firebrands  of  the  Devil,  have  had  still 
worse  measure  from  the  Dryasdust  Philosophies,  and  sceptical 
Histories,  of  later  times.  They  really  did  resemble  firebrands 
of  the  Devil,  if  you  looked  at  them  through  spectacles  of  a 
certain  color.  For  fire  is  always  fire.  But  by  no  spectacles, 
only  by  mere  blinders  and  wooden-eyed  spectacles,  can  the 
flame-girt  Heaven's  messenger  pass  for  a  poor  mouldy  Pedant 
and  Constitution-monger,  such  as  this  would  make  him  out 
to  be! 

On  the  whole,  say  not,  good  reader,  as  is  often  done,  "It 
was  then  all  one  as  now."  Good  reader,  it  was  considerably 


CHAP.  V.    OF  OLIVER'S   LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES.          81 

different  then  from  now.  Men  indolently  say,  "  The  Ages  are 
all  alike ;  ever  the  same  sorry  elements  over  again,  in  new 
vesture ;  the  issue  of  it  always  a  melancholy  farce-tragedy,  in 
one  Age  as  in  another ! "  Wherein  lies  very  obviously  a  truth ; 
but  also  in  secret  a  very  sad  error  withal.  Sure  enough,  the 
highest  Life  touches  always,  by  large  sections  of  it,  on  the 
vulgar  and  universal :  he  that  expects  to  see  a  Hero,  or  a 
Heroic  Age,  step  forth  into  practice  in  yellow  Drury-lane 
stage-boots,  and  speak  in  blank  verse  for  itself,  will  look  long 
in  vain.  Sure  enough,  in  the  Heroic  Century  as  in  the  Un- 
heroic,  knaves  and  cowards,  and  cunning  greedy  persons  were 
not  wanting,  —  were,  if  you  will,  extremely  abundant.  But 
the  question  always  remains,  Did  they  lie  chained,  subordi- 
nate in  this  world's  business ;  coerced  by  steel-whips,  or  in 
whatever  other  effectual  way,  and  sent  whimpering  into  their 
due  subterranean  abodes,  to  beat  hemp  and  repent ;  a  true 
never-ending  attempt  going  on  to  handcuff,  to  silence  and  sup- 
press them  ?  Or  did  they  walk  openly  abroad,  the  envy  of 
a  general  valet-population,  and  bear  sway;  professing,  with- 
out universal  anathema,  almost  with  general  assent,  that  they 
were  the  Orthodox  Party,  that  they,  even  they,  were  such 
men  as  you  had  right  to  look  for  ?  — 

Reader,  the  Ages  differ  greatly,  even  infinitely,  from  one 
another.  Considerable  tracts  of  Ages  there  have  been,  by  far 
the  majority  indeed,  wherein  the  men,  unfortunate  mortals, 
were  a  set  of  mimetic  creatures  rather  than  men;  without 
heart-insight  as  to  this  Universe,  and  its  Heights  and  Abysses ; 
without  conviction  or  belief  of  their  own  regarding  it,  at  all ;  — 
who  walked  merely  by  hearsays,  traditionary  cants,  black  and 
white  surplices,  and  inane  confusions ;  —  whose  whole  Exist- 
ence accordingly  was  a  grimace ;  nothing  original  in  it,  nothing 
genuine  or  sincere  but  this  only,  Their  greediness  of  appetite 
and  their  faculty  of  digestion.  Such  unhappy  Ages,  too  numer- 
ous here  below,  the  Genius  of  Mankind  indignantly  seizes, 
as  disgraceful  to  the  Family,  and  with  Rhadamanthine  ruth- 
lessness — annihilates;  tumbles  large  masses  of  them  swiftly 
into  Eternal  Night  These  are  the  Unheroio  Ages;  which 
<  rve,  on  the  general  field  of  Existence,  except  as  dust, 

V-.l         XVII.  0 


82  INTRODUCTION. 

as  inorganic  manure.  The  memory  of  such  Ages  fades  away 
forever  out  of  the  minds  of  all  men.  Why  should  any  memory 
of  them  continue  ?  The  fashion  of  them  has  passed  away ; 
and  as  for  genuine  substance,  they  never  had  any.  To  no 
heart  of  a  man  any  more  can  these  Ages  become  lovely. 
What  melodious  loving  heart  will  search  into  their  records, 
will  sing  of  them,  or  celebrate  them  ?  Even  torpid  Dryas- 
dust is  forced  to  give  over  at  last,  all  creatures  declining  to 
hear  him  on  that  subject ;  whereupon  ensues  composure  and 
silence,  and  Oblivion  has  her  own. 

Good  reader,  if  you  be  wise,  search  not  for  the  secret  of 
Heroic  Ages,  which  have  done  great  things  in  this  Earth, 
among  their  falsities,  their  greedy  quackeries  and  wwheroisms  ! 
It  never  lies  and  never  will  lie  there.  Knaves  and  quacks,  — 
alas,  we  know  they  abounded :  but  the  Age  was  Heroic  even 
because  it  had  declared  war  to  the  death  with  these,  and  would 
have  neither  truce  nor  treaty  with  these ;  and  went  forth, 
flame-crowned,  as  with  bared  sword,  and  called  the  Most 
High  to  witness  that  it  would  not  endure  these  !  —  But  now 
for  the  Letters  of  Cromwell  themselves. 


PAET   I. 

TO  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 
1636-1642. 

LETTER  I. 

ST.  IVES,  a  small  Town  of  perhaps  fifteen  hundred  souls, 
stands  on  the  left  or  Northeastern  bank  of  the  River  Ouse,  in 
flat  grassy  country,  and  is  still  noted  as  a  Cattle-market  in 
those  parts.  Its  chief  historical  fame  is  likely  to  rest  on  the 
following  one  remaining  Letter  of  Cromwell's,  written  there 
on  the  llth  of  January,  1635-6. 

The  little  Town,  of  somewhat  dingy  aspect,  and  very  quies- 
cent except  on  market-days,  runs  from  Northwest  to  Southeast, 
parallel  to  the  shore  of  the  Ouse,  a  short  furlong  in  length : 
it  probably,  in  Cromwell's  time,  consisted  mainly  of  a  row  of 
houses  fronting  the  River ;  the  now  opposite  row,  which  has 
its  hack  to  the  River,  and  still  is  shorter  than  the  other,  still 
flef.-etive  at  the  upper  end,  was  probably  built  since.  In  that 
case,  the  locality  we  hear  of  as  the  "  Green  "  of  St  Ives  would 
then  be  the  space  which  is  now  covered  mainly  with  cattle- 
pens  for  market-business,  and  forms  the  middle  of  the  stwf. 
A  narrow  steep  old  Bridge,  probably  the  same  which  Cromwell 
travelled,  leads  you  over,  westward,  towards  Godmanchester, 
where  you  again  cross  the  Ouse,  and  get  into  Huntingdon, 
ward  out  of  St.  Ives,  your  route  is  towards  Earith,  Ely 
and  the  heart  of  the  Fens. 

At  the  upper  or  Northwestern  extremity  of  the  place  stands 
the  Church  ;  Cromwell's  old  fields  being  at  the  opposite  ex- 


84  PART  I.    BEFORE   THE   CIVIL   WAR.  llJan. 

tremity.  The  Church  from  its  Church-yard  looks  down  into 
the  very  River,  which  is  fenced  from  it  by  a  brick  wall.  The 
Ouse  flows  here,  you  cannot  without  study  tell  in  which  direc- 
tion, fringed  with  gross  reedy  herbage  find  bushes ;  and  is  of 
the  blackness  of  Acheron,  streaked  with  foul  metallic  glitter- 
ings  and  plays  of  color.  For  a  short  space  downwards  here, 
the  banks  of  it  are  fully  visible ;  the  western  row  of  houses 
being  somewhat  the  shorter,  as  already  hinted :  instead  of 
houses  here,  you  have  a  rough  wooden  balustrade,  and  the 
black  Acheron  of  an  Ouse  River  used  as  a  washing-place  or 
watering-place  for  cattle.  The  old  Church,  suitable  for  such 
a  population,  stands  yet  as  it  did  in  Cromwell's  time,  except 
perhaps  the  steeple  and  pews ;  the  flagstones  in  the  interior 
are  worn  deep  with  the  pacing  of  many  generations.  The 
steeple  is  visible  from  several  miles'  distance ;  a  sharp  high 
spire,  piercing  far  up  from  amid  the  willow-trees.  The  coun- 
try hereabouts  has  all  a  clammy  look,  clayey  and  boggy ;  the 
produce  of  it,  whether  bushes  and  trees,  or  grass  and  crops, 
gives  you  the  notion  of  something  lazy,  dropsical,  gross. — 
This  is  St.  Ives,  a  most  ancient  Cattle-market  by  the  shores 
of  the  sable  Ouse,  on  the  edge  of  the  Fen-country ;  where, 
among  other  things  that  happened,  Oliver  Cromwell  passed 
five  years  of  his  existence  as  a  Farmer  and  Grazier.  Who 
the  primitive  Ives  himself  was,  remains  problematic ;  Camden 
says  he  was  "  Ivo  a  Persian ; "  —  surely  far  out  of  his  road  here ! 
From  him  however,  Phantasm  as  he  is  (being  indeed  Nothing, 
—  except  an  ancient  "stone-coffin,"  with  bones,  and  tatters 
of  "  bright  cloth  "  in  it,  accidentally  ploughed  up  in  this  spot, 
and  acted  on  by  opaque  human  wonder,  miraculous  "  dreams," 
and  the  "Abbot  of  Ramsey"),1  Church  and  Village  indisputa- 
bly took  rise  and  name ;  about  the  Year  1000  or  later ;  —  and 
have  stood  ever  since ;  being  founded  on  Cattle-dealing  and 
the  firm  Earth  withal.  Ives  or  Yves,  the  worthy  French- 
man, Bishop  of  Chartres  in  the  time  of  our  Henry  Beauclerk ; 
neither  he  nor  the  other  French  Yves,  Patron  Saint  of  Attor- 
neys, have  anything  to  do  with  this  locality ;  but  miraculous 

1  His  Legend  (De  Beato  Yvone,  Episcopo  Persa),  with  due  details,  in  Bol- 
landns,  Ada  Sanctorum,  Junii,  torn.  ii.  (Venetiis,  1742),  pp.  288-292. 


163«.  LETTER  I.    ST.  IVES.  85 

"Ivo  the  Persian  Bishop"  and  that  anonymous  stone-coffin 
alone.  — 

Oliver,  as  we  observed,  has  left  hardly  any  memorial  of  him 
self  at  St.  Ives.  The  ground  he  farmed  is  still  partly  capable 
of  being  specified,  certain  records  or  leases  being  still  in  exist- 
ence. It  lies  at  the  lower  or  Southeast  end  of  the  Town  j  a 
stagnant  flat  tract  of  land,  extending  between  the  houses  or 
rather  kitchen-gardens  of  St.  Ives  in  that  quarter,  and  the 
1 'auks  of  the  Kiver,  which,  very  tortuous  always,  has  made 
a  new  bend  here.  If  well  drained,  this  land  looks  as  if  it 
would  produce  abundant  grass,  but  naturally  it  must  be  little 
other  than  a  bog.  Tall  bushy  ranges  of  willow-trees  and  the 
like,  at  present,  divide  it  into  fields ;  the  Kiver,  not  visible 
till  you  are  close  on  it,  bounding  them  all  to  the  South.  At 
the  top  of  the  fields  next  to  the  Town  is  an  ancient  massive 
I'.ftrn,  still  used  as  such ;  the  people  call  it  "Cromwell's  Barn : " 
—  and  nobody  can  prove  that  it  was  not  his !  It  was  evidently 
some  ancient  man's  or  series  of  ancient  men's. 

Quitting  St.  Ives  Fen-ward  or  Eastward,  the  last  house  of 
all,  which  stands  on  your  right  hand  among  gardens,  seemingly 
the  best  house  in  the  place,  and  called  Slepe  Hall,  is  conti- 
ilt-ntly  pointed  out  as  "Oliver's  House."  It  is  indisputably 
Slepe-Hall  House,  and  Oliver's  Farm  was  rented  from  the 
estate  of  Slepe  Hall.  It  is  at  present  used  for  a  Boarding- 
school  :  the  worthy  inhabitants  believe  it  to  be  Oliver's ;  and 
even  point  out  his  "  Chapel "  or  secret  Puritan  Sermon-room 
in  the  lower  story  of  the  house  :  no  Sermon-room,  as  you  may 
well  discern,  but  to  appearance  some  sort  of  scullery  or  wash- 
house  or  bake-house.  "  It  was  here  he  used  to  preach,"  say 
they.  Courtesy  forbids  you  to  answer,  "  Never ! "  But  in 
fact  there  is  no  likelihood  that  this  was  Oliver's  House  at  all : 
in  its  present  state  it  does  not  seem  to  be  a  century  old ;  *  and 
originally,  as  is  like,  it  must  have  served  as  residence  to  the 
of  Sl.-pe-Hall  estate,  not  to  the  Farmer  of  a  part 
Tradition  makes  a  sad  blur  of  Oliver's  memory  in 
liis  native  country  !  We  know,  and  shall  know,  only  this,  for 
certain  here.  That  Oliver  fanned  part  or  whole  of  these  Slepe- 

>  Noble,  i   102,  106. 


PART  I.    BEFORE  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  11  Jan. 

Hall  Lands,  over  which  the  human  feet  can  still  walk  with 
assurance ;  past  which  the  Eiver  Ouse  still  slumberously  rolls, 
towards  Earith  Bulwark  and  the  Fen-country.  Here  of  a  cer- 
tainty Oliver  did  walk  and  look  about  him  habitually,  during 
those  five  years  from  1631  to  1636 ;  a  man  studious  of  many 
temporal  and  many  eternal  things.  His  cattle  grazed  here,  his 
ploughs  tilled  here,  the  heavenly  skies  and  infernal  abysses 
overarched  and  underarched  him  here. 

In  fact  there  is,  as  it  were,  nothing  whatever  that  still  deci- 
sively to  every  eye  attests  his  existence  at  St.  Ives,  except  the 
following  old  Letter,  accidentally  preserved  among  the  Harley 
Manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum.  Noble,  writing  in  1787, 
says  the  old  branding-irons,  "  0.  C.,"  for  marking  sheep,  were 
still  used  by  some  Farmer  there  ;  but  these  also,  many  years 
ago,  are  gone.  In  the  Parish-Records  of  St.  Ives,  Oliver  ap- 
pears twice  among  some  other  ten  or  twelve  respectable  rate- 
payers ;  appointing,  in  1633  and  1634,  for  "St.  Ives  cum  Slepa" 
fit  annual  overseers  for  the  "  Highway  and  Green  :  "  —  one  oi 
the  Oliver  signatures  is  now  cut  out.  Fifty  years  ago,  a  vague 
old  Parish-clerk  had  heard  from  very  vague  old  persons,  that 
Mr.  Cromwell  had  been  seen  attending  divine  service  in  the 
Church  with  "  a  piece  of  red  flannel  round  his  neck,  being  sub- 
ject to  inflammation."  *  Certain  letters  "  written  in  a  very 
kind  style  from  Oliver  Lord  Protector  to  persons  in  St.  Ives," 
do  not  now  exist ;  probably  never  did.  Swords  "  bearing  the 
initials  of  0.  C.,"  swords  sent  down  in  the  beginning  of  1642, 
when  War  was  now  imminent,  and  weapons  were  yet  scarce, 
—  do  any  such  still  exist  ?  Noble  says  they  were  numerous 
in  1787 ;  but  nobody  is  bound  to  believe  him.  Walker  a  tes- 
tifies that  the  Vicar  of  St.  Ives,  Rev.  Henry  Downhall,  was 
ejected  with  his  curate  in  1642 ;  an  act  which  Cromwell  could 
have  hindered,  had  he  been  willing  to  testify  that  they  were 
fit  clergymen.  Alas,  had  he  been  able !  He  attended  them  in 
red  flannel,  but  had  not  exceedingly  rejoiced  in  them,  it  would 
seem.  —  There  is,  in  short,  nothing  that  renders  Cromwell's 

1  See  Noble :  his  confused  gleanings  and  speculations  concerning  St.  Ives 
are  to  be  found,  i.  105,  106,  and  again,  i.  258-261. 

2  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy.     See  also  Appendix,  No.  1. 


leae.  LETTER  I.    ST.  IVES.  87 

existence  completely  visible  to  us,  even  through  the  smallest 
chink,  but  this  Letter  alone,  which,  copied  from  the  Museum 
Manuscripts,  worthy  Mr.  Harris  *  has  printed  for  all  people. 
We  slightly  rectify  the  spelling,  and  reprint. 

u  To  my  very  loving  friend  Mr.  Storie,  at  the  Sign  of  the  Dog  in 
the  Royal  Exchange,  London :  Deliver  these. 

"ST.  IVES,  llth  January,  1635. 

"  MR.  STORIE,  —  Amongst  the  catalogue  of  those  good  works 
which  your  fellow-citizens  and  our  countrymen  have  done,  this 
will  not  be  reckoned  for  the  least,  That  they  have  provided  for 
the  feeding  of  souls.  Building  of  hospitals  provides  for  men's 
bodies ;  to  build  material  temples  is  judged  a  work  of  piety ; 
but  they  that  procure  spiritual  food,  they  that  build  up  spiritual 
temples,  they  are  the  men  truly  charitable,  truly  pious.  Such 
a  work  as  this  was  your  erecting  the  Lecture  in  our  Country ; 
in  the  which  you  placed  Dr.  Wells,  a  man  of  goodness  and  in- 
dustry, and  ability  to  do  good  every  way ;  not  short  of  any  I 
know  in  England :  and  I  am  persuaded  that,  sithence  his  com- 
ing, the  Lord  hath  by  him  wrought  much  good  among  us. 

"  It  only  remains  now  that  He  who  first  moved  you  to  this, 
put  you  forward  in  the  continuance  thereof :  it  was  the  Lord ; 
ami  therefore  to  Him  lift  we  up  our  hearts  that  He  would  per- 
fect it.  And  surely,  Mr.  Storie,  it  were  a  piteous  thing  to  see 
a  Lecture  fall,  in  the  hands  <)f  so  many  able  and  godly  men, 
as  I  am  persuaded  the  founders  of  this  are ;  in  these  times, 
win-rein  we  see  they  are  suppressed,  with  too  much  haste  and 
violence,  by  the  enemies  of  God  his  Truth.  Far  be  it  that  so 
much  guilt  should  stick  to  your  hancls,  who  live  in  a  City  so 
renowned  for  the  clear  shining  light  of  the  Gospel.  You  know, 
Mr.  Storie,  to  withdraw  the  pay  is  to  let  fall  the  Lecture :  for 
who  goeth  to  warfare  at  his  own  cost?  I  beseech  you  there- 

1  Life  of  Cromwfll :  a  blind  farrago,  published  iu  1761,  "after  the  manner 
»f  Mr.  Bayle," —  a  very  bail  "manner,"  more  especially  when  a  Harris  pre- 
side* over  it !  Yet  puor  Harris's  Rook,  his  three  Books  (on  Cromwell,  Charles 
and  James  I.)  have  worth  :  cart-loads  of  Excerpta,  carefully  trauscribed,  —  and 
..  in  the  way  known  to  us,  "  by  ahoviug  up  the  shafts."  The  increasing 
iuu  u  -t  -I  • :..  -ui.j.-i  t  brought  evt-u  tluxw  U>  a  second  oditiou  iu  1814. 


88  PAKT  I.    BEFORE   THE   CIVIL  WAR.  n  Jan. 

fore  in  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ,  put  it  forward,  and  let  the 
good  man  have  his  pay.  The  souls  of  God's  children  will 
bless  you  for  it ;  and  so  shall  I ;  and  ever  rest, 

"Your  loving  Friend  in  the  Lord, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"Commend  my  hearty  love  to  Mr.  Busse,  Mr.  Beadly,  and 
my  other  good  friends.  I  would  have  written  to  Mr.  Busse ; 
but  I  was  loath  to  trouble  him  with  a  long  letter,  and  I  feared 
I  should  not  receive  an  answer  from  him :  from  you  I  expect 
one  so  soon  as  conveniently  you  may.  Vale."  * 

Such  is  Oliver's  first  extant  Letter.  The  Eoyal  Exchange 
has  been  twice  burned  since  this  piece  of  writing  was  left  at 
the  Sign  of  the  Dog  there.  The  Dog  Tavern,  Dog  Landlord, 
frequenters  of  the  Dog,  and  all  their  business  and  concernment 
there,  and  the  hardest  stone  masonry  they  had,  have  vanished 
irrecoverable.  Like  a  dream  of  the  Night ;  like  that  transient 
Sign  or  Effigies  of  the  Talbot  Dog,  plastered  on  wood  with 
oil  pigments,  which  invited  men  to  liquor  and  house-room  in 
those  days !  The  personages  of  Oliver's  Letter  may  well  be 
unknown  to  us. 

Of  Mr.  Story,  strangely  enough,  we  have  found  one  other 
notice :  he  is  amongst  the  Trustees,  pious  and  wealthy  citizens 
of  London  for  most  part,  to  whom  the  sale  of  Bishops'  Lands 
is,  by  act  of  Parliament,  committed,  with  many  instructions 
and  conditions,  on  the  9th  of  October,  1646. 2  "  James  Story  " 
is  one  of  these ;  their  chief  is  Alderman  Fowke.  From  Oliver's 
expression,  "-our  Country,"  it  may  be  inferred  or  guessed 
that  Story  was  of  Huntingdonshire :  a  man  who  had  gone  up 
to  London,  and  prospered  in  trade,  and  addicted  himself  to 

1  Harris  (London,  1814),  p.  12.     This  Letter,  for  which  Harris,  in  1761, 
thanks  "  the  Trustees  of  the  British  Museum,"  is  not  now  discoverable  in 
that  Establishment ;  "  a  search  of  three  hours  through  all  the  Catalogues, 
assisted  by  one  of  the  Clerks,"  reports  itself  to  me  as  fruitless.  —  Does  exist 
safe,  nevertheless  (Sloane  MSS.  no.  2035,  f.  125,  a  venerable  brown  Auto- 
graph) ;  and  in  the  "  new  Catalogue  "  will  be  better  indicated.     "  Busse  "  is 
by  no  means  "  Bunse,"  as  some  have  conjectured.     (Note  to  Third  Edition.) 

2  Scobell's  4cte  and  Ordinances  (London,  1658),  p.  99. 


1636.  LETTER  I.    ST.  IVES.  89 

Puritanism; — much  of  him,  it  is  like,  will  never  be  known  ! 
Of  Busse  and  Beadly  (unless  Busse  be  a  misprint  for  Bunse, 
Alderman  Bunce,  another  of  the  above  "  Trustees "),  there 
remains  no  vestige. 

Concerning  the  "Lecture,"  however,  the  reader  will  recall 
what  was  said  above,  of  Lecturers,  and  of  Laud's  enmity  to 
them  ;  of  the  Feoffees  who  supported  Lecturers,  and  of  Laud's 
final  suppression  and  ruin  of  those  Feoffees  in  1633.  Mr. 
Story's  name  is  not  mentioned  in  the  List  of  the  specific  Feof- 
fees ;  but  it  need  not  be  doubted  he  was  a  contributor  to  their 
fund,  and  probably  a  leading  man  among  the  subscribers.  By 
the  light  of  this  Letter  we  may  dimly  gather  that  they  still 
continued  to  subscribe,  and  to  forward  Lectureships  where 
possible,  though  now  in  a  less  ostentatious  manner. 

It  appears  there  was  a  Lecture  at  Huntingdon :  but  his 
Grace  of  Lambeth,  patiently  assiduous  in  hunting  down  such 
objects,  had  managed  to  get  that  suppressed  in  1633,1  or  at 
to  get  the  King's  consent  for  suppressing  it.  This  in 
1633.  So  that  "  Mr.  Wells  "  could  not,  in  1636,  as  my  imbe- 
cile friend  supposes,2  be  "  the  Lecturer  in  Huntingdon,"  wher- 
ever else  he  might  lecture.  Besides  Mr.  Wells  is  not  in  danger 
of  suppression  by  Laud,  but  by  want  of  cash !  Where  Mr. 
Wells  lectured,  no  mortal  knows,  or  will  ever  know.  Why 
not  at  St.  Ives  on  the  market-days  ?  Or  he  might  be  a  "  Run- 
ning Lecturer,"  not  tied  to  one  locality :  that  is  as  likely  a 
guess  as  any. 

Whether  the  call  of  this  Wells  Lectureship  and  Oliver's 
Letter  got  due  return  from  Mr.  Story  we  cannot  now  say  ;  bufc 
judge  that  the  Lectureship  —  as  Laud's  star  was  rapidly  ou 
the  ascendant,  and  Mr.  Story  and  the  Feoffees  had  already  lost 
£1,800  by  the  work,  and  had  a  fine  in  the  Star-chamber  still 
hanging  over  their  heads  —  did  in  fact  come  to  the  ground, 
and  trouble  no  Archbishop  or  Market  Cattle-dealer  with  God's 
Gospel  any  more.  Mr.  Wells,  like  the  others,  vanishes  from 
I !  tory,  or  nearly  so.  In  the  chaos  of  the  King's  Pamphlets 
one  seems  to  discern  dimly  that  he  sailed  for  New  England, 
and  that  he  returned  in  better  times.  Dimly  once,  in  1641  or 
1  Wharton'B  Laud  (London,  1695),  p.  527.  *  NoMe,  i.  259 


90  PART  I.    BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1636. 

1642,  you  catch  a  momentary  glimpse  of  a  "  Mr.  Wells  "  in 
such  predicament,  and  hope  it  was  this  Wells,  —  preaching  for 
a  friend,  "  in  the  afternoon,"  in  a  Church  in  London.1 

Reverend  Mark  Noble  says,  the  above  Letter  is  very  curious, 
and  a  convincing  proof  how  far  gone  Oliver  was,  at  that  time, 
in  religious  enthusiasm.2  Yes,  my  reverend  imbecile  friend, 
he  is  clearly  one  of  those  singular  Christian  enthusiasts,  who 
believe  that  they  have  a  soul  to  be  saved,  even  as  you  do,  my 
reverend  imbecile  friend,  that  you  have  a  stomach  to  be  satis- 
fied, —  and  who  likewise,  astonishing  to  say,  actually  take  some 
trouble  about  that.  Far  gone  indeed,  my  reverend  imbecile 
friend ! 

This,  then,  is  what  we  know  of  Oliver  at  St.  Ives.  He  wrote 
the  above  Letter  there.  He  had  sold  his  Properties  in  Hunt- 
ingdon for  £1,800  ;  with  the  whole  or  with  part  of  which  sum 
he  stocked  certain  Grazing-Lands  on  the  Estate  of  Slepe  Hall, 
and  farmed  the  same  for  a  space  of  some  five  years.  How  he 
lived  at  St.  Ives :  how  he  saluted  men  on  the  streets ;  read 
Bibles ;  sold  cattle ;  and  walked,  with  heavy  footfall  and  many 
thoughts,  through  the  Market  Green  or  old  narrow  lanes  in 
St.  Ives,  by  the  shore  of  the  black  Ouse  River,  —  shall  be  left  to 
the  reader's  imagination.  There  is  in  this  man  talent  for  farm- 
ing ;  there  are  thoughts  enough,  thoughts  bounded  by  the  Ouse 
liiver,  thoughts  that  go  beyond  Eternity,  —  and  a  great  black 
Bea  of  things  that  he  has  never  yet  been  able  to  think. 

I  count  the  children  he  had  at  this  time  ;  and  find  them  six : 
Four  boys  and  two  girls ;  the  eldest  a  boy  of  fourteen,  the 
youngest  a  girl  of  six  ;  Robert,  Oliver,  Bridget,  Richard,  Henry, 
Elizabeth.  Robert  and  Oliver,  I  take  .it,  are  gone  to  Felsted 
School,  near  Bourchier  their  Grandfather's  in  Essex.  Sir 
Thomas  Bourchier  the  worshipful  Knight,  once  of  London, 
lives  at  Felsted ;  Sir  William  Mash  am,  another  of  the  same, 
lives  at  Otes  hard  by,  as  we  shall  see. 

Cromwell  at  the  time  of  writing  this  Letter  was,  as  he  him- 
self might  partly  think  probable,  about  to  quit  St.  Ives.  His 
mother's  brother  Sir  Thomas  Steward,  Knight,  lay  sick  at  Ely 
in  those  very  days.  Sir  Thomas  makes  his  will  in  this  same 

1  Old  Pamphlet :  Title  mislaid  and  forgotten.  a  Noble,  i.  259. 


1638.  LETTER  II.    ELY.  91 

month  of  January,  leaving  Oliver  his  principal  heir ;  and  on 
the  30th  it  was  all  over,  and  he  lay  in  his  last  home :  "  Buried 
in  the  Cathedral  of  Ely,  30th  January,  1G35-6." 

Worth  noting,  and  curious  to  think  of,  since  it  is  indisputa- 
ble :  On  the  very  day  while  Oliver  Cromwell  was  writing  this 
Letter  at  St.  Ives,  two  obscure  individuals,  "  Peter  Aldridge 
and  Thomas  Lane,  Assessors  of  Ship-money,"  over  in  Bucking- 
hamshire, had  assembled  a  Parish  Meeting  in  the  Church  of 
Great  Kimble,  to  assess  and  rate  the  Ship-money  of  the  said 
Parish  :  there,  in  the  cold  weather,  at  the  foot  of  the  Chil- 
tern  Hills,  "11  January,  1635,"  the  Parish  did  attend,  "  John 
Hampden,  Esquire,"  at  the  head  of  them,  and  by  a  Return 
still  extant,1  refused  to  pay  the  same  or  any  portion  thereof, 
—  witness  the  above  "Assessors,"  witness  also  two  "Parish 
Constables  "  whom  we  remit  from  such  unexpected  celebrity. 
John  Hampden's  share  for  this  Parish  is  thirty-one  shillings 
and  sixpence ;  for  another  Parish  it  is  twenty  shillings ;  on 
which  latter  sum,  not  on  the  former,  John  Hampden  was 
tried. 


LETTER  n. 

OLIVER  removed  to  Ely  very  soon  after  writing  the  foregoing 
Letter.  There  is  a  "  receipt  for  £10  "  signed  by  him,  dated 
"  Kly,  10  June,  1636;"  a  and  other  evidence  that  he  was  then 
resident  there.  He  succeeded  to  his  Uncle's  Farming  of  the 
Tithes;  the  Leases  of  these,  and  new  Leases  of  some  other 
.small  lands  or  fields  granted  him,  are  still  in  existence.  He 
continued  here  till  the  time  of  the  Long  Parliament ;  and  his 
Family  still  after  that,  till  some  unascertained  date,  seemingly 
about  1647,8  when  it  became  apparent  that  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment was  not  like  to  rise  for  a  great  while  yet,  and  it  was 

1  Fac-eimfle  Engraving  of  it,  in  Lord  Nugent'*  Memorials  ofHampde*(l*>n 
don,  1832),  i.  231. 
»  Noble,  i.  107. 
•  See  Appendix,  No  8,  last  Letter  there.     (Note  to  Third  Edition.) 


92  PART  I.    BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.          isOct 

judged  expedient  that  the  whole  household  should  remove  to 
London.  His  Mother  appears  to  have  joined  him  in  Ely  ;  she 
quitted  Huntingdon,  returned  to  her  native  place,  an  aged 
grandmother,  —  was  not,  however,  to  end  her  days  there. 

As  Sir  Thomas  Steward,  Oliver's  Uncle,  farmed  the  tithes 
of  Ely,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  he,  and  Oliver  after 
him,  occupied  the  house  set  apart  for  the  Tithe-Farmer  there; 
as  Mark  Noble,  out  of  dim  Tradition,  confidently  testifies. 
This  is  "the  house  occupied  by  Mr.  Page;"1  under  which 
name,  much  better  than  under  that  of  Cromwell,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Ely  now  know  it.  The  House,  though  somewhat  in 
a  frail  state,  is  still  standing  ;  close  to  St.  Mary's  Church-yard ; 
at  the  corner  of  the  great  Tithe-barn  of  Ely,  or  great  Square 
of  tithe-barns  and  offices,  —  which  "is  the  biggest  barn  in 
England  but  one,"  say  the  Ely  people.  Of  this  House,  for 
Oliver's  sake,  some  Painter  will  yet  perhaps  take  a  correct 
likeness  :  —  it  is  needless  to  go  to  Stuntney,  out  on  the  Soham 
road,  as  Oliver's  Painters  usually  do ;  Oliver  never  lived  there, 
but  only  his  Mother's  cousins  !  Two  years  ago  this  House  in 
Ely  stood  empty  ;  closed  finally  up,  deserted  by  all  the  Pages, 
as  "  the  Commutation  of  Tithes  "  had  rendered  it  superfluous  : 
this  year  (1845),  I  find  it  is  an  Alehouse,  with  still  some  chance 
of  standing.  It  is  by  no  means  a  sumptuous  mansion ;  but 
may  have  conveniently  held  a  man  of  three  or  four  hundred  a 
year,  with  his  family,  in  those  simple  times.  Some  quaint  air 
of  gentility  still  looks  through  its  ragged  dilapidation.  It  is  of 
two  stories,  more  properly  of  one  and  a  half ;  has  many  windows, 
irregular  chimneys  and  gables.  Likely  enough  Oliver  lived 
here ;  likely  his  Grandfather  may  have  lived  here,  his  Mother 
have  been  born  here.  She  was  now  again  resident  here.  The 
tomb  of  her  first  husband  and  child,  Johannes  Lynne  and  poor 
little  Catharina  Lynne,  is  in  the  Cathedral  hard  by.  "  Such 
are  the  changes  which  fleeting  Time  procureth."  — 

The  Second  extant  Letter  of  Cromwell's  is  dated  Ely,  Octo- 
ber, 1638.2  It  will  be  good  to  introduce,  as  briefly  as  possible, 

1  Noble,  i.  106. 

8  In  Appendix,  No.  2,  another  Note  of  his.     ( Third  Edition.) 


1W8  LETTER  II.    ELY.  93 

a  few  Historical  Dates,  to  remind  the  reader  what  o'clock  on 
the  Great  Horologe  it  is,  while  this  small  Letter  is  a-writing. 
Last  year  in  London  there  had  been  a  very  strange  spectacle  ; 
and  in  three  weeks  after,  another  in  Edinburgh,  of  still  more 
significance  in  English  History. 

On  the  30th  of  June,  1637,  in  Old  Palace-yard,  three  men, 
gentlemen  of  education,  of  good  quality,  a  Barrister,  a  Physi- 
cian and  a  Parish  Clergyman  of  London  were  set  on  three  Pil- 
lories ;  stood  openly,  as  the  scum  of  malefactors,  for  certain 
hours  there  ;  and  then  had  their  ears  cut  off,  —  bare  knives, 
hot  branding-irons,  —  and  their  cheeks  stamped  "  S.L.,"  Sedi- 
tious Libeller  ;  in  the  sight  of  a  great  crowd,  "  silent  "  mainly, 
and  looking  "  pale."  l  The  men  were  our  old  friend  William 
Prynne,  —  poor  Prynne  who  had  got  into  new  trouble,  and  here 
lost  his  ears  a  second  and  final  time,  having  had  them  "  sewed 
on  again  "  before  :  William  Prynne,  Barrister  ;  Dr.  John  Bast- 
wick  ;  and  the  Rev.  Henry  Burton,  Minister  of  Friday  -Street 
Church.  Their  sin  was  against  Laud  and  his  surplices  at  All- 
hallowtide,  not  against  any  other  man  or  thing.  Prynne. 
speaking  to  the  people,  defied  all  Lambeth,  with  Rome  at  the 
back  of  it,  to  argue  with  him,  William  Prynne  alone,  that  these 
practices  were  according  to  the  Law  of  England  ;  "  and  if  I 
fail  to  prove  it,"  said  Prynne,  "  let  them  hang  my  body  at  the 
door  of  that  Prison  there,"  the  Gate-house  Prison.  "  Whereat 
the  people  gave  a  great  shout,"  —  somewhat  of  an  ominous 
one,  I  think.  Bastwick's  wife,  on  the  scaffold,  received  his 
ears  in  her  lap,  and  kissed  him.8  Prynne's  ears  the  executioner 
"  rather  sawed  than  cut."  "  Cut  me,  tear  me,"  cried  Prynne  ; 
"  I  fear  thee  not  ;  I  fear  the  fire  of  Hell,  not  thee  !  "  The 
June  sun  had  shone  hot  on  their  faces.  Burton,  who  had  dis- 
coursed eloquent  religion  all  the  while,  said,  when  they  carried 
him,  near  fainting,  into  a  house  in  King  Street,  "  It  is  too  hot 
to  last." 

Too  hot  indeed.  For  at  Edinburgh,  on  Sunday  the  23d  of 
July  following,  Archbishop  Laud  having  now,  with  great  effort 
and  much  manipulation,  got  his  Scotch  Liturgy  and  Scotch 


Tnalt  (Cohbett'g,  Loudoii,  180'J),  iii.  746. 
Towers  'a  Brituh  Liivjraj'liy. 


94  PART  I.    BEFORE   THE   CIVIL   WAR.  13  Oct 

Pretended-Bishops  ready,1  brought  them  fairly  out  to  action,  — 
and  Jenny  Geddes  hurled  her  stool  at  their  head.  "  Let  us 
read  the  Collect  of  the  day,"  said  the  Pretended-Bishop  from 
amid  his  tippets  ;  —  "  De'il  colic  the  wame  of  thee  !  "  answered 
Jenny,  hurling  her  stool  at  his  head.  "  Thou  foul  thief,  wilt 
thou  say  mass  at  iny  lug  ?  "  a  I  thought  we  had  got  done  with 
the  mass  some  time  ago ;  —  and  here  it  is  again  !  "  A  Pape, 
a  Pape  !  "  cried  others  :  "  Stane  him ! "  8  —  In  fact  the  service 
could  not  go  on  at  all.  This  passed  in  St.  Giles's  Kirk,  Edin- 
burgh, on  Sunday,  23d  July,  1637.  Scotland  had  endured 
much  in  the  bishop  way  for  above  thirty  years  bygone,  and 
endeavored  to  say  nothing,  bitterly  feeling  a  great  deal.  But 
now,  on  small  signal,  the  hour  was  come.  All  Edinburgh,  all 
Scotland,  and  behind  that  all  England  and  Ireland,  rose  into 
unappeasable  commotion  on  the  flight  of  this  stool  of  Jenny's  ; 
and  his  Grace  of  Canterbury,  and  King  Charles  himself,  and 
nany  others  had  lost  their  heads  before  there  could  be  peace 
again.  The  Scotch  People  had  sworn  their  Covenant,  not  with- 

1  Rushworth,  ii.  321,  343,  iii.  Appendix,  153-155  ;  &c. 

2  —  "  No  sooner  was  the  Book  opened  by  the  Dean  of  Edinburgh,  but  a 
number  of  the  meaner  sort,  with  clapping  of  their  hands  and  outcries,  made 
u  great  uproar  ;  and  one  of  them,  called  Jane  or  Janot  Gaddis  (yet  living  at 
the  writing  of  this  relation),  flung  a  little  folding-stool,  whereon  she  sat,  at 
the  Dean's  head,  saying,  '  Out,  thou  false  thief  !  dost  thou  say  the  mass  at  my 
lug  ?  '     Which  was  followed  with  so  great  a  noise,"  &c.     These  words  are  in 
the  Continuation  of  Baker's  Chronicle,  by  Phillips   (Milton's  Nephew) ;  ItftTi 
edition  of  Baker  (London,  1670),  p.  478.     They  are  not  in  the  fourth  edition 
of  Baker,  1665,  which  is  the  first  that  contains  the  Continuation ;  they  follow 
as  here  in  all  the  others.     Thought  to  be  the  first  grave  mention  of  Jenny 
Geddes  in  Printed  History  ;  a  heroine  still  familiar  to  Tradition  everywhere 
in  Scotland. 

In  a  foolish  Pamphlet,  printed  in  1661,  entitled  Edinburgh's  Joy,  &c.,  —  Joy 
for  the  Blessed  Restoration  and  Annus  Mirabilis,  —  there  is  mention  made  of 
"  the  immortal  Jenet  Geddis,"  whom  the  writer  represents  as  rejoicing  ex- 
ceedingly in  that  miraculous  event ;  she  seems  to  be  a  well-known  person, 
keeping  "  a  cabbage-stall  at  the  Tron  Kirk,"  at  that  date.  Burns,  in  his 
Highland  Tour,  named  his  mare  Jenny  Geddes.  Helen  of  Troy,  for  practical 
importance  in  Human  History,  is  but  a  small  Heroine  to  Jenny  :  —  but  she  has 
been  luckier  in  the  recording !  — For  these  bibliographical  notices  I  am  indebted 
to  the  friendliness  of  Mr.  David  Laing  of  the  Signet  Library,  Edinburgh. 

8  Rushworth,  Kennet,  Balfour. 


1«38.  LETTER  IT.    ELY.  95 

out  "tears;"  and  were  in  these  very  days  of  October,  1638, 
while  Oliver  is  writing  at  Ely,  busy  with  their  whole  might 
electing  their  General  Assembly,  to  meet  at  Glasgow  next 
month.  I  think  the  Tukhan  Apparatus  is  likely  to  be  some- 
what sharply  dealt  with,  the  Cow  having  become  awake  to  it ! 
Great  events  are  in  the  wind ;  out  of  Scotland  vague  news,  of 
unappeasable  commotion  risen  there. 

In  the  end  of  that  same  year,  too,  there  had  risen  all  over 
England  huge  rumor  concerning  the  Ship-money  Trial  at  Lon- 
don. On  the  6th  of  November,  1637,  this  important  Process 
of  Mr.  Hampden's  began.  Learned  Mr.  St.  John,  a  dark  tough 
man,  of  the  toughness  of  leather,  spake  with  irrefragable  law- 
eloquence,  law-logic,  for  three  days  running,  on  Mr.  Hampden's 
side ;  and  learned  Mr.  Holborn  for  three  other  days  ;  —  pre- 
served yet  by  Rushworth  in  acres  of  typography,  unreadable 
now  to  all  mortals.  For  other  learned  gentlemen,  tough  as 
leather,  spoke  on  the  opposite  side ;  and  learned  judges  ani 
madvert  ed  ;  —  at  endless  length,  amid  the  expectancy  of  men. 
With  brief  pauses,  the  Trial  lasted  for  three  weeks  and 
three  days.  Mr.  Hampden  became  the  most  famous  man  in 
England,1  —  by  accident  partly.  The  sentence  was  not  de- 
livered till  April,  1638  ;  and  then  it  went  against  Mr.  Hamp- 
den: judgment  in  Exchequer  ran  to  this  effect,  "  Consideration 
est  per  eosdem  Barones,  qiiod  pra'dicius  Johannes  Hampden  de 
iisdem  viyinti  solidis  oneretur,"  He  must  pay  the  Twenty  shil- 
lings, " et  inde  satisfaciat"*  No  hope  in  Law-Courts,  then; 
Petition  of  Right  and  Tail-agio  non  concedendo  have  become  an 
old  song.  If  there  be  not  hope  in  Jenny  Geddes's  stool  and 
"  De'il  colic  the  wame  of  thee,"  we  are  in  a  bad  way  !  — 

During  which  great  public  Transactions,  there  had  been  in 
Cromwell's  own  Fen-country  a  work  of  immense  local  celebrity 
going  on :  the  actual  Drainage  of  the  Fens,  so  long  talked  about ; 
the  construction,  namely,  of  the  great  Bedford  Level,  to  carry 
til.-  Ouse  River  direct  into  the  sea;  holding  it  forcibly  aloft  in 
strong  embankments,  for  twenty  straight  miles  or  so  ;  not  leav- 
ing it  to  meander  and  stagnate,  and  in  the  wet  season  drown 
the  country,  as  heretofore.  This  grand  work  began,  Dryasdust 

1  CUremlon.  a  Hushworth,  iii   Ap|.«-n.lix,  150-216;  H>  ii.  480. 


96  PART  I.    BEFORE    THE   CIVIL  WAR.  13  Oct. 

in  his  bewildered  manner  knows  not  when  ;  but  it  "  went  on 
rapidly/'  and  had  ended  in  1637.1  Or  rather  had  appeared,  and 
strongly  endeavored,  to  end  in  1637 ;  but  was  not  yet  by  any 
means  settled  and  ended ;  the  whole  Fen-region  clamoring  that 
it  could  not,  and  should  not,  end  so.  In  which  wide  clamor, 
against  injustice  done  in  high  places,  Oliver  Cromwell,  as  is  well 
known,  though  otherwise  a  most  private  quiet  man,  saw  good  to 
interfere  ;  to  give  the  universal  inarticulate  clamor  a  voice,  and 
gain  a  remedy  for  it.  He  approved  himself,  as  Sir  Philip  War- 
wick will  testify,2  "a  man  that  would  set  well  at  the  mark," 
that  took  sure  aim,  and  had  a  stroke  of  some  weight  in  him. 
We  cannot  here  afford  room  to  disentangle  that  affair  from  the 
dark  rubbish-abysses,  old  and  new,  in  which  it  lies  deep  buried : 
suffice  it  to  assure  the  reader  that  Oliver  did  by  no  means 
"  oppose  "  the  Draining  of  the  Fens,  but  was  and  had  been,  as 
his  Father  before  him,  highly  favorable  to  it ;  that  he  opposed 
the  King  in  Council  wishing  to  do  a  public  injustice  in  regard 
to  the  Draining  of  the  Fens ;  and  by  a  "  great  meeting  at  Hunt- 
ingdon," and  other  good  measures,  contrived  to  put  a  stop  to 
the  same.  At  a  time  when,  as  Old  Palace-yard  might  testify, 
that  operation  of  going  in  the  teeth  of  the  royal  will  was  some- 
what more  perilous  than  it  would  be  now !  This  was  in  1638, 
according  to  the  good  testimony  of  Warwick.8  Cromwell  ac- 
quired by  it  a  great  popularity  in  the  Fen-country,  acquired 
the  name  or  nickname  "  Lord  of  the  Fens  ;  "  and  what  was 
much  more  valuable,  had  done  the  duty  of  a  good  citizen,  what- 
ever he  might  acquire  by  it.  The  disastrous  public  Events 
which  soon  followed  put  a  stop  to  all  farther  operations  in  the 
Fens  for  a  good  many  years. 

These  clamors  of  local  grievance  near  at  hand,  these  rumors 
of  universal  grievance  from  the  distance,  —  they  were  part  of 
the  Day's  noises,  they  were  sounding  in  Cromwell's  mind, 
along  with  many  others  now  silent,  while  the  following  Letter 
went  off  towards  "  Sir  William  Masham's  House  called  Otes, 

1  Dugdale's  Hist,  of  Embankments ;  Cole's,  Wells 's,  &c.  &c.  Hist  of  the  Fens- 

2  Warwick's  Memoirs  (London,  1701),  p.  250. 

8  Ibid. :  poor  Noble  blunders,  as  he  is  apt  to  do. 


18-38.  LETTER   II.    ELY.  97 

in  Essex,"  in  the  year  1638. — Of  Otes  and  the  Mashams  in 
Essex,  there  must  likewise,  in  spite  of  our  strait  limits,  be  a 
word  said.  The  Mashams  were  distant  Cousins  of  Oliver's ; 
this  Sir  William  Masham,  or  Massain  as  he  is  often  written, 
proved  a  conspicuous  busy  man  in  the  Politics  of  his  time  ;  on 
the  Puritan  side;  —  rose  into  Oliver's  Council  of  State  at  last.1 
The  Mashams  became  Lords  Masham  in  the  next  generations, 
and  so  continued  for  a  while ;  one  Lady  Mashain  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Philosopher  Cudworth,  and  is  still  remembered  as  the 
iri'-nd  of  John  Locke,  whom  she  tended  in  his  old  days  ;  who 
lies  buried,  as  his  monument  still  shows,  at  the  Church  of 
High  Laver,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  Otes  Mansion  stood. 
High  Laver,  Essex,  not  far  from  Harlow  Station  on  the  North- 
eastern  Railway.  The  Mashams  are  all  extinct,  and  their 
Mansion  is  swept  away  as  if  it  had  not  been.  "Some  forty 
ago,"  says  my  kind  informant,  "a  wealthy  Maltster  ot 
Bishop's  Stortford  became  the  proprietor  by  purchase ;  and; 
pulled  the  Manor-house  down ;  leaving  the  out-houses  as  cot- 
tages to  some  poor  people."  The  name  Otes,  the  tomb  of 
Locke,  and  this  undestroyed  and  now  indestructible  fraction 
of  Rag-paper  alone  preserve  the  memory  of  Mashamdoin  in 
this  world.  We  modernize  the  spelling ;  let  the  reader,  for 
it  may  be  worth  his  while,  endeavor  to  modernize  the  senti- 
ment and  subject-matter. 

There  is  only  .this  farther  to  be  premised,  That  St.  John, 
the  celebrated  Ship-money  Barrister,  has  married  for  his  second 
wife  a  Cousin  of  Oliver  Cromwell's,  a  Daughter  of  Uncle 
Henry's,  whom  we  knew  at  Upwood  long  ago ; a  which  Cousin, 
and  perhaps  her  learned  husband  reposing  from  his  arduous 
law-duties  along  with  her,  is  now  on  a  Summer  or  Autumn 
visit  at  Otes,  and  has  lately  seen  Oliver  there. 

1  Ilia  Great-grandson's  wife  was,  withal,  a  famous  woman;  the  Abigail 
Matiham  of  Queen  Anne,  —  most  reuowued  of  Waiting- womeu,  or  "  Abigails," 
in  KiiL'IMi  History!  (Note  c/1869.) 

*  Antea,  p.  26. 

YOU   ZTII.  f 


98  PART  I.    BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  13  Oct. 

"  To  my  beloved  Cousin  Mrs.  St.  John,  at  Sir  William  Masham 
his  House  called  Otes,  in  Essex :  Present  these. 

"  ELY,  13th  October,  1638. 

"  DEAR  COUSIN,  —  I  thankfully  acknowledge  your  love  in 
your  kind  remembrance  of  me  upon  this  opportunity.  Alas, 
you  do  too  highly  prize  my  lines,  and  my  company.  I  may 
be  ashamed  to  own  your  expressions,  considering  how  unprofit- 
able I  am,  and  the  mean  improvement  of  my  talent. 

"  Yet  to  honor  my  God  by  declaring  what  He  hath  done  for 
my  soul,  in  this  I  am  confident,  and  I  will  be  so.  Truly,  then, 
this  I  find  :  That  He  giveth  springs  in  a  dry  barren  wilderness 
where  no  water  is.  I  live,  you  know  where,  —  in  Meshec, 
which  they  say  signifies  Prolonging  ;  in  Kedar,  which  signifies 
Slackness :  yet  the  Lord  forsaketh  me  not.  Though  He  do 
prolong,  yet  He  will  I  trust  bring  me  to  His  tabernacle,  to 
His  resting-place.  My  soul  is  with  the  Congregation  of  the 
First-born,  my  body  rests  in  hope ;  and  if  here  I  may  honor  my 
God  either  by  doing  or  by  suffering,  I  shall  be  most  glad. 

"Truly  no  poor  creature  hath  more  cause  to  put  himself 
forth  in  the  cause  of  his  God  than  I.  I  have  had  plentiful 
wages  beforehand ;  and  I  am  sure  I  shall  never  earn  the  least 
mite.  The  Lord  accept  me  in  His  Son,  and  give  me  to  walk 
in  the  light,  —  and  give  us  to  walk  in  the  light,  as  He  is  the 
light !  He  it  is  that  enlighteneth  our  blackness,  our  darkness. 
I  dare  not  say,  He  hideth  His  face  from  me.  He  giveth  me 
to  see  light  in  His  light.  One  beam  in  a  dark  place  hath  ex- 
ceeding much  refreshment  in  it: — blessed  be  His  Name  for 
shining  upon  so  dark  a  heart  as  mine !  You  know  what  my 
manner  of  life  hath  been.  Oh,  I  lived  in  and  loved  darkness, 
and  hated  light;  I  was  a  chief,  the  chief  of  sinners.  This 
is  true  :  I  hated  godliness,  yet  God  had  mercy  on  me.  O  the 
riches  of  His  mercy !  Praise  Him  for  me  ;  —  pray  for  me, 
that  He  who  hath  begun  a  good  work  would  perfect  it  m  the 
day  of  Christ. 

"  Salute  all  my  friends  in  that  Family  whereof  you  are  yet 
a  member.  I  am  much  bound  unto  them  for  their  love.  I 
bless  the  Lord  for  them ;  and  that  my  Son,  by  their  procure- 


1638.  LETTER  II.    ELY.  99 

ment,  is  so  well.     Let  him  have  your  prayers,  your  counsel ; 
let  me  have  them. 

"Salute  your  Husband  and  Sister  from  me:  —  He  is  not  a 
man  of  his  word  !  He  promised  to  write  about  Mr.  Wrath  of 
Epping ;  but  as  yet  I  receive  no  letters :  —  put  him  in  mind  to 
do  what  with  conveniency  may  be  done  for  the  poor  Cousin  I 
did  solicit  him  about. 

"  Once  more  farewell.     The  Lord  be  with  you :  so  prayeth 
"  Your  truly  loving  Cousin, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

There  are  two  or  perhaps  three  sons  of  Cromwell's  at  Felsted 
School  by  this  time :  a  likely  enough  guess  is,  that  he  might 
have  been  taking  Dick  over  to  Felsted  on  that  occasion  when 
he  came  round  by  Otes,  and  gave  such  comfort  by  his  speech 
to  the  pious  Mashams,  and  to  the  young  Cousin,  now  on  a 
summer  visit  at  Otes.  What  glimpses  of  long-gone  summers  ; 
of  long-gone  human  beings  in  fringed  trouser-breeches,  in 
starched  ruff,  in  hood  and  fardingale ;  —  alive  they,  within 
their  antiquarian  costumes,  living  men  and  women  ;  instruc- 
tive, very  interesting  to  one  another  I  Mrs.  St.  John  came 
down  to  breakfast  every  morning  in  that  summer  visit  of  the 
year  1638,  and  Sir  William  said  grave  grace,  and  they  spake 
polite  devout  things  to  one  another ;  and  they  are  vanished, 
they  and  their  things  and  speeches,  —  all  silent,  like  the  echoes 
of  the  old  nightingales  that  sang  that  season,  like  the  blossoms 
of  the  old  roses.  0  Death,  0  Time  1  — 

For  the  soul's  furniture  of  these  brave  people  is  grown  not 

unintelligible,  antiquarian,  than  their  Spanish  boots  and 

1  :q.jn;t  caps.     Reverend  Mark  Noble,  my  reverend   imbecile 

friend,  discovers  in  this  Letter  evidence  that  Oliver  was  once 

a  very  dissolute  man  ;  that  Carrion  Heath  spake  truth  in  that 

FLuji-Uuin  Balderdash  of  his.     O  my  reverend  imbecile  friend, 

hadst  thou  thyself  never  any  moral  life,  but  only  a  sensitive 

and  digestive?    Thy  soul  never  longed  towards  the  serene 

its,  ;ill  hidden  from  thee;  and  thirsted  as  the  hart  in  dry 

j.l :u •« -s  wherein  no  waters  be  ?    It  was  never  a  sorrow  for  thee 

1  Thorloe'tt  Statr  I'ajmrs  (Loudun,  174*),  L  1. 


100  PART  I.    BEFORE   THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1638. 

that  the  eternal  pole-star  had  gone  out,  veiled  itself  in  dark 
clouds ;  —  a  sorrow  only  that  this  or  the  other  noble  Patron 
forgot  thee  when  a  living  fell  vacant  ?  I  have  known  Chris- 
tians, Moslems,  Methodists,  —  and,  alas,  also  reverend  irrever- 
ent Apes  by  the  Dead  Sea  I 

O  modern  reader,  dark  as  this  Letter  may  seem,  I  will  ad- 
vise thee  to  make  an  attempt  towards  understanding  it.  There 
is  in  it  a  "  tradition  of  humanity  "  worth  all  the  rest.  Indis- 
putable certificate  that  man  once  had  a  soul ;  that  man  once 
walked  with  God,  —  his  little  Life  a  sacred  island  girdled  with 
Eternities  and  Godhoods.  Was  it  not  a  time  for  heroes  ? 
Heroes  were  then  possible.  I  say,  thou  shalt  understand  that 
Letter ;  thou  also,  looking  out  into  a  too  brutish  world,  wilt 
then  exclaim  with  Oliver  Cromwell,  —  with  Hebrew  David,  as 
old  Mr.  House  of  Truro,  and  the  Presbyterian  populations, 
still  sing  him  in  the  Northern  Kirks :  — 

"  Woe  's  me  that  I  in  Meshec  am 

A  sojourncr  so  long, 
Or  that  I  in  the  tents  do  dwell 
To  Kedar  that  belong ! " 

Yes,  there  is  a  tone  in  the  soul  of  this  Oliver  that  holds  of  the 
Perennial.  With  a  noble  sorrow,  with  a  noble  patience,  he 
longs  towards  the  mark  of  the  prize  of  the  high  calling.  He, 
I  think,  has  chosen  the  better  part.  The  world  and  its  wild 
tumults,  —  if  they  will  but  let  him  alone!  Yet  he  too  will 
venture,  will  do  and  suffer  for  God's  cause,  if  the  call  come. 
What  man  with  better  reason  ?  He  hath  had  plentiful  wages 
beforehand ;  snatched  out  of  darkness  into  marvellous  light : 
he  will  never  earn  the  least  mite.  Annihilation  of  self ; 
Selbsttodtung,  as  Novalis  calls  it ;  casting  yourself  at  the  foot- 
stool of  God's  throne,  "  To  live  or  to  die  forever ;  as  Thou  wilt, 
not  as  I  will."  Brother,  hadst  thou  never,  in  any  form,  such 
moments  in  thy  history  ?  Thou  knowest  them  not,  even  by 
credible  rumor?  Well,  thy  earthly  path  was  peaceabler,  I 
suppose.  But  the  Highest  was  never  in  thee,  the  Highest  will 
never  come  out  of  thee.  Thou  shalt  at  best  abide  by  the  stuff ; 
as  cherished  house-dog,  guard  the  stuff,  —  perhaps  with  enor- 


1640.  TWO  YEARS.  101 

mous  gold-collars  and  provender :  but  the  battle,  and  the  hero- 
death,  and  victory's  fire-chariot  carrying  men  to  the  Immortals, 
shall  never  be  thine.  I  pity  tb.ee  j  brag  not,  or  I  shall  have 
to  despise  thee. 


TWO  YEARS. 

SUCH  is  Oliver's  one  Letter  from  Ely.  To  guide  us  a  little 
through  the  void  gulf  towards  his  next  Letter,  we  will  here 
intercalate  the  following  small  fractions  of  Chronology. 

1639. 

May-July.  The  Scots  at  their  Glasgow  Assembly  *  had  rent 
their  Tulchan  Apparatus  in  so  rough  a  way,  and  otherwise  so 
ill  comported  themselves,  his  Majesty  saw  good,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  this  year,  immense  negotiation  and  messaging  to  and 
fro  having  proved  so  futile,  to  chastise  them  with  an  Army. 
By  unheard-of  exertions  in  the  Extra-Parliamentary  way,  his 
Majesty  got  an  Army  ready ;  marched  with  it  to  Berwick,  — 
is  at  Newcastle,  8th  May,  1G39.2  But,  alas,  the  Scots,  with 
a  much  better  Army,  already  lay  encamped  on  Dunse  Law ; 
every  nobleman  with  his  tenants  there,  as  a  drilled  regiment, 
round  him ;  old  Field-marshal  Lesley  for  their  generalissimo ; 
at  every  Colonel's  tent  this  pennon  flying,  For  Christ's  Crown 
and  Covenant  :  there  was  no  fighting  to  be  thought  of.8  Nei- 
ther could  the  Pacification  there  patched  up  be  of  long  con- 
tinuance. The  Scots  disbanded  their  soldiers  ;  but  kept  the 
officers,  mostly  Gustavus-Adolphus  men,  still  within  sight. 

1640. 

The  Scotch  Pacification,  hastily  patched  up  at  Dunse  Hill, 
did  not  last;  discrepancies  arose  as  to  the  practical  meaning 

1  Nov.  1688;  Baillie's  Letter   (Edinburgh,  1841),  i.  118-176. 
1  Roflhworth,  iii.  'J.iO 

*  Ib.  iii.  920-94'.*,    Huillie,  i.  184-221;    King's  Army  "  dismissed  " 
Pacification)  vuti  June  (Kiuhworth,  iii.  946). 


102  PART  I.    BEFORE   THE   CIVIL   WAR.  1640. 

of  this  and  the  other  clause  in  it.  Discrepancies  which  tho 
farther  they  were  handled,  embroiled  themselves  the  more. 
His  Majesty  having  burnt  Scotch  paper  Declarations  "  by  the 
hands  of  the  common  hangman,"  and  almost  cut  off  the  poor 
Scotch  Chancellor  London's  head,  and  being  again  resolute  to 
chastise  the  rebel  Scots  with  an  Army,  decides  on  summoning 
a  Parliament  for  that  end,  there  being  no  money  attainable 
otherwise.  To  the  great  and  glad  astonishment  of  England ; 
which,  at  one  time,  thought  never  to  have  seen  another  Parlia- 
ment !  Oliver  Cromwell  sat  in  this  Parliament  for  Cambridge  ; l 
recommended  by  Hampden,  say  some ;  not  needing  any  rec- 
ommendation in  those  Fen-countries,  think  others.  Oliver's 
Colleague  was  a  Thomas  Meautys,  Esquire.  This  Parliament 
met,  13th  April,  1640  :  it  was  by  no  means  prompt  enough 
with  supplies  against  the  rebel  Scots  ;  the  King  dismissed  it 
in  a  huff,  5th  May  ;  after  a  Session  of  three  weeks  :  Historians 
call  it  the  Short  Parliament.  His  Majesty  decides  on  raising 
money  and  an  Army  "  by  other  methods ;  "  to  which  end, 
Wentworth,  now  Earl  Strafford  and  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ire- 
land, who  had  advised  that  course  in  the  Council,  did  himself 
subscribe  £20,000.  Archbishop  Laud  had  long  ago  seen  "a 
cloud  rising  "  against  the  Four  surplices  at  Allhallowtide  ;  and 
now  it  is  covering  the  whole  sky,  in  a  most  dismal  and  really 
thundery-looking  manner. 

His  Majesty  by  "  other  methods,"  commission  of  array, 
benevolence,  forced-loan,  or  how  he  could,  got  a  kind  of  Army 
on  foot,2  and  set  it  marching  out  of  the  several  Counties  in  the 
South  towards  the  Scotch  Border  :  but  it  was  a  most  hopeless 
Army.  The  soldiers  called  the  affair  a  Bishops'  War  •  they 
mutinied  against  their  officers,  shot  some  of  their  officers :  in 
various  Towns  on  their  march,  if  the  Clergyman  were  reputed 
Puritan,  they  went  and  gave  him  three  cheers ;  if  of  Surplice 
tendency,  they  sometimes  threw  his  furniture  out  of  window.8 
No  fighting  against  poor  Scotch  Gospellers  was  to  be  hoped 
for  from  these  men.  —  Meanwhile  the  Scots,  not  to  be  behind- 

1  Browne  Willis,  pp.  229,  230;  Rushworth,  iii.  1105. 

»  Ib.  iii.  1241. 

8  Vicar's  Parliamentary  Chronicle  (Lond.  1644)  p.  20. 


IMO.  TWO   YEARS.  103 

hand,  had  raised  a  good  Army  of  their  own ;  and  decided  on 
going  into  England  with  it,  this  time,  "  to  present  their  griev- 
ances to  the  King's  Majesty."  On  the  20th  of  August,  1G40, 
they  cross  the  Tweed  at  Coldstream  ;  Montrose  wading  in  the 
van  of  them  all.  They  wore  uniform  of  hodden  gray,  with 
blue  caps ;  and  each  man  had  a  moderate  haversack  of  oatmeal 
on  his  back.1 

August  28th.  The  Scots  force  their  way  across  the  Tyne,  at 
Newburn,  some  miles  above  Newcastle;  the  King's  Army 
making  small  fight,  most  of  them  no  fight ;  hurrying  from 
Newcastle,  and  all  town  and  country  quarters,  towards  York 
again,  where  his  Majesty  and  Strafford  were.2  The  Bish»i>x 
War  was  at  an  end.  The  Scots,  striving  to  be  gentle  as  doves 
in  their  behavior,  and  publishing  boundless  brotherly  Declara- 
tions to  all  the  brethren  that  loved  Christ's  Gospel  and  God's 
Justice  in  England,  —  took  possession  of  Newcastle  next  day ; 
took  possession  gradually  of  all  Northumberland  and  Durham, 
• — and  stayed  there,  in  various  towns  and  villages,  about  a 
year.  The  whole  body  of  English  Puritans  looked  upon  them 
as  their  saviors :  some  months  afterwards,  Robert  Baillie  heard 
the  London  ballad-singers,  on  the  streets,  singing  copiously 
with  strong  lungs,  "  Grainercy,  good  Master  Scot  "  by  way  of 
burden.8 

1 1  is  Majesty  and  Strafford,  in  a  fine  frenzy  at  this  turn  of 
affairs,  found  no  refuge,  except  to  summon  a  ''Council  of 
Peers,"  to  enter  upon  a  "  Treaty  "  with  the  Scots  ;  and  alas, 
at  last,  summon  a  New  Parliament.  Not  to  be  helped  in  any 
way.  Twelve  chief  Peers  of  the  summoned  "  Council "  peti- 
tioned for  a  Parliament ;  the  City  of  London  petitioned  for  a 
r.irliament,  and  would  not  lend  money  otherwise.  A  Parlia- 
iMi'iit  was  appointed  for  the  3d  of  November  next;  —  where- 
upon London  cheerfully  lent  £200,000 ;  and  the  treaty  with 
the  Scots  at  Ri|>on,  1st  Octolior,  1640, 4  by  and  by  transferred 
to  London,  went  j)«aceably  on  at  a  very  leisurely  pace.  The 
Scotch  Army  lay  ipiarh-ml  at  Newcastle,  and  over  Northum- 
berland ami  Durham,  on  an  allowance  of  £850  a  day;  an  Army 

l  Old  Pamphlet*.  *  Ruahworth,  iii.  1236,  &c. 

•  Baillie's  Letter*.  «  Uwthwurtli,  iii.  1282. 


104  PART  I.    BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1640. 

indispensable  for  Puritan  objects  ;  no  haste  in  finishing  its 
Treaty.  The  English  Army  lay  across  in  Yorkshire  ;  without 
allowance  except  from  the  casualties  of  the  King's  Exchequer ; 
in  a  dissatisfied  manner,  and  occasionally  getting  into  "Army- 
Plots." 

This  Parliament,  which  met  on  the  3d  of  November,  1640, 
has  become  very  celebrated  in  History  by  the  name  of  the 
Long  Parliament.  It  accomplished  and  suffered  very  singular 
destinies  ;  suffered  a  Pride's  Purge,  a  Cromwell's  Ejectment ; 
suffered  Reinstatements,  Re-ejectments ;  and  the  Rump  or 
Fag-end  of  it  did  not  finally  vanish  till  16th  March,  1659-60. 
Oliver  Cromwell  sat  again  in  this  Parliament  for  Cambridge 
Town  ;  Meautys,  his  old  Colleague,  is  now  changed  for  "  John 
Lowry,  Esquire," *  probably  a  more  Puritanic  man.  The 
Members  for  Cambridge  University  are  the  same  in  both  Par- 
liaments. 


LETTER  III. 

"  To  my  loving  friend  Mr.  Willingham,  at  his  House  in  Swithin's 
Lane :  These. 

"  [LONDON,  February,  1640.]  2 

"SiK,  — I  desire  you  to  send  me  the  Reasons  of  the  Scots  to 
enforce  their  desire  of  Uniformity  in  Religion,  expressed  in 
their  8th  Article  ;  I  mean  that  which  I  had  before  of  you.  I 
would  peruse  it  against  we  fall  upon  that  Debate,  which  will 
be  speedily.  Yours, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."  3 

There  is  a  great  quantity  of  intricate  investigation  requisite 
to  date  this  small  undated  Note,  and  make  it  entirely  trans- 
parent !  The  Scotch  Treaty,  begun  at  Ripon,  is  going  on,  — 

1  Willis  ;  Rnshworth,  iv.  3.  See  Cooper's  Annals  of  Cambridge  (London, 
1845),  iii.  303,  304. 

a  The  words  within  brackets,  here  as  always  in  the  Text  of  Cromwell's 
Letters,  are  mine,  not  his  ;  the  date  in  this  instance  is  conjectural  or  inferen- 
tial. 

8  Harris,  p.  517  ;  Sloane  MSS.  no.  2035,  f.  126. 


1M1.  LETTER  III.    ANTI-EPISCOPACY.  105 

never  ended  :  the  agitation  about  abolishing  Bishops  has  just 
begun,  in  the  House  and  out  of  it. 

On  Friday,  llth  December,  1640,  the  Londoners  present 
their  celebrated  "  Petition,"  signed  by  15,000  hands,  craving 
to  have  Bishops  and  their  Ceremonies  radically  reformed. 
Then  on  Saturday,  23d  January,  1640-1,  comes  the  still  more 
celebrated  "Petition  and  Remonstrance  from  700  Ministers 
of  the  Church  of  England," l  to  the  like  effect.  Upon  which 
Documents,  especially  upon  the  latter,  ensue  strenuous  debat- 
ings,a  ensues  a  "  Committee  of  Twenty-four ;  "  a  Bill  to  abolish 
Superstition  and  Idolatry ;  and,  in  a  week  or  two,  a  Bill  to 
take  away  the  Bishops'  Votes  in  Parliament :  Bills  recom- 
mended by  the  said  Committee.  A  diligent  Committee ;  which 
heard  much  evidence,  and  theological  debating,  from  Dr.  Bur- 
gess and  others.  Their  Bishops  Bill,  not  without  hot  arguing, 
passed  through  the  Commons  j  was  rejected  by  the  Lords ;  — 
took  effect,  however,  in  a  much  heavier  shape,  within  year 
and  day.  Young  Sir  Ralph  Varney,  son  of  Edmund  the 
Standard-bearer,  has  preserved  very  careful  Notes  of  the  the- 
ological revelations  and  profound  arguments,  heard  in  this 
Committee  from  Dr.  Burgess  and  others ;  intensely  interesting 
at  that  time  to  all  ingenuous  young  gentlemen ;  a  mere  torpor 
now  to  all  persons. 

In  fact,  the  whole  world,  as  we  perceive,  in  this  Spring  of 
1641,  is  getting  on  fire  with  episcopal,  anti-episcopal  emo- 
tion ;  and  the  Scotch  Commissioners,  with  their  Desire  of  Uni- 
formity, are  naturally  the  centre  of  the  latter.  Bishop  Hall, 
Smectymnuus,  and  one  Mr.  Milton  "  near  St.  Bride's  Church," 
are  all  getting  their  Pamphlets  ready. — The  assiduous  con- 
temporary individual  who  collected  the  huge  stock  of  loose 
Printing  now  known  as  King's  Pamphlets  in  the  British 
Museum,  usually  writes  the  date  on  the  title-page  of  each ; 
but  has,  with  a  curious  infelicity,  omitted  it  in  the  case 
of  Milton's  Pamphlets,  which  accordingly  remain  undatable 
except  approximately. 

1   Commons  Journals,  ii.  72. 

8  Il.i.l.  ii.  81 ;  8th  and  9th  of  February.  S«e  Haillie'i  Letters,  i.  308 ;  aud 
Ruahworth,  iv.  93  and  174. 


106  PART  I.    BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  iwi. 

The  exact  copy  of  the  Scotch  Demands  towards  a  Treaty  I 
have  not  yet  met  with,  though  doubtless  it  is  in  print  amid 
the  unsorted  Rubbish-Mountains  of  the  British  Museum.  No- 
tices of  it  are  to  be  seen  in  Baillie,  also  in  Rushworth.1  The 
first  Seven  Articles  relate  to  secularities ;  payment  of  dam- 
ages ;  punishment  of  incendiaries,  and  so  forth :  the  Seventh 
is  the  "recalling"  of  the  King's  Proclamations  against  the 
Scots.  The  Eighth,  "anent  a  solid  peace  betwixt  the  Na- 
tions," involves  this  matter  of  Uniformity  in  Religion,  and 
therefore  is  of  weightier  moment.  Baillie  says :  "  For  the 
Eighth  great  Demand  some  days  were  spent  in  preparation;" 
The  Lords  would  have  made  no  difficulty  about  dismantling 
Berwick  and  Carlisle,  or  such  like ;  but  finding  that  the  other 
points  of  this  Eighth  Article  were  to  involve  the  permanent 
relations  of  England,  they  delayed.  "  We  expect  it  this  very 
day,"  says  Baillie  (28th  February,  1640-1).  Oliver  Cromwell 
also  expects  it  this  very  day,  or  "  speedily,"  —  and  there- 
fore writes  to  Mr.  Willingharn  for  a  sight  of  the  Documents 
again. 

Whoever  wishes  to  trace  the  emergence,  re-emergence,  slow 
ambiguous  progress  and  dim  issue  of  this  "Eighth  Article," 
may  consult  the  opaque  but  authentic  Commons  Journals,  and 
strive  to  elucidate  the  same  by  poor  old  brown  Pamphlets, 
in  the  places  cited  below.3  It  was  not  finally  voted  in  the 
affirmative  till  the  middle  of  May ;  and  then  still  it  was  far 
from  being  ended.  It  ended,  properly,  in  the  Summoning  of 
a  "  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines,"  To  ascertain  for  us 
liow  "  the  two  Nations  "  may  best  attain  to  "  Uniformity  of 
Religion." 

This  "  Mr.  Willingham  my  loving  friend,"  of  whom  I  have 
found  no  other  vestige  anywhere  in  Nature,  is  presumably  a 
London  Puritan  concerned  in  the  London  Petition  and  other 
such  matters,  to  whom  the  Member  for  Cambridge,  a  man  of 
known  zeal,  good  connection,  and  growing  weight,  is  worth 
convincing. 

1  Baillie,  i.  297,  and  antea  et  postea;   Rushworth,  iv.  166. 

2  Commons  Journals,  ii.  84,  85  ;   Diurnal  Occurrences  in  Parliament  (Printed 
for  William  Cooke,  London,  1641,  —  often  erroneous  as  to  the  day),  10th  Feb- 
ruary, 7th  March,  15th  May. 


1641.  IN   THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT  107 

Oliver  St.  John  the  Ship-money  Lawyer,  n  w  Member  for 
Totuess,  has  lately  been  made  Solicitor  General  •  on  the  2d  of 
February,  1640-1,  D'Ewes  says  of  him,  "  newly  created ;  " l  a 
date  worth  attending  to.  Stratford's  Trial  is  coming  on ;  to 
begin  on  the  22d  of  March  :  Stratford  and  Laud  are  safe  in 
the  Tower  long  since  ;  Finch  and  VVindebank,  and  other  Delin- 
quents in  high  places,  have  fled  rapidly  beyond  seas. 


IN  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

THAT  little  Note,  despatched  by  a  servant  to  Swithin's  Lane 
in  the  Spring  of  1641,  and  still  saved  by  capricious  destiny 
while  so  much  else  has  been  destroyed,  —  is  all  of  Autographic 
that  Oliver  Cromwell  has  left  us  concerning  his  proceedings 
in  the  first  three-and-twenty  months  of  the  Long  Parliament. 
Months  distinguished,  beyond  most  others  in  History,  by 
anxieties  and  endeavors,  by  hope  and  fear  and  swift  vicissi- 
tude, to  all  England  as  well  as  him  :  distinguished  on  his  part 
by  much  Parliamentary  activity  withal ;  of  which,  unknown 
hitherto  in  History,  but  still  capable  of  being  known,  let  us 
wait  some  other  opportunity  of  speaking.  Two  vague  appear- 
ances of  his  in  that  scene,  which  are  already  known  to  most 
readers,  we  will  set  in  their  right  date  and  place,  making  them 
faintly  visible  at  last ;  and  therewith  leave  this  part  of  the 
subject. 

In  D'Ewes's  Manuscript  above  cited  a  are  these  words,  relat- 
ing to  Monday,  Qth  November,  1640,  the  sixth  day  of  the  Long 
Parliament:  "Mr.  Cromwell  delivered  the  Petition  of  John 
Lilburn," —  young  Lilburn,  who  had  once  been  Prynne's 
amanuensis,  among  other  things,  and  whose  "  whipping  with 
200  stripes  from  Westminster  to  the  Fleet  Prison,"  had  already 
rendered  him  conspicuous.  This  is  the  record  of  D'Ewes.  To 
which  let  us  now  annex  the  following  well-known  passage  of 

1  Sir  Rimond  D'Rwea's  Notei  of  the  Tang  Parliament  (Harleian  MSS    nos- 
162-166),  fol.  189  a.  p.  156  of  Tmwcript pa**  u*. 
•  D'Kwm,  foL4. 


108  PART  I.    BEFORE   THE   CIVIL   WAR.  1841. 

Sir  Philip  Warwick ;  and  if  the  reader  fancy  the  Speeches  on 
the  previous  Saturday,1  and  how  the  "  whole  of  this  Monday 
was  spent  in  hearing  grievances  "  of  the  like  sort,  some  dim 
image  of  a  strange  old  scene  may  perhaps  rise  upon  him. 

"  The  first  time  I  ever  took  notice  of  Mr.  Cromwell,"  says 
Warwick,  "  was  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  Parliament  held  in 
November,  1640  ;  when  I  [Member  for  Radnor]  vainly  thought 
myself  a  courtly  young  gentleman,  —  for  we  courtiers  valued 
ourselves  much  upon  our  good  clothes !  I  came  into  the 
House  one  morning,"  Monday  morning,  "  well  clad ;  and  per- 
ceived a  gentleman  speaking,  whom  I  knew  not,  —  very  ordi- 
narily apparelled ;  for  it  was  a  plain  cloth  suit,  which  seemed 
to  have  been  made  by  an  ill  country-tailor ;  his  linen  was 
plain,  and  not  very  clean ;  and  I  remember  a  speck  or  two  of 
blood  upon  his  little  band,  which  was  not  much  larger  than 
his  collar.  His  hat  was  without  a  hat-band.  His  stature  was 
of  a  good  size ;  his  sword  stuck  close  to  his  side :  his  counte- 
nance swoln  and  reddish,  his  voice  sharp  and  untunable,  and 
his  eloquence  full  of  fervor.  For  the  subject-matter  would 
not  bear  much  of  reason ;  it  being  on  behalf  of  a  servant  of 
Mr.  Prynne's  who  had  dispersed  Libels ;  "  —  yes,  Libels,  and 
had  come  to  Palace-yard  for  it,  as  we  saw  :  "  I  sincerely  pro- 
fess, it  lessened  much  my  reverence  unto  that  Great  Council, 
for  this  gentleman  was  very  much  hearkened  unto ;  "  a  which 
was  strange,  seeing  he  had  no  gold  lace  to  his  coat,  nor  frills 
to  his  band ;  and  otherwise,  to  me  in  my  poor  feather-head, 
seemed  a  somewhat  unhandy  gentleman ! 

The  reader  may  take  what  of  these  Warwick  traits  he  can 
along  with  him,  and  also  omit  what  he  cannot  take;  for 
though  Warwick's  veracity  is  undoubted,  his  memory  after 
many  years,  in  such  an  element  as  his  had  been,  may  be  ques- 
tioned. The  "  band  "  we  may  remind  our  readers,  is  a  linen 
tippet,  properly  the  shirt-collar  of  those  days,  which,  when  the 
hair  was  worn  long,  needed  to  fold  itself  with  a  good  expanse 
of  washable  linen  over  the  upper- works  of  the  coat,  and  defend 
these  and  their  velvets  from  harm.  The  "  specks  of  blood," 

1  Commons  Journals,  7th  Nov.  1640 ;  Rushworth,  iv.  24,  &c. 

2  Warwick,  p.  247. 


1641.  IN   THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT.  109 

if  not  fabulous,  we,  not  without  general  sympathy,  attribute 
to  bad  razors  :  as  for  the  "  hat-band,"  one  remarks  that  men 
did  not  speak  with  their  hats  on  ;  and  therefore  will,  with  Sir 
Philip's  leave,  omit  that.  The  "  untunable  voice,"  or  what  a 
poor  young  gentleman  in  these  circumstances  would  consider 
as  such,  is  very  significant  to  us. 

Here  is  the  other  vague  appearance  :  from  Clarendon's  Life.1 
"  He  [Mr.  Hyde,  afterwards  Lord  Clarendon]  was  often  heard 
to  mention  one  private  Committee,  in  which  he  was  put  acci- 
dentally into  the  chair ;  upon  an  Enclosure  which  had  been 
made  of  great  wastes,  belonging  to  the  Queen's  Manors,  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  tenants,  the  benefit  whereof  had  been 
given  by  the  Queen  to  a  servant  of  near  trust,  who  forthwith 
sold  the  lands  enclosed  to  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  Lord  Privy 
Seal ;  who  together  with  his  Son  Mandevil  were  now  most 
concerned  to  maintain  the  Enclosure  ;  against  which,  as  well 
the  inhabitants  of  other  manors,  who  claimed  Common  in  those 
wastes,  as  the  Queen's  tenants  of  the  same,  made  loud  com- 
plaints, as  a  great  oppression,  carried  upon  them  with  a  very 
high  hand,  and  supported  by  power. 

"  The  Committee  sat  in  the  Queen's  Court ;  and  Oliver  Crom- 
well being  one  of  them,  appeared  much  concerned  to  counte- 
nance the  Petitioners,  who  were  numerous  together  with  their 
Witnesses;  the  Lord  Mandevil  being  likewise  present  as  a 
party,  and  by  the  direction  of  the  Committee  sitting  covered. 
«'i< unwell,  who  had  never  before  been  heard  to  speak  in  the 
House  of  Commons,"  —  at  least  not  by  me,  though  he  had 
often  spoken,  and  was  very  well  known  there,  —  "  ordered  the 
Witnesses  and  Petitioners  in  the  method  of  the  proceeding ; 
and  seconded,  and  enlarged  upon  what  they  said,  with  great 
passion ;  and  the  Witnesses  and  persons  concerned,  who  were 
a  very  rude  kind  of  people,  interrupted  the  Counsel  and  Wit- 
nesses on  the  other  side,  with  great  clamor,  when  they  said 
anything  that  did  not  please  them  ;  so  that  Mr.  Hyde  (whose 
office  it  was  to  oblige  men  of  all  sorts  to  keep  order)  was 
compelled  to  use  some  sharp  reproofs,  and  some  threats,  to 
reduce  them  to  such  a  temper  that  the  business  might  be 

i  L  78  (Oxford,  1761). 


110  PART  I.    BEFORE   THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1641. 

quietly  heard.  Cromwell,  in  great  fury,  reproached  the  Chair- 
man for  being  partial,  and  that  he  discountenanced  the 
Witnesses  by  threatening  them :  the  other  appealed  to  the 
Committee ;  which  justified  him,  and  declared  that  he  behaved 
himself  as  he  ought  to  do ;  which  more  inflamed  him,"  Crom- 
well, "who  was  already  too  much  angry.  When  upon  any  men- 
tion of  matter-of-fact,  or  of  the  proceeding  before  and  at  the 
Enclosure,  the  Lord  Mandevil  desired  to  be  heard,  and  with 
great  modesty  related  what  had  been  done,  or  explained  what 
had  been  said,  Mr.  Cromwell  did  answer,  and  reply  upon  him 
with  so  much  indecency  and  rudeness,  and  in  language  so  con- 
trary and  offensive,  that  every  man  would  have  thought,  that 
as  their  natures  and  their  manners  were  as  opposite  as  it  is 
possible,  so  their  interest  could  never  have  been  the  same. 
In  the  end,  his  whole  carriage  was  so  tempestuous,  and  his 
behavior  so  insolent,  that  the  Chairman  found  himself  obliged 
to  reprehend  him  :  and  to  tell  him,  That  if  he  [Mr.  Cromwell] 
proceeded  in  the  same  manner,  he  [Mr.  Hyde]  would  presently 
adjourn  the  Committee,  and  the  next  morning  complain  to  the 
House  of  him.  Which  he  never  forgave ;  and  took  all  occa- 
sions afterwards  to  pursue  him  with  the  utmost  malice  and 
revenge,  to  his  death,"  not  Mr.  Hyde's,  happily,  but  Mr.  Crom- 
well's, who  at  length  did  cease  to  cherish  "  malice  and  revenge  " 
against  Mr.  Hyde  ! 

Tracking  this  matter,  by  faint  indications,  through  various 
obscure  courses,  I  conclude  that  it  related  to  "the  Soke  of 
Somersham,"  *  near  St.  Ives ;  and  that  the  scene  in  the  Queen's 
Court  probably  occurred  in  the  beginning  of  July,  1641. 2  Crom- 
well knew  this  Soke  of  Somersham,  near  St.  Ives,  very  well ; 
knew  these  poor  rustics,  and  what  treatment  they  had  got ; 
and  wished,  not  in  the  imperturbablest  manner  it  would  seem, 
to  see  justice  done  them.  Here  too,  subtracting  the  due  sub- 
trahend from  Mr.  Hyde's  Narrative,  we  have  a  pleasant  visu- 
ality  of  an  old  summer  afternoon  "  in  the  Queen's  Court "  two 
hundred  years  ago. 

1  Commons  Journals,  ii.  172. 

2  Ibid.  87,  150,  172,  192,  215,  218,  319,—  the  dates  extend  from  17th  Fel> 
tuary  to  21st  July.  1641 


1641.  IN   THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT.  Ill 

Cromwell's  next  Letters  present  him  to  us,  not  debating,  or 
about  to  debate,  concerning  Parliamentary  Propositions  and 
Scotch  "  Eighth  Articles,"  but  with  his  sword  drawn  to  en- 
force them ;  the  whole  Kingdom  divided  now  into  two  armed 
conflicting  masses,  the  argument  to  be  by  pike  and  bullet 
henceforth. 


PART  n. 

TO  THE  END  OF  THE  FIRST  CIVIL  WAR. 
1642-1646. 

PRELIMINARY. 

THERE  is  therefore  a  great  dark  void,  from  February,  1641, 
to  January,  1643,  through  which  the  reader  is  to  help  himself 
from  Letter  III.  over  to  Letter  IV.,  as  he  best  may.  How  has 
pacific  England,  the  most  solid  pacific  country  in  the  world, 
got  all  into  this  armed  attitude  ;  and  decided  itself  to  argue 
henceforth  by  pike  and  bullet  till  it  get  some  solution  ?  Dry- 
asdust, if  there  remained  any  shame  in  him,  ought  to  look 
at  those  wagon-loads  of  Printed  Volumes,  and  blush  !  We,  in 
great  haste,  offer  the  necessitous  reader  the  following  hints 
and  considerations. 

It  was  mentioned  above  that  Oliver  St.  John,  the  noted 
Puritan  Lawyer,  was  already,  in  the  end  of  January,  1641, 
made  Solicitor-General.  The  reader  may  mark  that  as  a  small 
fraction  of  an  event  showing  itself  above  ground,  completed ; 
and  indicating  to  him  a  grand  subterranean  attempt  on  the 
part  of  King  Charles  and  the  Puritan  Leaders,  which  unfor- 
tunately never  could  become  a  fact  or  event.  Charles,  in 
January  last  or  earlier  (for  there  are  no  dates  discoverable 
but  this  of  St.  John's),  perceiving  how  the  current  of  the 
Nation  ran,  and  what  a  humor  men  were  getting  into,  had  de- 
cided on  trying  to  adopt  the  Puritan  leaders,  Pym,  Hampden, 
Holies  and  others,  as  what  we  should  now  call  his  "  Min- 
isters :  "  these  Puritan  men,  under  the  Earl  of  Bedford  as 
chief,  might  have  hoped  to  become  what  we  should  now  call 


PRELIMINARY.  113 

a  "  Majesty's  Ministry,"  and  to  execute  peaceably,  with  their 
King  presiding  over  them,  what  reforms  had  grown  inevitable. 
A  most  desirable  result,  if  a  possible  one ;  for  of  all  men  these 
had  the  least  notion  of  revolting,  or  rebelling  against  their 
King! 

This  negotiation  had  been  entered  into,  and  entertained  as 
a  possibility  by  both  parties  :  so  much  is  indubitable  ;  so  much 
and  notliing  more,  except  that  it  ended  without  result.1  It 
would  in  our  days  be  the  easiest  negotiation  ;  but  it  was  then 
an  impossible  one.  For  it  meant  that  the  King  should  content 
himself  with  the  Name  of  King,  and  see  measures  the  reverse 
<>f  what  he  wished  and  willed  take  effect  by  his  sanction. 
Which,  in  sad  truth,  had  become  a  necessity  for  Charles  I.  in 
the  England  of  1641.  His  tendency  and  effort  has  long  been 
the  reverse  of  England's  ;  he  cannot  govern  England,  whatever 
he  may  govern  !  And  yet  to  have  admitted  this  necessity,  — 
alas,  was  it  not  to  have  settled  the  whole  Quarrel,  without  the 
eight-and-forty  years  of  fighting,  and  confused  bickering  and 
oscillation,  which  proved  to  be  needful  first  ?  The  negotiation 
dropped ;  leaving  for  visible  result  only  this  appointment  of 
St.  John's.  His  Majesty  on  that  side  saw  no  course  possible 
for  him. 

Accordingly  he  tried  it  in  the  opposite  direction,  which  also, 
on  failure  by  this  other,  was  very  natural  for  him.  He  entered 
into  secret  tampe rings  with  the  Officers  of  the  English  Army ; 
which,  lying  now  in  Yorkshire,  ill-paid,  defeated,  and  in  neigh- 
borhood of  a  Scotch  Army  victoriously  furnished  with  £850  a 
was  very  apt  for  discontent.  There  arose  a  "  first  Ariny- 
Plot "  for  delivering  Strafford  from  the  Tower ;  then  a  second 
Army-Plot  for  some  equally  wild  achievement,  tending  to  de- 
liver Majesty  from  thraldom,  and  send  this  factious  Parliament 
about  its  business.  In  which  desperate  schemes,  though  his 
Majesty  strove  not  to  commit  himself  beyond  what  was  neces- 
sary, it  became  and  still  remains  indubitable  that  he  did  par- 
ticipate;—  as  indeed,  the  former  course  of  listening  to  his 
Parliament  having  been  abandoned,  this  other  of  coercing  or 
awing  it  by  armed  force  was  the  only  remaining  one. 
1  Whitlocke,  C'lareudou  ;  tee  Foreter's  Statemen,  ii.  15O-157. 

TOL     ivii  g 


114  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  1841. 

These  Army-Plots,  detected  one  after  another,  and  investi- 
gated and  commented  upon,  with  boundless  interest,  in  Parlia- 
ment and  out  of  it,  kept  the  Summer  and  Autumn  of  1641  in 
continual  alarm  and  agitation  ;  taught  all  Opposition  persons, 
and  a  factious  Parliament  in  general,  what  ground  they  were 
standing  on ;  —  and  in  the  factious  Parliament,  especially, 
could  not  but  awaken  the  liveliest  desire  of  having  the  Mili- 
tary Force  put  in  such  hands  as  would  be  safe  for  them.  "  The 
Lord-Lieutenants  of  Counties,"  this  factious  Parliament  con- 
ceived an  unappeasable  desire  of  knowing  who  these  were  to 
be  :  —  this  is  what  they  mean  by  "  Power  of  the  Militia ;  "  on 
which  point,  as  his  Majesty  would  not  yield  a  jot,  his  Parlia- 
ment and  he  —  the  point  becoming  daily  more  important,  new 
offences  daily  accumulating,  and  the  split  ever  widening  — 
ultimately  rent  themselves  asunder,  and  drew  swords  to  de- 
cide it. 

Such  was  the  well-known  consummation ;  which  in  Crom- 
well's next  Letter  we  find  to  have  arrived.  Here  are  a  few 
dates  which  may  assist  the  reader  to  grope  his  way  thither. 
From  "  Mr.  Willingham  in  Swithin's  Lane  "  in  February,  1641, 
to  the  Royal  Standard  at  Nottingham  in  August,  1642,  and 
"  Mr.  Barnard  at  Huntingdon  "  in  January,  1643,  which  is  our 
next  stage,  there  is  a  long  vague  road  ;  and  the  lights  upon  it 
are  mostly  a  universal  dance  of  will-o'-wisps,  and  distracted 
fire-flies  in  a  state  of  excitement  —  not  good  guidance  for  the 
traveller ! 

1641. 

Monday,  3d  May.  Strafford's  Trial  being  ended,  but  no  sen- 
tence yet  given,  Mr.  Robert  Baillie,  Minister  of  Kilwiuning, 
who  was  here  among  the  Scotch  Commissioners  at  present, 
saw  in  Palace-yard,  Westminster,  "  some  thousands  of  Citizens 
and  Apprentices  "  (Miscellaneous  Persons  and  City  Shopmen, 
as  we  should  now  call  them),  who  rolled  about  there  "  all  day," 
bellowing  to  every  Lord  as  he  went  in  or  came  out,  "  with  a 
loud  and  hideous  voice  : "  "  Justice  on  Strafford !  Justice  oil 
Traitors  !'M —  which  seemed  ominous  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Baillie. 

i  Baillie,  i.  351. 


1841.  PRELIMINARY. 

In  which  same  hours,  amid  such  echoes  from  without,  the 
honorable  House  of  Commons  within  doors,  all  in  great  tremor 
about  Army-Plots,  Treasons,  Death-perils,  was  busy  redacting 
a  "  Protestation  ;  "  a  kind  of  solemn  Vow,  or  miniature  Scotch 
Covenant,  the  first  of  a  good  many  such  in  those  earnest  agi- 
tated times,  —  to  the  effect  :  "  We  take  the  Supreme  to  witness 
that  we  will  stand  by  one  another  to  the  death  in  prosecution 
of  our  just  objects  here  ;  in  defence  of  Law,  Loyalty  and  Gos- 
pel here."  To  this  effect  ;  but  couched  in  very  mild  language, 
and  with  a  "  Preamble,"  in  which  our  Terror  of  Army-Plots, 
the  moving  principle  of  the  affair,  is  discreetly  almost  shaded 
out  of  sight  ;  it  being  our  object  that  the  House  should  b« 
"unanimous"  in  this  Protestation.  As  accordingly  the  House 
was  ;  the  House,  and  to  a  great  extent  the  Nation.  Hundreds 
of  honorable  Members,  Mr.  Cromwell  one  of  them,  sign  the 
Protestation  this  day  ;  the  others  on  the  following  days  :  their 
names  all  registered  in  due  succession  in  the  Books.1  Nay,  it 
is  ordered  that  the  whole  Nation  be  invited  to  sign  it  ;  that 
each  honorable  Member  send  it  down  to  his  constituents,  and 
invite  them  to  sign  it.  Which,  as  we  say,  the  constituents,  all 
the  reforming  part  of  them,  everywhere  in  England,  did  ;  with 
a  feeling  of  solemnity  very  strange  to  the  modern  mind.  Strik- 
ing terror  into  all  Traitors  ;  quashing  down  Army-Plots  for 
the  present,  and  the  hopes  of  poor  Strafford  forever.  A  Pro- 
testation held  really  sacred  ;  appealed  to,  henceforth,  as  a 
thing  from  which  there  was  no  departing.  Cavalcades  of  Free- 
In  )lders,  coming  up  from  the  country  to  petition  the  Honorable 
Huiise,  —  for  instance,  the  Four  Thousand  Petitioners  from 
Buckinghamshire,  about  ten  months  hence,  —  rode  with  thia 
Protestation  "  stuck  in  their  hats."  2  A  very  great  and  awe- 
inspiring  matter  in  those  days;  till  it  was  displaced  by 
greater  of  the  like  kind,  —  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  and 


Monday  next,  Wth  May,  his  Majesty  accordingly  signed 
(lenience  on  Strafford  ;  who  was  executed  on  the  Wednesday 

»  Commoni  J<mr*al»,  ii.  132,  1.13,  tc.  ;  Runhworth,  Iv.  241-944. 

•  12th  January,  1641-2,  Ru«hwurth,  iv   4Ht,. 

*  C«>j»  "'  ''   -""'  '"  Cambridge     Appendix,  No.  3. 


116  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  164L 

following.  No  help  for  it.  A  terrible  example ;  the  one 
supremely  able  man  the  King  had. 

On  the  same  Monday,  10th  May,  his  Majesty  signed  like- 
wise another  Bill,  That  this  Parliament  should  not  be  dissolved 
without  its  own  consent.  A  Bill  signed  in  order  that  the  City 
might  lend  him  money  on  good  Security  of  Parliament ;  money 
being  most  pressingly  wanted,  for  our  couple  of  hungry  Armies 
Scotch  and  English,  and  other  necessary  occasions.  A  Bill 
which  seemed  of  no  great  consequence  except  financial;  but 
which,  to  a  People  reverent  of  Law,  and  never,  in  the  wildest 
clash  of  battle-swords,  giving  up  its  religious  respect  for  the 
constable's  baton,  proved  of  infinite  consequence.  His  Maj- 
esty's hands  are  tied ;  he  cannot  dismiss  this  Parliament,  as  he 
has  done  the  others,  —  no,  not  without  its  own  consent. 

August  10th.  Army-Plotters  having  fled  beyond  seas  ;  the 
Bill  for  Triennial  Parliaments  being  passed ;  the  Episcopacy- 
Bill  being  got  to  sleep  ;  and  by  the  use  of  royal  varnish  a  kind 
of  composure,  or  hope  of  composure,  being  introduced :  above 
all  things,  money  being  now  borrowed  to  pay  the  Armies  and 
disband  them,  —  his  Majesty,  on  the  10th  of  the  month,1  set 
out  for  Scotland.  To  hold  a  Parliament,  and  compose  mat- 
ters there,  as  his  Majesty  gave  out.  To  see  what  old  or  new 
elements  of  malign  Royalism  could  still  be  awakened  to  life 
there,  as  the  Parliament  surmised,  who  greatly  opposed  his 
going.  —  Mr.  Cromwell  got  home  to  Ely  again,  for  six  weeks, 
this  autumn ;  there  being  a  recess  from  9th  September  when 
the  business  was  got  gathered  up,  till  20th  October  when  his 
Majesty  was  expected  back.  An  Interim  Committee,  and  Pym, 
from  his  "  lodging  at  Chelsea,"  2  managed  what  of  indispen- 
sable might  turn  \ip. 

November  1st.  News  came  to  London,  to  the  re-assembled 
Parliament,8  that  an  Irish  Rebellion,  already  grown  to  be  an 
Irish  Massacre,  had  broken  out.  An  Irish  Catholic  imitation 
of  the  late  Scotch  Presbyterian  achievements  in  the  way  of 
"  religious  liberty ;  "  —  one  of  the  best  models,  and  one  of  the 

1  Wharton's  Laud,  p.  62. 

2  His  Report,  Commons  Journals,  ii.  289. 
8  Laud,  p.  62  ;   Commons  Journals,  in  die. 


1641. 


PRELIMINARY.  117 


worst  imitations  ever  seen  in  tins  world.  Erasmus's  Ape, 
observing  Erasmus  shave  himself,  never  doubted  but  it  too 
could  shave.  One  knows  what  a  hand  the  creature  made  of 
itself,  before  the  edge-tool  could  be  wrenched  from  it  again ! 
As  this  poor  Irish  Kebellion  unfortunately  began  in  lies  and 
bluster,  and  proceeded  in  lies  and  bluster,  hoping  to  make 
itself  good  that  way,  the  ringleaders  had  started  by  pretending 
or  even  forging  some  warrant  from  the  King  ;  which  brought 
much  undeserved  suspicion  on  his  Majesty,  and  greatly  corn* 
plicated  his  affairs  here  for  a  long  while. 

November  22d.  The  Irish  Rebellion  blazing  up  more  and 
more  into  an  Irish  Massacre,  to  the  terror  and  horror  of  all 
antipapist  men ;  and  in  England,  or  even  in  Scotland,  except 
by  the  liberal  use  of  varnish,  nothing  yet  being  satisfactorily 
mended,  nay  all  things  hanging  now,  as  it  seemed,  in  double 
and  treble  jeopardy,  —  the  Commons  had  decided  on  a  "  Grand 
Petition  and  Remonstrance,"  to  set  forth  what  their  griefs  and 
necessities  really  were,  and  really  would  require  to  have  done 
for  them.  The  Debate  upon  it,  very  celebrated  in  those  times, 
came  on  this  day,  Monday,  22d  November.1  The  longest  De- 
bate ever  yet  known  in  Parliament ;  and  the  stormiest,  —  nay, 
h;ul  it  not  been  for  Mr.  Hampden's  soft  management,  "we  had 
like  to  have  sheathed  our  swords  in  each  other's  bowels,"  says 
Warwick;  which  I  find  otherwise  to  be  true.  The  Remon- 
strance passed  by  a  small  majority.  It  can  be  read  still  in 
Rushworth,*  drawn  up  in  precise  business  order;  the  whole 
206  Articles  of  it,  —  every  line  of  which  once  thrilled  electri- 
cally into  all  men's  hearts,  as  torpid  as  it  has  now  grown. 
"  The  chimes  of  Margaret's  were  striking  two  in  the  morning 
when  we  came  out."  —  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Oliver, 
"  coming  down  stairs,"  is  reported  to  have  said,  He  would  have 
sold  all  and  gone  to  New  England,  had  the  Remonstrance  not 
passed;'  —  a  vague  report,  gathered  over  dining-tables  long 
i!t'-r,  to  which  the  reader  need  not  pay  more  heed  than  it 
merits.  His  Majesty  returned  from  Scotland  on  the  Thursday 

1  Commons  Journal*,  in  die;  D'Ewee  MSS.  f.  179  b. 

2  Ku.iliwi.rtli.  iv.  438-451  ;  bee  al*o  436,  437. 
*  Clarendon. 


118  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  1641, 

following,  and  had  from  the  City  a  thrice-glorious  Civic  Enter- 
tainment.1 

December  IQtfi.  The  Episcopal  business,  attempted  last 
Spring  in  vain,  has  revived  in  December,  kindled  into  life  by 
the  Remonstrance ;  and  is  raging  more  fiercely  than  ever ; 
crowds  of  Citizens  petitioning,  Corporation  "going  in  sixty 
coaches "  to  petition ; 2  the  Apprentices,  or  City  Shopmen, 
and  miscellaneous  persons,  petitioning  :  —  Bishops  "  much  in- 
sulted "  in  Palace-yard  as  they  go  in  or  out.  Whereupon  hasty 
Welsh  Williams,  Archbishop  of  York,  once  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
and  Lord  Keeper,  he  with  Eleven  too  hasty  Bishops,  Smec- 
tymnuus  Hall  being  one  of  them,  give  in  a  Protest,  on  this 
10th  of  December,8  That  they  cannot  get  to  their  place  in  Par- 
liament ;  that  all  shtJl  be  null  and  void  till  they  do  get  there. 
A  rash  step ;  for  which,  on  the  30th  of  the  same  month,  they 
are,  by  the  Commons,  voted  guilty  of  Treason ;  and  "  in  a  cold 
evening,"  with  small  ceremony,  are  bundled,  the  whole  dozen 
of  them,  into  the  Tower.  For  there  is  again  rioting,  again 
are  cries  "loud  and  hideous ;  "  —  Colonel  Luusford,  a  truculent 
one-eyed  man,  having  "  drawn  his  sword  "  upon  the  Apprentices 
in  Westminster  Hall,  and  truculently  slashed  some  of  them ; 
who  of  course  responded  in  a  loud  and  hideous  manner,  by 
tongue,  by  fist,  and  single-stick ;  nay,  on  the  morrow,  28th  of 
December,4  they  came  marching  many  thousands  strong,  with 
sword  and  pistol,  out  of  the  City.  "  Slash  us  now  !  while  we 
wait  on  the  Honorable  House  for  an  answer  to  our  petition ! " 
—  and  insulted  his  Majesty's  Guard  at  Whitehall.  What  a 
Christmas  of  that  old  London,  of  that  old  year !  On  the  6th 
of  February  following,  Episcopacy  will  be  voted  down,  with 
blaze  of  "bonfires"  and  "ringing"  of  all  the  bells,  —  very 
audible  to  poor^pld  Dr.  Laud  6  over  in  the  Tower  yonder. 

1642. 

January  4th.  His  Majesty  seeing  these  extremities  arrive, 
and  such  a  conflagration  begin  to  blaze,  thought  now  the  time 

1  Rushworth,  iv.  429.  2  Vicars,  p.  56. 

8  Rushworth,  Iv.  467.  *  Ibid.  iv.  464. 

6  Wliarton's  Laud,  p.  62 ;  aee  also  p.  65. 


1*42.  PRELIMINARY.  119 

had  come  for  snatching  the  main  live  coals  away,  and  BO 
quenching  the  same.  Such  coals  of  strife  he  counts  to  the 
number  of  Five  in  the  Commons  House,  and  One  in  the  Lords  : 
Pym,  Hampden,  Haselrig,  with  Holies  and  Strode  (who  held 
down  the  Speaker  fourteen  years  ago),  these  are  the  Five 
Commons  ;  Lord  Kimboltou,  better  known  to  us  as  Mandevil, 
Oliver's  friend,  of  the  "Soke  of  Somersham,"  and  Queen's- 
Court  Committee,  he  is  the  Lord.  His  Majesty  flatters  him- 
self he  has  gathered  evidence  concerning  these  individual 
firebrands,  That  they  "invited  the  Scots  to  invade  us"  in 
1640 :  he  sends,  on  Monday,  3d  January,1  to  demand  that  they 
be  given  up  to  him  as  Traitors.  Deliberate,  slow  and,  as  it 
were,  evasive  reply.  Whereupon,  on  the  morrow,  he  rides 
down  to  St.  Stephen's  himself,  with  an  armed  very  miscella- 
neous  force,  of  five  hundred  or  of  three  hundred  truculent 
braggadocio  persons  at  his  back ;  enters  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  truculent  persons  looking  in  after  him  from  the  lobby,  — 
with  intent  to  seize  the  said  Five  Members,  five  principal  hot 
coals  ;  and  trample  them  out,  for  one  thing.  It  was  the  fatalest 
step  this  poor  King  ever  took.  The  Five  Members,  timefully 
warned,  were  gone  into  the  City ;  the  whole  Parliament  re- 
moved itself  into  the  City,  "  to  be  safe  from  armed  violence." 
From  London  City,  and  from  all  England,  rose  one  loud  voice 
of  lamentation,  condemnation :  Clean  against  law  !  Paint  an 
inch  thick,  there  is,  was,  or  can  be,  no  shadow  of  law  in  this. 
Will  you  grant  us  the  Militia  now  ;  we  seem  to  need  it  now  ! 
—  His  Majesty's  subsequent  stages  may  be  dated  with  more 
brevity. 

January  Wth.  The  King  with  his  Court  quits  Whitehall ; 
the  Five  Members  and  Parliament  purposing  to  return  to- 
morrow, with  the  whole  City  in  arms  round  them.2  He  left 
Whitehall ;  never  saw  it  again  till  he  came  to  lay  down  his 
head  there. 

March  9/A.  The  King  has  sent  away  his  Queen  from  Dover, 
"to  ho  in  a  place  of  safety,"  —  and  also  to  pawn  the  Crown 
Jewels  in  Holland,  and  get  him  arms.  He  returns  Northward 
again,  avoiding  London.  M;my  Messages  between  the  Houses 

1   Common*  Journal*,  ii.  307.  *   Vicar*,  p.  64. 


120  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  1642. 

of  Parliament  and  him  :  "  Will  your  Majesty  grant  us  Power 
of  the  Militia ;  accept  this  list  of  Lord-Lieutenants  ? "  On 
the  9th  of  March,  still  advancing  Northward  without  affirma- 
tive response,  he  has  got  to  Newmarket ;  where  another  Mes- 
sage overtakes  him,  earnestly  urges  itself  upon  him  :  Could 
not  your  Majesty  please  to  grant  us  Power  of  the  Militia  for 
a  limited  time  ?  "  No,  by  God ! "  answers  his  Majesty,  "  not 
for  an  hour  !  "  1  —  On  the  19th  of  March  he  is  at  York ;  where 
his  Hull  Magazine,  gathered  for  service  against  the  Scots, 
is  lying  near;  where  a  great  Earl  of  Newcastle,  and  other 
Northern  potentates,  will  help  him ;  where  at  least  London 
and  its  Puritanism,  now  grown  so  fierce,  is  far  off. 

There  we  will  leave  him  ;  attempting  Hull  Magazine,  in 
vain  ;  exchanging  messages  with  his  Parliament ;  messages, 
missives,  printed  and  written  Papers  without  limit :  —  Law- 
pleadings  of  both  parties  before  the  great  tribunal  of  the 
English  Nation,  each  party  striving  to  prove  itself  right,  and 
within  the  verge  of  Law :  preserved  still  in  acres  of  typogra- 
phy, once  thrillingly  alive  in  every  fibre  of  them  ;  now  a  mere 
torpor,  readable  by  few  creatures,  not  rememberable  by  any. 
It  is  too  clear  his  Majesty  will  have  to  get  himself  an  army, 
by  Commission  of  Array,  by  subscriptions  of  loyal  plate, 
pawning  of  crown  jewels,  or  how  he  can.  The  Parliament  by 
all  methods  is  endeavoring  to  do  the  like.  London  subscribed 
"Horses  and  Plate,"  every  kind  of  plate,  even  to  women's 
thimbles,  to  an  unheard-of  amount ; 2  and  when  it  came  to 
actual  enlisting,  in  London  alone  there  were  "  four  thousand 
enlisted  in  a  day." 3  Four  thousand,  some  call  it  five  thou- 
sand, in  a  day  :  the  reader  may  meditate  that  one  fact.  Royal 
messages,  Parliamentary  messages  ;  acres  of  typography  thrill- 
ingly alive  in  every  fibre  of  them,  —  these  go  on  slowly  abating, 
and  military  preparations  go  on  steadily  increasing  till  the 
23d  of  October  next.  The  King's  "  Commission  of  Array  for 
Leicestershire  "  came  out  on  the  12th  of  June,  commissions 
for  other  counties  following  as  convenient  ;  the  Parliament's 

1  Rushworth,  iv.  533. 

a  Vicars,  pp.  93,  109 ;  see  Commons  Journals,  10th  June,  1642. 

8  Wood's  Athenee,  iii.  193. 


1643. 


PRELIMINARY.  121 


"  Ordinance  for  the  Militia,"  rising  cautiously  pulse  after  pulse 
towards  clear  emergence,  had  attained  completion  the  week 
before.1  The  question  puts  itself  to  every  English  soul,  Which 
of  these  will  you  obey  ?  —  and  in  all  quarters  of  English 
ground,  with  swords  getting  out  of  their  scabbards,  and  yet 
til*-  constable's  baton  still  struggling  to  rule  supreme,  there  is 
a  most  confused  solution  of  it  going  on. 

Of  Oliver  in  these  months  we  find  the  following  things 
noted ;  which  the  imaginative  reader  is  to  spread  out  into  sig- 
nificance for  himself  the  best  he  can. 

February  1th.  "  Mr.  Cromwell,"  among  others,  "  offers  to 
lend  Three  Hundred  Pounds  for  the  service  of  the  Common- 
wealth,"2—  towards  reducing  the  Irish  Rebellion,  and  reliev- 
ing the  afflicted  Protestants  there,  or  here.  Rushworth, 
copying  a  List  of  such  subscribers,  of  date  9th  April,  1642, 
has  Cromwell's  name  written  down  for  "£500"8 —  seemingly 
the  same  transaction ;  Mr.  Cromwell  having  now  mended  his 
offer :  or  else  Mr.  Rushworth,  who  uses  the  arithmetical  cipher 
in  this  place,  having  misprinted.  Hampden's  subscription 
there  is  £1,000.  In  Mr.  Cromwell  it  is  clear  there  is  no  back- 
wardness, far  from  that ;  his  activity  in  these  months  notably 
increases.  In  the  I? Ewes  MSS.*  he  appears  and  reappears ; 
suggesting  this  and  the  other  practical  step,  on  behalf  of  Ire- 
land oftenest ;  in  all  ways  zealously  urging  the  work. 

July  15th.  "  Mr.  Cromwell  moved  that  we  might  make  an 
order  to  allow  the  Townsmen  of  Cambridge  to  raise  two  Com- 
panies of  Volunteers,  and  to  appoint  Captains  over  them.'" 
On  which  same  day,  15th  July,  the  Commons  Clerk  writes 
these  words :  "  Whereas  Mr.  Cromwell  hath  sent  down  arms 
into  the  County  of  Cambridge,  for  the  defence  of  that  County, 
it  is  this  day  ordered,"  •  — that  he  shall  have  the  "£100" 
expended  on  that  service  repaid  him  by  and  by.  Is  Mr. 
Cromwell  aware  that  there  lies  a  color  of  high  treason  in  aU 

1  Hnabftnds  the  Printer's  Firtt  Collection  (Lond.  1643)  pp.  346,  331. 

*  Common*  Journal*,  ii.  408.  8  Ruahworth,  iv.  564. 

«  February -.July,  1642.  '  D'EwM  MSS.  f.  658-661. 

'  Ceauion*  Journal*,  ii.  674. 


PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL   WAR.  1642. 

this;  risk  not  of  one's  purse  only,  but  of  one's  head?  Mr. 
Cromwell  is  aware  of  it,  and  pauses  not.  The  next  entry  ia 
still  stranger. 

August  15th.  "  Mr.  Cromwell  in  Cambridgeshire  has  seized 
the  Magazine  in  the  Castle  at  Cambridge ;  and  hath  hindered 
the  carrying  of  the  Plate  from  that  University ;  which,  as  some 
report,  was  to  the  value  of  £20,000  or  thereabouts."  So  does 
Sir  Philip  Stapleton,  member  for  Aldborough,  member  also 
of  our  new  "  Committee  for  Defence  of  the  Kingdom,"  report 
this  day.  For  which  let  Mr.  Cromwell  have  indemnity.1  — 
Mr.  Cromwell  has  gone  down  into  Cambridgeshire  in  person, 
since  they  began  to  train  there,  and  assumed  the  chief  manage- 
ment,—to  some  effect,  it  would  appear. 

The  like  was  going  on  in  all  shires  of  England ;  wherever  the 
Parliament  had  a  zealous  member,  it  sent  him  down  to  his 
shire  in  these  critical  months,  to  take  what  management  he 
could  or  durst.  The  most  confused  months  England  ever  saw. 
In  every  shire,  in  every  parish;  in  court-houses,  ale-houses, 
churches,  markets,  wheresoever  men  were  gathered  together, 
England,  with  sorrowful  confusion  in  every  fibre,  is  tearing 
itself  into  hostile  halves,  to  carry  on  the  voting  by  pike  and 
bullet  henceforth. 

Brevity  is  very  urgent  on  us,  nevertheless  we  must  give  this 
other  extract.  Bramston  the  Ship-money  Judge,  in  trouble 
with  the  Parliament  and  sequestered  from  his  place,  is  now 
likely  to  get  into  trouble  with  the  King,  who  in  the  last  days 
of  July  has  ordered  him  to  come  to  York  on  business  of  impor- 
tance. Judge  Bramston  sends  his  two  sons,  John  and  Frank, 
fresh  young  men,  to  negotiate  some  excuse.  They  ride  to  York 
in  three  days;  stay  a  day  at  York  with  his  Majesty;  then 
return,  "  on  the  same  horses,"  in  three  days,  —  to  Skreens  in 
Essex ;  which  was  good  riding.  John,  one  of  them,  has  left 
a  most  watery  incoherent  Autobiography,  now  printed,  but  not 
edited,  —  nor  worth  editing,  except  by  fire  to  ninety-nine  hun- 
dredths  of  it ;  very  distracting ;  in  which,  however,  there  is 

1  Commons  Journals,  ii.  720, 6.  See  likewise  Tanner  MSS.  Ixiii.  116;  Querela 
Cantabrigiensis  (aud  wipe  away  its  blubberings  and  inexactitudes  a  little),  Life 
•tj'Dr  Barwick,  &c.,  —  Cambridge  Portfolio  (London,  1840),  ii.  386-388. 


1042.  PRELIMINARY.  123 

this  notable  sentence ;  date  about  the  middle  of  August,  not 
discoverable  to  a  day.  Having  been  at  York,  and  riding  back 
on  the  same  horses  in  three  days  :  — 

"  In  our  return  on  Sunday,  near  Huntingdon,  between  that 
and  Cambridge,  certain  musketeers  start  out  of  the  corn,  and 
command  us  to  stand;  telling  us  we  must  be  searched,  and 
to  that  end  must  go  before  Mr.  Cromwell,  and  give  account 
from  whence  we  came  and  whither  we  were  going.  I  asked 
where  Mr.  Cromwell  was  ?  A  soldier  told  us,  He  was  four 
miles  off.  I  said,  it  was  unreasonable  to  carry  us  out  of  our 
way ;  if  Mr.  Cromwell  had  been  there,  I  should  have  willingly 
given  him  all  the  satisfaction  he  could  desire; — and  putting 
my  hand  into  my  pocket,  I  gave  one  of  them  Twelvepence,  who 
said,  we  might  pass.  By  this  I  saw  plainly  it  would  not  be 
possible  for  my  Father  to  get  to  the  King  with  his  coach ;  " 1  — 
neither  did  he  go  at  all,  but  stayed  at  home  till  he  died. 

September  \&th.  Here  is  a  new  phasis  of  the  business.  In 
a  "List  of  the  Army  under  the  command  of  the  Earl  of 
Essex," a  we  find  that  Robert  Earl  of  Essex  is  "  Lord  General 
for  King  and  Parliament"  (to  deliver  the  poor  beloved  King 
from  traitors,  who  have  misled  him,  and  clouded  his  tine  under- 
standing, and  rendered  him  as  it  were  a  beloved  Parent  fallen 
insane) ;  tliat  Robert  Earl  of  Essex,  we  say,  is  Lord  General 
for  King  and  Parliament ;  that  William  the  new  Earl  of  Bed- 
ford is  General  of  the  Horse,  and  has,  or  is  every  hour  getting 
to  have,  "  seventy-five  troops  of  60  men  each  ; "  in  every  troop 
a  Captain,  a  Lieutenant,  a  Cornet  and  Quartermaster,  whose 
ii:unus  are  all  given.  In  Troop  Sixty-seven,  the  Captain  is 
"  Oliver  Cromwell,"  —  honorable  member  for  Cambridge ;  many 
honorable  members  having  now  taken  arms  ;  Mr.  Hampden,  for 
example,  having  become  Colonel  Hampden,  —  busy  drilling  his 
mm  in  Chalgrove  Field  at  this  very  time.  But  moreover,  in 
Troop  Eight  of  Earl  Bedford's  Horse,  we  find  another  "  Oliver 
Cromwell,  Cornet;"  —  and  with  real  thankfulness  for  this 
flint-spark  in  the  great  darkness,  recognize  him  for  our 

1  Autobiography  of  Sir  ./Jin  llraimton,  Knt.  (Cuiudtm  Society,  1W5),  p.  86. 
•   Km;-' .  f'uuphleto,  small  4to,  uo.  73. 


124  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  1642. 

honorable  member's  Son.  His  eldest  Son  Oliver,1  now  a  stout 
young  man  of  twenty.  "Thou  too,  Boy  Oliver,  thou  art  fit 
to  swing  a  sword.  If  there  ever  was  a  battle  worth  fighting, 
and  to  be  called  God's  battle,  it  is  this ;  thou  too  wilt  come  ! " 
How  a  staid,  most  pacific,  solid  Farmer  of  three-and-forty 
decides  on  girding  himself  with  warlike  iron,  and  fighting, 
he  and  his,  against  principalities  and  powers,  let  readers 
who  have  formed  any  notion  of  this  man  conceive  for  them- 
selves. 

On  Sunday,  23d  October,  was  Edgehill  Battle,  called  also 
Keinton  Fight,  near  Keinton  on  the  south  edge  of  Warwick- 
shire. In  which  Battle  Captain  Cromwell  was  present,  and 
did  his  duty,  let  angry  Denzil  say  what  he  will.2  The  Fight 
was  indecisive ;  victory  claimed  by  both  sides.  Captain  Crom- 
well told  Cousin  Hampden,  They  never  would  get  on  with 
a  set  of  poor  tapsters  and  town-apprentice  people  fighting 
against  men  of  honor.  To  cope  with  men  of  honor  they  must 
have  men  of  religion.  "  Mr.  Hampden  answered  me,  It  was 
a  good  notion,  if  it  could  be  executed."  Oliver  himself  set 
about  executing  a  bit  of  it,  his  share  of  it,  by  and  by. 

"  We  all  thought  one  battle  would  decide  it,"  says  Richard 
Baxter  ; 3  —  and  we  were  all  much  mistaken  !  This  winter 
there  arise  among  certain  Counties  "  Associations  "  for  mutual 
defence,  against  Royalism  and  plunderous  Rupertism ;  a  mea- 
sure cherished  by  the  Parliament,  condemned  as  treasonable 
by  the  King.  Of  which  "  Associations,"  countable  to  the  num- 
ber of  five  or  six,  we  name  only  one,  that  of  Norfolk,  Suf- 
folk, Essex,  Cambridge,  Herts ;  with  Lord  Grey  of  Wark  for 
Commander ;  where,  and  under  whom,  Oliver  was  now  serving. 
This  "  Eastern  Association  "  is  alone  worth  naming.  All  the 
other  Associations,  no  man  of  emphasis  being  in  the  midst  of 
them,  fell  in  few  months  to  pieces ;  only  this  of  Cromwell's 
subsisted,  enlarged  itself,  grew  famous ;  —  and  indeed  kept 
its  own  borders  clear  of  invasion  during  the  whole  course  of 

1  Antea,  p.  69. 

8  Vicars,  p.  198  ;  Denzil  Holles's  Memoirs  (in  Mazeres's  Tracts,  vol.  i.). 

'  Life  (London,  1696),  Part  i.  p.  43. 


M43  LETTER  IV.  125 

the  War.  Oliver,  in  the  beginning  of  1643,  is  serving  there, 
under  the  Lord  Grey  of  Wark.  Besides  his  military  duties, 
Oliver,  as  natural,  was  nominated  of  the  Committee  for  Cam- 
bridgeshire in  this  Association ;  he  is  also  of  the  Committee 
for  Huntingdonshire,  wliich  as  yet  belongs  to  another  "  Asso- 
ciation." Member  for  the  Committee  of  Huntingdonshire ;  to 
uhich  also  has  been  nominated  a  "Robert  Barnard,  Esquire,"1 
—  who  however,  does  not  sit,  as  I  have  reason  to  surmise ! 


LETTER  IV. 

THE  reader  recollects  Mr.  Robert  Barnard,  how,  in  1630,  he 
got  a  Commission  of  the  Peace  for  Huntingdon,  along  with 
"  Dr.  Beard  and  Mr.  Oliver  Cromwell,"  to  be  fellow  Justices 
there.  Probably  they  never  sat  much  together,  as  Oliver  went 
to  St.  Ivea  soon  after,  and  the  two  men  were  of  opposite 
politics,  which  in  those  times  meant  opposite  religions.  But 
here  in  twelve-years  space  is  a  change  of  many  things ! 

"  To  my  assured  friend  Robert  Barnard,  Esquire:  Present 
these. 

"  [HrrarriHGDON],  23d  January,  1642. 

"MR.  BARNARD,  —  It's  most  true,  my  Lieutenant  with  some 
other  soldiers  of  my  troop  were  at  your  House.  I  dealt  [so] 
freely  [as]  to  inquire  after  you ;  the  reason  was,  I  had  heard 
you  reported  active  against  the  proceedings  of  Parliament, 
and  for  those  that  disturb  the  peace  of  this  Country  and 
the  Kingdom,  —  with  those  of  this  Country  who  have  had 
meetings  not  a  few,  to  intents  and  purposes  too-too  full  of 
suspect.1 

1  Husband*,  i.  892;  see  for  the  other  particulars,  ii.  183,  327,  804,  809; 
Common*  Journals,  &c. 

*  Country  'u  equivalent  to  county  or  nyion  ;  too-too,  in  those  days,  means 
littli-  ni'.n-  tli.m  too ;  tutpect  itt  tuspeclabiiity ,  almost  an  proper  an  our  modern 


126  PART  II.     FIRST    CIVIL   WAR.  23  Jan. 

"It's  true,  Sir,  I  know  you  have  been  wary  in  your  car- 
riages ;  be  not  too  confident  thereof.  Subtlety  may  deceive 
you ;  integrity  never  will.  With  ray  heart  I  shall  desire  that 
your  judgment  may  alter,  and  your  practice.  I  come  only  to 
hinder  men  from  increasing  the  rent, —  from  doing  hurt ;  but 
not  to  hurt  any  man :  nor  shall  I  you ;  I  hope  you  will  give 
me  uo  cause.  If  you  do,  I  must  be  pardoned  what  my  relation 
to  the  Public  calls  for. 

"  If  your  good  parts  be  disposed  that  way,  know  me  for 

"  Your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"Be  assured  fair  words  from  me  shall  neither  deceive  you 
of  your  houses  nor  of  your  liberty." 1 

My  Copy,  two  Copies,  of  this  Letter  I  owe  to  kind  friends, 
who  have  carefully  transcribed  it  from  the  Original  at  Lord 
Gosford's.  The  present  Lady  Gosford  is  "grand-daughter  of 
Sir  Robert  Barnard,"  to  whose  lineal  ancestor  the  Letter  is 
addressed.  The  date  of  time  is  given ;  there  never  was  any 
date  or  address  of  place,  —  which  probably  means  that  it  was 
written  in  Huntingdon  and  addressed  to  Huntingdon,  where 
Robert  Barnard,  who  became  Recorder  of  the  place,  is  known 
to  have  resided.  Oliver,  in  the  month  of  January,  1642-3,  is 
present  in  the  Fen-country,  and  all  over  the  Eastern  Associa- 
tion, with  his  troop  or  troops ;  looking  after  disaffected  per- 
sons ;  ready  to  disperse  royalist  assemblages,  to  seize  royalist 
plate,  to  keep  down  disturbance,  and  care  in  every  way  that 
the  Parliament  Cause  suffer  no  damage.2  A  Lieutenant  and 
party  have  gone  to  take  some  survey  of  Robert  Barnard, 
Esquire ;  Robert  Barnard,  standing  on  the  right  of  injured 
innocence,  innocent  till  he  be  proved  guilty,  protests :  Oliver 
responds  as  here,  in  a  very  characteristic  way. 

It  was  precisely  in  these  weeks,  that  Oliver  from  Captain 
became  Colonel :  Colonel  of  a  regiment  of  horse,  raised  on  his 
own  principles  so  far  as  might  be,  in  that  "  Eastern  Associa- 

1  Original  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Gosford,  at  Worliugham  iu  Suffolk. 
8  Appendix,  No.  4. 


1643.  LETTER  V.    CAMBRIDGE.  127 

tion ; "  and  is  hencefoi-th  known  in  the  Newspapers  as  Colonel 
Cromwell.  Whether  on  this  23d  of  January,  he  was  still 
Captain,  or  had  ceased  to  be  so,  no  extant  accessible  record 
apprises  us.  On  the  2d  March,  1642-3,  I  have  found  him 
named  as  "Col.  Cromwell,"1  and  hitherto  not  earlier.  He  is 
getting  "  men  of  religion  "  to  serve  in  this  Cause,  —  or  at  least 
would  fain  get  such  if  he  might. 


LETTER  V. 

CAMBRIDGE. 

IN  the  end  of  February,  1642-3,  "  Colonel "  Cromwell  is  at 
Cambridge ;  "  great  forces  from  Essex,  Norfolk  and  Suffolk " 
having  joined  him,  and  more  still  coming  in.2  There  has  been 
much  alarm  and  running  to  and  fro,  over  all  those  counties. 
Lord  Capel  hanging  over  them  with  an  evident  intent  to  plun- 
<!•  T  Cambridge,  generally  to  plunder  and  ravage  in  this  region  ; 
as  Prince  Rupert  has  cruelly  done  in  Gloucestershire,  and  is 
now  cruelly  doing  in  Wilts  and  Hants.  Colonel  Cromwell, 
the  soul  of  the  whole  business,  must  have  had  some  bestirring 
of  himself;  some  swift  riding  and  resolving,  now  here,  now 
there.  Some  "12,000  men,"  however,  or  say  even  "23,000 
men "  (for  rumor  runs  very  high !),  from  the  Associated 
Counties,  are  now  at  last  got  together  about  Cambridge,  and 
Lord  Capel  has  seen  good  to  vanish  again.8  "He  was  the 
first  man  that  rose  to  complain  of  Grievances,  in  this  Parlia- 
ment.;"  he,  while  still  plain  Mr.  Capel,  member  for  Herts: 
l.ut  they  have  made  a  Lord  of  him,  and  the  wind  sits  now  in 
another  quarter !  — 

I.nnl  Ciijiel  has  vanished  ;  and  the  12,000  zealous  Volunteers 
of  the  Association  are  dismissed  to  their  counties,  with  moni- 
tion  to  be  ready  when  called  for  again.  Moreover,  to  avoid 

1   Cromwelliana,  p.  2.  *  Cromioelliana,  p.  2 ;  Vicars,  p.  273. 

"  Vir:ir.-<  ;  NVwsjmpers,  6th-l5th  March  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  2). 


128  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  8  March. 

like  perils  iu  future,  it  is  now  resolved  to  make  a  Garrison  of 
Cambridge ;  to  add  new  works  to  the  Castle,  and  fortify  the 
Town  itself.  This  is  now  going  on  in  the  early  spring  days 
of  1643 ;  and  Colonel  Cromwell  and  all  hands  are  busy !  — 
Here  is  a  small  Document,  incidentally  preserved  to  us,  which 
becomes  significant  if  well  read. 

Fen  Drayton  is  a  small  Village  on  the  Eastern  edge  of 
Cambridgeshire,  between  St.  Ives  and  Cambridge,  —  well 
known  to  Oliver.  In  the  small  Church  of  Fen  Drayton,  after 
divine  service  on  Sunday,  the  12th  of  March,  1642-3,  the 
following  Warrant,  "  delivered  to  the  Church wardings  "  (by  one 
Mr.  Norris,  a  Constable,  who  spells  very  ill),  and  by  them  to 
the  Curate,  is  read  to  a  rustic  congregation,  —  who  sit,  some- 
what agape,  I  apprehend,  and  uncertain  what  to  do  about  it. 

COM.  CANT.  [CAMBRIDGESHIRE  To  wrr.] 

"  To  all  and  every  the  Inhabitants  of  Fen  Drayton  in  the 
Hundred  of  Papworth. 

"WHEREAS  we  have  been  enforced,  by  apparent  grounds 
of  approaching  danger,  to  begin  to  fortify  the  Town  of  Cam- 
bridge, for  preventing  the  Enemy's  inroad,  and  the  better  to 
maintain  the  peace  of  this  County : 

"Having  in  part  seen  your  good  affections  to  the  Cause, 
and  now  standing  in  need  of  your  further  assistance  to  the 
perfecting  of  the  said  Fortifications,  which  will  cost  at  least 
two  thousand  pounds,  We  are  encouraged  as  well  as  necessi- 
tated to  desire  a  Free-will  Offering  of  a  Liberal  Contribution 
from  you,  for  the  better  enabling  of  us  to  attain  our  desired 
ends,  —  viz.  the  Preservation  of  our  County ;  —  knowing  that 
every  honest  and  well-affected  man,  considering  the  vast  ex- 
penses we  have  already  been  at,  and  our  willingness  to  do 
according  to  our  ability,  will  be  ready  to  contribute  his  best 
assistance  to  a  work  of  so  high  concernment  and  so  good 
an  end. 

"  We  do  therefore  desire  that  what  shall  be  by  you  freely 
given  and  collected  may  with  all  convenient  speed  be  sent 


i<U3.  LETTER  V.    CAMBRIDGE.  120 

to  the  Commissioners  at  C.imbridge,  to  be  employed  to  the 
use  aforesaid.     And  so  you  shall  further  engage  us  to  be 

"Yours  ready  to  serve, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 
THOMAS  MARTYN  * 

[and  Six  others]. 
"  CAMBRIDGE,  this  8th  of  March,  1642." 

The  Thomas  Marty n,  Sir  Thomas,  and  the  Six  others  whom 
we  suppress,  arc  all  of  the  Cambridge  Committees  of  those 
times ; 2  zealous  Puritan  men,  not  known  to  us  otherwise. 
N  orris  did  not  raise  much  at  Fen  Drayton ;  only  £1  19.s.  2d., 
lt  subscribed  by  fifteen  persons,"  according  to  his  Endorse- 
ment ;  —  the  general  public  at  Fen  Drayton,  and  probably  in 
other  such  places,  hesitates  a  little  to  draw  its  purse  as  yet  f 
One  way  or  other,  however,  the  work  of  fortifying  Cambridge 
was  got  done.8  A  regular  Force  lies  henceforth  in  Cambridge : 
Captains  Fleetwood,  Desborow,  Whalley,  new  soldiers  who 
will  become  veterans  and  known  to  us,  are  on  service  here. 
Of  course  the  Academic  stillness  is  much  fluttered  by  the  war- 
drum,  and  many  a  confused  brabble  springs  up  between  Gown 
and  Garrison ;  college  tippets,  and  on  occasion  still  more  ven- 
erable objects,  getting  torn  by  the  business  !  The  truth  is, 
though  Cambridge  is  not  so  Malignant  as  Oxford,  the  Surplices 
at  Allhallowtide  have  still  much  sway  there ;  and  various 
Heads  of  Houses  are  by  no  means  what  one  could  wish  :  of 
whom  accordingly  Oliver  has  had,  and  still  occasionally  has, 
to  send  —  by  instalments  as  the  cases  ripen  —  a  select  batch 
up  to  I'lirli.uiHMit :  Reverend  Dr.  This  and  then  also  Reverend 
IM.  Tli;it ;  who  are  lodged  in  the  Tower,  in  Ely  House,  in 
L;unlietli  or  elsewhere,  in  a  tragic  manner,  and  pass  very 
troublous  yt-ars.4 

Cambridge  continues  henceforth  the  Bulwark  and  Metropolis 
of  the  Association  ;  where  the  Committees  sit,  where  the 

:  .••!••>  Annuls  of  Cambridge  (Cambridge,  1845),  iii.  340. 

*  IIuflhandB'  Second  Collection  (London,  1646),  p.  329;  Commons  Journal*, 
:  Ac. 
•rt.-.l  o.iuplete,  15th  July,  1643  (Cooper's  Annalt,  iii.  350) 

'  ''fi/u/Tiyienstt,  &c.  4c.  iu  Cooper,  ubi  supri. 
xvu.  9 


130  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  10  March. 

centre  of  all  business  is.  "  Colonel  Cook,"  I  think,  is  Captain 
of  the  Garrison ;  but  the  soul  of  the  Garrison,  and  of  the 
Association  generally,  is  probably  another  Colonel.  Now 
here,  now  swiftly  there,  wherever  danger  is  to  be  fronted,  or 
prompt  work  is  to  be  done  :  —  for  example,  off  to  Norwich  just 
now,  on  important  businesses  j  and,  as  is  too  usual,  very  ill 
supplied  with  money. 

LETTER  V. 

OF  Captain  Nelson  I  know  nothing ;  seem  to  see  an  uncer- 
tain shadow  of  him  turn  up  again,  after  years  of  industrious 
fighting  under  Irish  Inchiquin  and  others,  still  a  mere  Captain, 
still  terribly  in  arrear  even  as  to  pay.1  "  It 's  pity  a  Gentle- 
man of  his  affections  should  be  discouraged ! "  "  The  Deputy 
Lieutenants,"  Suffolk  Committee,  could  be  named,  if  there 
were  room.2  The  "business  for  Norfolk"  we  guess  to  be, 
as  usual,  Delinquents,  —  symptoms  of  delinquent  Royalists 
getting  to  a  head. 

"  To  my  honored  Friends  the  Deputy  Lieutenants  for  the 
County  of  Suffolk. 

"CAMBRIDGE,  10th  March,  1642. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  I  am  sorry  I  should  so  often  trouble  you 
about  the  business  of  money:  it's  no  pleasant  subject  to  be 
too  frequent  upon.  But  such  is  Captain  Nelson's  occasion,  for 
want  thereof,  that  he  hath  not  wherewith  to  satisfy  for  the 
billet  of  his  soldiers  ;  and  so  this  Business  for  Norfolk,  so 
hopeful  to  set  all  right  there,  may  fail.  Truly  he  hath  bor- 
rowed from  me,  else  he  could  not  have  paid  to  discharge  this 
Town  at  his  departure. 

"  It 's  pity  a  Gentleman  of  his  affections  should  be  dis- 
couraged !  Wherefore  I  earnestly  beseech  you  to  consider 
him  and  the  Cause.  It 's  honorable  that  you  do  so.  —  What 
you  can  help  him  to,  be  pleased  to  send  into  Norfolk ;  he 

1  Commons  Journals,  v.  524,  530. 

2  Husbands,  ii.  171,  193. 


1643.  LOWESTOFP.  131 

hath  not  wherewith  to  pay  a  Troop  one  day,  as  he  tells  me. 
Let  your  return  be  speedy, — to  Norwich.  Gentlemen,  com- 
mand 

"Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  [P.  S.]  I  hope  to  serve  you  in  my  return  :  with  your  con- 
junction, we  shall  quickly  put  an  end  to  these  businesses, 
the  Lord  assisting." l 

By  certain  official  docketings  on  this  same  Letter,  it  appears 
that  Captain  Nelson  did  receive  his  £100 ;  touched  it  promptly 
on  the  morrow,  "  llth  March  ;  —  I  say  received  :  JOHN 
NELSON."  How  the  Norfolk  businesses  proceeded,  and  what 
end  they  came  to  in  Suffolk  itself,  we  shall  now  see. 


LOWESTOFF. 

TRTC  Colonel  has  already  had  experience  in  such  Delinquent 
matters;  has,  by  vigilance,  by  gentle  address,  by  swift  au- 
dacity if  needful,  extinguished  more  than  one  incipient  con- 
flagration. Here  is  one  such  instance,  —  coming  to  its  sad 
maturity,  and  bearing  fruit  at  Westminster  in  these  very 
hours. 

On  Monday,  13th  March,  1642-3,  Thomas  Conisby,  Esquire, 
High  Sheriff  of  Herts,  appears  visibly  before  the  House  of 
Commons,  to  give  account  of  a  certain  "  Pretended  Commis- 
sion of  Array,"  which  he  had  been  attempting  to  execute  one 
lM:uket-day,  some  time  since,  at  St.  Albans  in  that  county.9 
Such  King's  Writ,  or  Pretended  Commission  of  Array,  the  said 
Hi-h  Sheriff  had,  with  a  great  Posse  Comitatus  round  him, 
been  executing  one  Market-day  at  St.  Albans  (date  irrecover- 
ably lost),  —  when  Cromwell's  Dragoons  dashed  suddenly  in 

1  Autograph,   in   the   poswessiou   of  C.    Meadows,    Esq.,   Great   Sealing, 
Woodl.ri.li;.-,  Suffolk. 
*  Common*  Jvurnalt,  ii.  1000.  1001 


132  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  13  March. 

upon  him  ;  laid  him  fast,  —  not  without  difficulty  :  he  was 
first  seized  by  "  six  troopers,"  but  rescued  by  his  royalist  mul- 
titude ;  then  "  twenty  troopers  "  again  seized  him ;  "  barrica- 
doed  the  inn-yard ;  " *  conveyed  him  off  to  London  to  give 
what  account  of  the  matter  he  could.  There  he  is  giving  ac- 
count of  it,  —  a  very  lame  and  withal  an  "  insolent "  one,  as 
seems  to  the  Honorable  House  j  which  accordingly  sends  him 
to  the  Tower,  where  he  had  to  lie  for  several  years.  Commis- 
sions of  Array  are  not  handy  to  execute  iu  the  Eastern  Asso- 
ciation at  present !  Here  is  another  instance ;  general  result 
of  this  ride  into  Norfolk,  — "  end  of  these  businesses,"  in 
fact. 

The  "  Meeting  at  Laystoff,"  or  Lowestoff  in  Suffolk,  is  men- 
tioned in  all  the  old  Books ;  but  John  Cory,  Merchant  Burgess 
of  Norwich,  shall  first  bring  us  face  to  face  with  it.  Assiduous 
Sir  Symond  got  a  copy  of  Mr.  Cory's  Letter,2  one  of  the  thou- 
sand Letters  which  Honorable  Members  listened  to  in  those 
mornings ;  and  here  now  is  a  copy  of  it  for  the  reader,  —  news 
all  fresh  and  fresh,  after  waiting  two  hundred  and  two  years. 
Colonel  Cromwell  is  in  Norwich :  old  Norwich  becomes  visi- 
ble and  audible,  the  vanished  moments  buzzing  again  with  old 
life,  —  if  the  reader  will  read  well.  Potts,  we  should  premise, 
and  Palgrave,  were  lately  appointed  Deputy  Lieutenants  of 
Norwich  City ; 8  Cory  I  reckon  to  be  almost  a  kind  of  Quasi- 
Mayor,  the  real  Mayor  having  lately  been  seized  for  Royalism  ; 
Knyvett  of  Ashwellthorpe  we  shall  perhaps  transiently  meet 
again.  The  other  royalist  gentlemen  also  are  known  to  anti- 
quaries of  that  region,  and  what  their  "  seats  "  and  connections 
were :  but  our  reader  here  can  without  damage  consider  merely 
that  they  were  Sons  of  Adam,  furnished  in  general  with  due 
seats  and  equipments ;  and  read  the  best  he  can :  — 

1  Vicars,  p.  246 ;  May's   History  of  the  Long  Parliament  (Guizot's  French 
Translation),  ii.  196. 

2  D'Ewes  MSS.  £.  1139  ;  Transcript,  p.  378. 
8  Commons  Journals,  10th  December,  1642. 


1643.  LOWESTOFF.  133 

"  To  Sir  John  Potts,  Knight  Baronet,  of  Mannington,  Norfolk : 
These.     Laus  Deo. 

"NORWICH,  17°  Martii,  1642.1 

K RIGHT  HONORABLE  AND  WORTHY  SIR,  —  I  hope  you  caine 
in  due  time  to  the  end  of  your  journey  in  health  and  safety ; 
which  1  shall  rejoice  to  hear.  Sir,  I  might  spare  my  labor  in 
imw  writing  ;  for  I  suppose  you  are  better  informed  from  other 
hands ;  only  to  testify  my  respects  : 

"Those  sent  out  on  Monday  morning,  the  13th,  returned 
that  night,  with  old  Mr.  Castle  of  Raveningham,  and  some 
arms  of  his,  and  of  Mr.  London's  of  Alby,  and  of  Captain 
Haiuond's,  with  his  leading  staff-ensign  and  drum.  Mr.  Castle 
is  secured  at  Sheriff  Greenwood's.  That  night  letters  from 
Yarmouth  informed  the  Colonel,4  That  they  had,  that  day, 
made  stay  of  Sir  John  Wentworth,  and  of  one  Captain  Allen 
from  Lowestoff,  who  had  come  thither  to  change  dollars ;  both 
of  whom  are  yet  secured ;  —  and  further,  That  the  Town  of 
Lowestoff  had  received  in  divers  strangers,  and  was  fortifying 
itself. 

"  The  Colonel  advised  no  man  might  enter  in  or  out  the  gates 
[of  Norwich]  that  night.  And  the  next  morning,  between 
five  and  six,  with  his  live  troops,  with  Captain  Fountain's,  Cap- 
tain Rich's,  and  eighty  of  our  Norwich  Volunteers,  he  marched 
towards  Lowestoff;  where  he  was  to  meet  with  the  Yarmouth 
Volunteers,  who  brought  four  or  five  pieces  of  ordnance.  Tho 
Town  [of  Lowestoff]  had  blocked  themselves  up ;  all  except 
where  they  had  placed  their  ordnance,  which  were  three  pieces; 
before  which  a  chain  was  drawn  to  keep  off  the  horse. 

••  The  Colouel  summoned  the  Town,  and  demanded,  If  they 
would  deliver  up  their  strangers,  the  Town  and  their  army  ? 
—  promising  them  then  favor,  if  so  ;  if  not,  none.  They  yielded 
to  deliver  up  their  strangers,  but  not  to  the  rest.  Whereupon 
our  Norwich  dragoons  crept  under  the  chain  before  mentioned  ; 
and  came  within  pistol-shot  of  their  ordnance ;  proffering  to 

1  Means  164,3  of  onr  Stylo.    There  are  yet  aevon  days  of  the  Old  Year  to 
run. 
*  "  rix.  Cromwell,"  add*  D'Ewos. 


134  PART  II.    FIRST    CIVIL    WAR.  20  March, 

fire  upon  their  cannoneer,  —  who  fled  :  so  they  gained  the  two 
pieces  of  ordnance,  and  broke  the  chain ;  and  they  and  the 
horse  entered  the  Town  without  more  resistance.  Where 
presently  eighteen  strangers  yielded  themselves ;  among  whom 
were,  of  Suffolk  men :  Sir  T.  Barker,  Sir  John  Pettus  ;  —  of 
Norfolk:  Mr.  Knyvett  of  Ashwellthorpe  [whom  we  are  to 
meet  again] ;  Mr.  Richard  Catelyn's  Son,  —  some  say  1m 
Father  too  was  there  in  the  morning ;  Mr.  F.  Cory,  my  unfortu 
nate  cousin,  who  I  wish  would  have  been  better  persuaded. 

"  Mr.  Brooke,  the  sometime  minister  of  Yarmouth,  and  some 
others,  escaped,  over  the  river.  There  was  good  store  of  pis- 
tols, and  other  arms  :  I  hear,  above  fifty  cases  of  pistols.  The 
Colonel  stayed  there  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  night.  I  think 
Sir  John  Palgrave  and  Mr.  Smith  went  yesterday  to  Berks. 
It  is  rumored  Sir  Robert  Kemp  had  yielded  to  Sir  John  Pal- 
grave  ;  how  true  it  is  I  know  not,  for  I  spoke  not  Sir  John 
yesterday  as  he  came  through  Town.  I  did  your  message  to 
Captain  Sherwood.  Not  to  trouble  you  further,  I  crave  leave ; 
and  am  ever 

"  Your  Worship's  at  command, 

"  JOHN  CORY. 

"  Postscriptum,  20th  March,  1642. —  Right  worthy  Sir,  The 
above  said,  on  Friday,  was  unhappily  left  behind ;  for  which 
I  am  sorry;  as 'also  that  I  utterly  forgot  to  send  your  plate. 
On  Friday  night  the  Colonel  brought  in  hither  with  him  the 
prisoners  taken  at  Lowestoff,  and  Mr.  Trott  of  Beccles.  On 
Saturday  night,  with  one  troop,  they  sent  all  the  prisoners  to 
Cambridge.  Sir  John  Wentworth  is  come  off  with  the  pay- 
ment of  £1,000.  On  Saturday,  Dr.  Corbett  of  Norwich,  and 
Mr.  Henry  Cooke *  the  Parliament  man,  and  our  old  [Alder- 
man] Daniell  were  taken  in  Suffolk.  Last  night,  several 
troops  went  out ;  some  to  Lynn-ward,  it 's  thought ;  others 
to  Thetford-ward,  it 's  supposed,  —  because  they  had  a  prisoner 
with  them.  Sir,  I  am  in  great  haste,  and  remember  nothing 
else  at  present.  JOHN  CORY." 

1  Corbett  is  or  was  "  Chancellor  of  Norwich  Diocese  ;  "  Henry  Cooke  is 
Son  of  Coke  upon  Lyttleton,  —  has  left  his  place  in  Parliament,  and  got  into 
dangerous  courses, 


1W3.  LETTERS  VI.-VIII.  135 

Cory  still  adds :  "  Sir  Richard  Berney  sent  to  me,  last  night, 
and  showed  and  gave  me  the  Colonel's  Note  to  testify  he  had 
paid  him  the  £50,"  —  a  forced  contribution  levied  by  the 
Association  Committee  upon  poor  Berney,  who  had  shown 
himself  "  backward : "  let  him  be  quiet  henceforth,  and  study 
to  conform. 

This  was  the  last  attempt  at  Royalism  in  the  Association 
where  Cromwell  served.  The  other  "  Associations,"  no  man 
duly  forward  to  risk  himself  being  present  in  them,  had  already 
fallen,  or  were  fast  falling,  to  ruin;  their  Counties  had  to 
undergo  the  chance  of  War  as  it  came.  Huntingdon  County 
soon  joined  itself  with  this  Eastern  Association.1  Cromwell's 
next  operations,  as  we  shall  perceive,  were  to  deliver  Lincoln- 
shire, and  give  it  the  power  of  joining,  which  in  September 
next  took  effect.2  Lincoln,  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Essex,  Cambridge, 
Herts,  Hunts :  these  are  thenceforth  the  "  Seven  Associated 
Counties,"  called  often  the  "  Association  "  simply,  which  make 
a  great  figure  in  the  old  Books,  —  and  kept  the  War  wholly 
out  of  their  own  borders,  having  had  a  man  of  due  forwardness 
among  them. 


LETTERS  VI.-VIIL 

TUB  main  brunt  of  the  War,  during  this  year  1643,  is  in  the 
extreme  Southwest,  between  Sir  Ralph  Hopton  and  the  Earl 
o!  Stamford  ;  ;uul  in  the  North,  chiefly  in  Yorkshire,  between 
the  Earl  of  Newcastle  and  Lord  Fairfax.  The  Southwest, 
Cornwall  or  Devonshire  transactions  do  not  much  concern  us 
in  this  j.l:n-.- ;  Imt  with  tin:  Yorkshire  we  shall  by  and  by  have 
some  concern.  A  considerable  flame  of  War  burns  conspicuous 
in  those  two  regions  :  the  rest  of  England,  all  in  a  hot  but  very 
dim  state,  may  be  rather  said  to  sinokr,  everywhere  ready  for 
burning,  and  incidentally  catch  fire  here  and  there. 

Mil/,—  iiuaUuid*.  u.  1W.  *  Ib.  p.  327. 


136  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  March, 

Essex,  the  Lord  General,  lies  at  Windsor,  all  spring,  with 
the  finest  Parliamentary  Army  we  have  yet  had ;  but  unluckily 
can  undertake  almost  nothing,  till  he  see.  For  his  Majesty 
in  Oxford  is  also  quiescent  mostly  ;  engaged  in  a  negotiation 
with  his  Parliament ;  in  a  Treaty,  —  of  which  Colonel  Hainp- 
den  and  other  knowing  men,  though  my  Lord  of  Essex  cannot, 
already  predict  the  issue.  And  the  Country  is  all  writhing 
in  dim  conflict,  suffering  manifold  distress.  And  from  his 
Majesty's  head-quarters  ever  and  anon  there  darts  out,  now 
hither  now  thither,  across  the  dim  smoke-element,  a  swift 
fierce  Prince  Rupert,  plundering  and  blazing ;  and  then  sud- 
denly darts  in  again ;  —  too  like  a  streak  of  sudden  fire,  for  he 
plunders,  and  even  burns,  a  good  deal !  Which  state  of  things 
Colonel  Hampden  and  others  witness  with  much  impatience ; 
but  cannot  get  the  Lord  General  to  undertake  anything,  till 
he  see. 

An  obscure  entangled  scene  of  things ;  all  manner  of  War- 
movements  and  swift-shooting  electric  influences  crossing  one 
another,  with  complex  action  and  reaction ;  —  as  happens  in  a 
scene  of  War ;  much  more  of  Civil  War,  where  a  whole  People 
and  its  affairs  have  become  electric.  —  Here  are  Three  poor 
Letters,  reunited  at  last  from  their  long  exile,  resuscitated 
after  long  interment :  not  in  a  very  luminous  condition  !  Ves- 
tiges of  Oliver  in  the  Eastern  Association ;  which,  however 
faint,  are  welcome  to  us. 


LETTER  VI. 

THE  Essex  people,  at  least  the  Town  of  Colchester  and  Lang- 
ley  their  Captain  have,  in  some  measure,  sent  their  contingent 
to  Cambridge ;  but  money  is  short.  Cromwell,  home  rapidly 
again  from  Norfolk,  must  take  charge  of  it ;  has  an  order  from 
the  Lord  General ;  —  nay  it  seems  a  Great  Design  is  in  view  ; 
and  Cromwell  too,  like  Richard  Baxter  and  the  rest  of  us, 
imagines  one  grand  effort  might  perhaps  end  these  bleeding 
miseries. 


1643.  LETTER  VI.    CAMBRIDGE.  137 

[To  the  Mayor  &c.  of  Colchester,  By  Captain  Dods worth: 
These.'] 

"  [CAMBRIDGE,]  23d  March,  1642. 

"GENTLEMEN,  —  Upon  the  coming  down  of  your  Townsmen 
to  Cambridge,  Captain  Langley  not  knowing  how  to  dispose  of 
them,  desired  me  to  nominate  a  fit  Captain :  which  I  did,  —  an 
honest,  religious,  valiant  Gentleman,  Captain  Dodsworth,  the 
Bearer  hereof. 

"  He  hath  diligently  attended  the  service,  and  much  improved 
his  men  in  their  exercise;  but  hath  been  unhappy  beyond 
others  in  not  receiving  any  pay  for  himself,  and  what  he  had 
for  his  soldiers  is  out  long  ago.  He  hath,  by  his  prudence, 
what  with  fair  and  winning  carriage,  what  with  money  bor- 
rowed, kept  them  together.  He  is  able  to  do  so  no  longer : 
they  will  presently  disband,  if  a  course  be  not  taken. 

"  It 's  pity  it  should  be  so !  For  I  believe  they  are  brought 
into  as  good  order  as  most  Companies  in  the  Army.  Besides, 
at  this  instant  there  is  great  need  to  use  them ;  I  have  received 
a  special  command  from  my  Lord  General,  To  advance  with 
what  force  we  can,  to  put  an  end,  if  it  may  be,  to  this  Work, 
—  God  so  assisting,  from  whom  all  help  cometh. 

"  I  beseech  you,  therefore,  consider  this  Gentleman,  and  the 
soldiers ;  and  if  it  be  possible,  make  up  his  Company  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty :  and  send  them  away  with  what  expedition 
is  possible.  It  may,  through  God's  blessing,  prove  very  happy. 
One  month's  pay  may  prove  all  your  trouble.  I  speak  to  wise 
men :  —  God  direct  you.  I  rest, 

"  Yours  to  serve  you, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

The  present  Great  Design,  though  it  came  to  nothing,  is  not 
without  interest  for  us.  Some  three  days  before  the  date  of 
this  Letter,  as  certain  Entries  in  the  Commons  Journals  still 
testify,*  there  had  risen  hot  alarm  in  Parliament;  my  Lord 
General  writing  from  Windsor,  "  at  three  in  the  morning :  " 

1   Morruit'ii  Hillary  of  Colrhrxtir  (London,  1748),  book  i.  p.  55;  "from  the 
Origiimt,"  h«  MY*,  bat  not  where  that  WM  or  i». 
•  Common*  Journal*,  iii.  10,  IX 


138  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  10  April, 

Prince  Rupert  out  in  one  of  his  forays ;  in  terrible  force  before 
the  Town  of  Aylesbury  :  ought  not  one  to  go  and  fight  him  ? 
—  Without  question!  eagerly  answer  Colonel  Hampden  and 
others  :  Fight  him,  beat  him ;  beat  more  than  him !  Why  not 
rise  heartily  from  Windsor  with  this  fine  Army ;  calling  the 
Eastern  Association  and  all  friends  to  aid  us ;  and  storm  in 
upon  Oxford  itself  ?  It  may  perhaps  quicken  the  negotiations 
there !  — 

This  Design  came  to  nothing,  and  soon  sank  into  total 
obscurity  again.  But  it  seems  Colonel  Hampden  did  entertain 
such  a  Design,  and  even  take  some  steps  in  it.  And  this  Let- 
ter of  Oliver's,  coupled  with  the  Entries  in  the  Commons  Jour- 
nals, is  perhaps  the  most  authentic  proof  we  yet  have  of  that 
fact;  an  interesting  fact,  which  has  rested  hitherto  on  the 
vague  testimony  of  Clarendon,1  who  seems  to  think  the  De- 
sign might  have  succeeded.  But  it  came  to  nothing ;  Colonel 
Hampden  could  not  rouse  the  Lord  General  to  do  more  than 
"  write  at  three  in  the  morning,"  and  send  "  special  commands," 
for  the  present. 


LETTER  VII. 

AND  now  here  is  a  new  horde  of  "  Plunderers  "  threatening 
the  Association  with  new  infall  from  the  North.  The  old 
Newspapers  call  them  "  Camdeners ; "  followers  of  a  certain 
Noel,  Viscount  Camden,  from  Rutlandshire;  who  has  seized 
Stamford,  is  driving  cattle  at  a  great  rate,  and  fast  threatening 
to  become  important  in  those  quarters.  —  "  Sir  John  Burgoyne  " 
is  the  Burgoyne  of  Potton  in  Bedfordshire,  chief  Committee- 
man  in  that  County :  Bedford  is  not  in  our  Association ;  but 
will  perhaps  lend  us  help  in  this  common  peril. 

[To  my  honored  Friend  Sir  John  Burgoyne,  Baronet:   These."] 

"  [HUNTINGDON.]  10th  April,  1643. 

"Sin,  —  These  Plunderers  draw  near.  I  think  it  will  do 
well  if  you  can  afford  us  any  assistance  of  Dragooners,  to  help 

1  History  of  the  Rebellion  (Oxford,  1819),  ii.  319;  see  also  May's  Long  Par- 
liament (Maseres's  edition,  Loudou,  1612),  p.  192. 


1643.  LETTER  VIII.    HUNTINGDON.  139 

in  this  great  Exigence.  We  have  here  about  Six  or  Seven 
Troops  of  Horse ;  such,  I  hope,  as  will  fight.  It 's  happy  to 
resist  such  beginnings  betimes. 

-If  you  can  contribute  anything  to  our  aid,  let  us  speedily 
participate  thereof.  In  the  mean  time,  and  ever,  command 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  > 

Concerning  these  Camdeners  at  Stamford  and  elsewhere,  so 
soon  as  Colonel  Cromwell  has  got  himself  equipt,  we  shall  hear 
tidings  again.  Meanwhile,  say  the  old  Newspapers,8  "there 
is  a  regiment  of  stout  North  folk  blades  gone  to  Wisbeach,  Croy- 
l;uitl,  and  so  into  Holland  "  of  Lincolnshire,  "to  preserve  those 
parts,"  —  if  they  may.  Colonel  Cromwell  will  follow ;  and 
give  good  account  of  that  matter  by  and  by. 

Lincolnshire  in  fact  ought  to  be  all  subdued  to  the  Parlia- 
ment; added  to  the  Association.  We  could  then  co-operate 
with  Fairfax  across  the  Humber,  and  do  good  service !  So 
reason  the  old  Committees,  as  one  dimly  ascertains.  —  The 
Parliament  appointed  a  Lieutenant  of  Lincolnshire,  Lord  Wil- 
loughby  of  Parham,  a  year  ago ;  *  but  he  is  much  infested  with 
Camdeners,  with  enemies  in  all  quarters,  and  has  yet  got  no 
secure  footing  there.  Cromwell's  work,  and  that  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, for  the  next  twelvemonth,  as  we  shall  perceive,  was 
that  of  clearing  Lincolnshire  from  enemies,  and  accomplish iug 
this  problem. 


LETTER  VIII. 

MK A vw ii ILK  enter  Robert  Barnard,  Esquire,  again.  Bar- 
naul, getting  ever  deeper  into  trouble,  has  run  up  to  Town; 
has  been  persuading  my  Lord  of  Manchester  and  others,  That 
he  is  not  a  disaffected  man  ;  that  a  contribution  should  not  be 
inflicted  on  him  by  the  County  Committee. 

1  Communicated  (from  an  old  Copy)  by  H.  C.  Cooper,  Esq.,  Cambridge. 
*  In  Cooper's  Annals,  iii.  .143. 

'  Commons  Jounuds  (ii.  497),  25th  March,  1642.  New  encouragement  and 
•auction  Kiren  him  (Kunhwurth,  v.  108),  of  date  9th  Jan.  164?-  I. 


140  PART  II.     FIRST    CIVIL   WAR.  17  April, 

"  To  my  very  loving  Friend  Robert  Barnard,  Esquire :  Present 

these. 

"  [HUNTINGDON,]  17th  April,  1643. 

"  SIR,  —  I  have  received  two  Letters,  one  from  my  Lord  of 
Manchester,  the  other  from  yourself ;  much  to  the  same  effect : 
I  hope  therefore  one  answer  will  serve  them  both. 

"  Which  is  in  short  this  :  That  we  know  you  are  disaffected 
to  the  Parliament ;  and  truly  if  the  Lords,  or  any  Friends, 
may  take  you  off  from  a  reasonable  Contribution,  for  my  part 
I  should  be  glad  to  be  commanded  to  any  other  employment. 
Sir,  you  may,  if  you  will,  '  come  freely  into  the  country  about 
your  occasions.'  For  my  part,  I  have  protected  you  in  your 
absence  ;  and  shall  do  so  to  you. 

"  This  is  all,  —  but  that  I  am  ready  to  serve  you,  and  rest, 
"  Your  loving  friend, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  1 

Let  Barnard  return,  therefore ;  take  a  lower  level,  where 
the  ways  are  more  sheltered  in  stormy  weather;  —  and  so 
save  himself,  and  "  become  Recorder  after  the  Restoration/ 
Subtlety  may  deceive  him ;  integrity  never  will !  — 


LETTERS  IX.-XL 

CROMWELL,  we  find,  makes  haste  to  deal  with  these  "Cam- 
deners."  His  next  achievement  is  the  raising  of  their  Siege 
of  Croylaud  (in  the  end  of  April,  exact  date  not  discover- 
able) ;  concerning  which  there  are  large  details  in  loud-spoken 
Vicars : 2  How  the  reverend  godly  Mr.  Ram  and  godly  Ser- 
geant Home,  both  of  Spalding,  were  "  set  upon  the  walls  to 

1  Gentleman's  Magazine  (London,  1791),  Ixi.  44  :  no  notice  whence,  no  criti- 
cism or  commentary  there :  Letter  undoubtedly  genuine. 
2  "  Thou  that  with  ale,  or  viler  liquors, 

Didst  inspire  Withers,  Prynne  and  Vicars." 

Hudibras,  canto  i.  645. 


1*43.  LETTERS  IX.-X1  141 

be  shot  at,"  when  the  Spalding  people  rose  to  deliver  Croyland ; 
how  "  Colonel  Sir  Miles  Hobart "  and  other  Colonels  rose  also 
to  deliver  it,  —  and  at  last  bow  "the  valiant  active  Colonel 
Cromwell "  rose,  and  did  actually  deliver  it.1 

Cromwell  has  been  at  Lynn,  he  has  been  at  Nottingham, 
at  Peterborough,  where  the  Soldiers  were  not  kind  to  the 
Cathedral  and  its  Surplice-furniture : 2  he  has  been  here  and 
then  swiftly  there ;  encountering  many  things.  For  Lincoln- 
shire is  not  easy  to  deliver;  dangers,  intricate  difficulties 
abound  in  those  quarters,  and  are  increasing.  Lincolnshire, 
infected  with  infalls  of  Camdeuers,  has  its  own  Malignancies 
too;  —  and,  much  more,  is  sadly  overrun  with  the  Marquis 
of  Newcastle's  Northern  "  Popish  Army "  at  present.  An 
Army  "  full  of  Papists,"  as  is  currently  reported ;  officered 
by  renegade  Scots,  "  Sir  John  Henderson,"  and  the  like  un- 
clean creatures.  For  the  Marquis,  in  spite  of  the  Fairfaxes, 
has  overflowed  Yorkshire ;  flowed  across  the  Humber ;  has 
fortified  himself  in  Newark-on-Trent,  and  is  a  sore  afflictior 
to  the  well-affected  thereabouts.  By  the  Queen's  interest  he 
is  now,  from  Earl,  made  Marquis,  as  we  see.  For  indeed, 
what  is  worst  of  all,  the  Queen  in  late  months  has  landed  in 
these  Northern  parts,  with  Dutch  ammunition  purchased  by 
English  Crown  Jewels ;  is  stirring  up  all  manner  of  "  Northern 
1'apists"  to  double  animation;  tempting  Hothams  and  other 
waverers  to  meditate  treachery,  for  which  they  will  pay  dear. 
She  is  the  centre  of  these  new  perils.  She  marches  South- 
\v;ird,  much  agitating  the  skirts  of  the  Eastern  Association ; 
joins  the  King  "  on  Keinton  field  "  or  Edgehill  field,  where 
he  fought  last  autumn.  —  She  was  impeached  of  treason  by 
the  Commons.  She  continued  in  England  till  the  following 
summer  ;  *  then  quitted  it  for  long  years. 

Let  the  following  Three  Letters,  —  one  of  which  is  farther 
distinguished  as  the  first  of  Cromwell's  ever  published  in  the 

1  Vicar*,  pp.  322-325;  Newspapers  (25th  April-id  May),  in  Cromwelliana, 
p.  4. 

3  Royalist  Newspapers  (in  CromweUiana,  p.  4) ;  Qutrela  Cantab. ;  &c.  &c. 

•  From  February,  1642-3  till  July,  1644  (C'lareudon,  iii.  l'J5,  Kiuhworth, 
T.  684). 


142  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  3  May. 

Newspapers,  —  testify  what  progress  he  is  making  in  the  dif- 
ficult problem  of  delivering  Lincolnshire  in  this  posture  of 
affairs. 

LETTER  IX. 

THERE  was  in  those  weeks,  as  we  learn  from  the  old  News- 
papers, a  combined  plan,  of  which  Cromwell  was  an  element, 
for  capturing  Newark ;  there  were  several  such ;  but  this  and 
all  the  rest  proved  abortive,  one  element  or  another  of  the 
combination  always  failing.  That  Cromwell  was  not  the  fail- 
ing element  we  could  already  guess,  and  may  now  definitely 
read. 

"Lord  Grey,"  be  it  remembered,  is  Lord  Grey  of  Groby, 
once  Military  Chief  of  the  Association,  —  though  now  I  think 
employed  mainly  elsewhere,  nearer  home :  a  Leicestershire 
man ;  as  are  "  Hastings  "  and  "  Hartop :  "  well  known  all  of 
them  in  the  troubles  of  that  County.  Hastings,  strong  for 
the  King,  holds  "  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  which  is  his  Father's 
House,  well  fortified ; " l  and  shows  and  has  shown  himself  a 
pushing  man.  "  His  Excellency  "  is  my  Lord  General  Essex. 
"  Sir  John  Gell "  is  Member  and  Commander  for  Derbyshire, 
has  Derby  Town  for  Garrison.  The  Derbyshire  forces,  the  Not- 
tinghamshire forces,  the  Association  forces :  if  all  the  "  forces  " 
could  but  be  united !  But  they  never  rightly  can. 

[To  the  Honorable  the  Committee  at  Lincoln:  These.'] 

"  [LINCOLNSHIRE,]  3d  May,  1643. 

"MY  LORDS  AND  GENTLEMEN,  —  I  must  needs  be  hardly 
thought  on ;  because  I  am  still  the  messenger  of  unhappy 
tidings  and  delays  concerning  you,  —  though  I  know  my  heart 
is  to  assist  you  with  all  expedition  ! 

"  My  Lord  Grey  hath  now  again  failed  me  of  the  ren- 
dezvous at  Stamford,  —  notwithstanding  that  both  he  and  I 
received  Letters  from  his  Excellency,  commanding  us  both 
to  meet,  and,  together  with  Sir  John  Gell  and  the  Notting- 
ham forces,  to  join  with  you.  My  Lord  Grey  sent  Sir  Edward 
Hartop  to  me,  To  let  me  know  he  could  not  meet  me  at 

1  Clarendon,  ii.  202. 


1643.  LETTER  IX.    LINCOLNSHIRE.  143 

Stamford  according  to  our  agreement;  fearing  the  exposing  of 
Leicester  to  the  forces  of  Mr.  Hastings  and  some  other  Troops 
drawing  that  way. 

"Believe  it,  it  were  better,  in  my  poor  opinion,  Leicester 
were  not,  than  that  there  should  not  be  found  an  immediate 
taking  of  the  field  by  our  forces  to  accomplish  the  common 
ends.  Wherein  I  shall  deal  as  freely  with  him,  when  I  meet 
him,  as  you  can  desire.  I  perceive  Ashby-de-la-Zouch  sticks 
much  with  him.  I  have  offered  him  now  another  place  of  meet- 
ing ;  *  to  come  to  which  suppose  he  will  not  deny  me ;  and 
that  to  be  to-morrow.  If  you  shall  therefore  think  fit  to  send 
one  over  unto  us  to  be  with  us  at  night,  —  you  do  not  know 
how  far  we  may  prevail  with  him  :  To  draw  speedily  to  a  head, 
with  Sir  John  Gell  and  the  other  forces,  where  we  may  all 
meet  at  a  general  rendezvous,  to  the  end  you  know  of.  And 
then  you  shall  receive  full  satisfaction  concerning  my  integ- 
rity ; 2  —  and  if  no  man  shall  help  you,  yet  will  not  I  be  want- 
ing to  do  my  duty,  God  assisting  me. 

"If  we  could  unite  those  forces  [of  theirs]  ;  and  with  them 
speedily  make  Grantham  the  general  rendezvous,  both  of  yours 
and  ours,  I  think  it  would  do  well.  I  shall  bend  my  en- 
.  >rs  that  way.  Your  concurrence  by  some  able  instrument 
to  solicit  this,  might  probably  exceedingly  hasten  it;  espe- 
cially having  so  good  a  foundation  to  work  upon  as  my  Lord 
General's  commands.  Our  Norfolk  forces,  which  will  not 
prove  so  many  as  you  may  imagine  by  six  or  seven  hundred 
men,  will  lie  conveniently  at  Spalding;  and,  I  am  confident, 
be  ready  to  meet  at  Grantham  at  the  general  rendezvous. 

<l  I  have  no  more  to  trouble  you ;  but  begging  of  God  to 
take  away  the  impediments  that  hinder  our  conjunction,  and 
to  prosper  our  designs,  take  leave. 

"  Your  faithful  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

1  Name,  not  so  fit  to  be  written  for  fear  of  accidents,  i»  very  ranch  unknown 

now  ' 

J  Mean*  "  that  tho  blamo  was  not  in  me." 

*  Tanner  M  6  S   (Oxford),  l.xii.  '.14  :  the  address  lost,  the  date  of  placo  nrver 
the  fornn  r  ( It  urly  rotftoraMo  from  Commons  Journals,  ii.  75. 


144  PART  IT.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR  13  May, 

Some  rendezvous  at  Grantham  does  take  place,  some  unit- 
ing of  forces,  more  or  fewer ;  and  strenuous  endeavor  there- 
upon. As  the  next  Letter  will  testify. 


LETTER  X. 

THIS  Letter  is  the  first  of  Cromwell's  ever  published  in  the 
Newspapers.  "  That  valiant  soldier  Colonel  Cromwell "  has 
written  on  this  occasion  to  an  official  Person  of  name  not  now 
discoverable :  — 

[To :  These.] 

[GKANTHAM,  13th  May,  1643.] 

"SiR, — God  hath  given  us,  this  evening,  a  glorious  vic- 
tory over  our  enemies.  They  were,  as  we  are  informed, 
one-and-twenty  colors  of  horse-troops,  and  three  or  four  of 
dragoons. 

"It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  we  drew  out;  they  came 
and  faced  us  within  two  miles  of  the  town.  So  soon  as  we 
had  the  alarm,  we  drew  out  our  forces,  consisting  of  about 
twelve  troops,  —  whereof  some  of  them  so  poor  and  broken, 
that  you  shall  seldom  see  worse  :  with  this  handful  it  pleased 
God  to  cast  the  scale.  For  after  we  had  stood  a  little,  above 
musket-shot  the  one  body  from  the  other ;  and  the  dragooners 
had  fired  on  both  sides,  for  the  space  of  half  an  hour  or  more  ; 
they  not  advancing  towards  us,  we  agreed  to  charge  them. 
And,  advancing  the  body  after  many  shots  on  both  sides,  we 
came  on  with  our  troops  a  pretty  round  trot ;  they  standing 
firm  to  receive  us  :  and  our  men  charging  fiercely  upon  them, 
by  God's  providence  they  were  immediately  routed,  and  ran 
all  away,  and  we  had  the  execution  of  them  two  or  three 
miles. 

"  I  believe  some  of  our  soldiers  did  kill  two  or  three  men 
apiece  in  the  pursuit ;  but  what  the  number  of  dead  is  we  are 
not  certain.  We  took  forty-five  Prisoners,  besides  divers  of 
their  horse  and  arms,  and  rescued  many  Prisoners  whom  they 


1643.  LETTER  X.    GRANTHAM.  145 

had  lately  taken  of  ours ;  and  we  took  four  or  five  of  their 
colors.     [I  rest]  .  .  . 

[OLIVER  CROMWELL.]"' 

On  inquiry  at  Grantham,  there  is  no  vestige  of  tradition  as 
to  the  scene  of  this  skirmish  ;  which  must  have  been  some  two 
miles  out  on  the  Newark  road.  Thomas  May,  a  veracious 
intelligent  man,  but  vague  as  to  dates,  mentions  two  notable 
skirmishes  of  Cromwell's  "near  to  Grantham,"  in  the  course  of 
this  business ;  one  especially  in  which  "  he  defeated  a  strong 
party  of  the  Newarkers,  where  the  odds  of  number  on  their 
side  was  so  great  that  it  seemed  almost  a  miraculous  victory : " 
that  probably  is  the  one  now  in  question.  Colonel  Cromwell, 
we  farther  find,  was  very  "vigilant  of  all  sallies  that  were 
made,  and  took  many  men  and  colors  at  several  times;"* 
and  did  what  was  in  Colonel  Cromwell ;  —  but  could  not  take 
Newark  at  present.  One  element  or  other  of  the  combina- 
tion always  fails.  Newark,  again  and  again  besieged,  did 
not  surrender  until  the  end  of  the  War.  At  present,  it  is 
terribly  wet  weather,  for  one  thing;  "thirteen  days  of  con- 
tinual rain." 

The  King,  as  we  observed,  is  in  Oxford :  Treaty,  of  very 
slow  gestation,  came  to  birth  in  March  last,  and  was  carried 
on  there  by  Whitlocke  and  others  till  the  beginning  of  April ; 
but  ended  in  absolute  nothing.8  The  King  still  continues  in 
Oxford,  —  his  head-quarters  for  three  years  to  come.  The 
Lord  General  Essex  did  at  one  time  think  of  Oxford,  but  pre- 
ferred to  take  Reading  first ;  is  lying  now  scattered  about 
Thame,  and  Briokhill  in  Buckinghamshire,  much  drenched 
with  the  unseasonable  rains,  in  a  very  dormant,  discontented 
condition.4  Colonel  Hampden  is  with  him.  There  is  talk 
of  making  Colonel  Hampden  Lord  General.  The  immediate 
hopes  of  the  world,  however,  are  turned  on  "that  valiant 

1  Perfect  Diurnal  of  the  Postage*  in  Parliament,  22d-29th  May,  1643  ;  com- 
pleted from  Vicar*,  p.  .132,  whose  copy,  however,  is  not,  except  as  to  sense 
and  fact*,  to  be  relied  on. 

IJ  History  of  Ismg  Parliament,  p.  208. 

•  Whitlocke.  1st  edition,  pp.  03-65 ;  Hiubondt,  ii.  48-119. 

th,  v.  V«K)  ;  May,  p.  15W. 
\vu.  ,    10 


146  PART  IT.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  28  May, 

soldier  and  patriot  of  his  country  "  Sir  William  Waller,  who 
has  marched  to  discomfit  the  Malignants  of  the  West. 

On  the  4th  of  this  May,  Cheapside  Cross,  Charing  Cross, 
and  other  Monuments  of  Papist  Idolatry  were  torn  down  by 
authority,  "  troops  of  soldiers  sounding  their  trumpets,  and  all 
the  people  shouting ; "  the  Book  of  Sports  was  also  burnt  on 
the  ruins  of  the  same.1  In  which  days,  too,  all  the  people  are 
working  at  the  Fortification  of  London. 


LETTER  XI. 

THE  "great  Service,"  spoken  of  in  this  Letter,  we  must 
still  understand  to  be  the  deliverance  of  Lincolnshire  in  gen- 
eral ;  or  if  it  were  another,  it  did  not  take  effect.  No  possi- 
bility yet  of  getting  over  into  Yorkshire  to  co-operate  with  the 
Fairfaxes,  —  though  they  much  need  help,  and  there  have 
been  speculations  of  that  and  of  other  kinds.3  For  the  War- 
tide  breaks  in  very  irregular  billows  upon  our  shores ;  at  one 
time  we  are  pretty  clear  of  Newark  and  its  Northern  Papists ; 
and  anon  "the  Queen  has  got  into  Newark,"  and  we  are  like 
to  be  submerged  by  them.  As  a  general  rule,  intricate  perilous 
difficulties  abound  ;  and  cash  is  scarce.  The  Fairfaxes,  mean- 
while, last  week,  have  gained  a  Victory  at  Wakefield ;  8  which 
is  a  merciful  encouragement. 

[To  the  Mayor  &c.  of  Colchester:  These."] 

"  [LINCOLNSHIRE,]  28th  May,  1643. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  I  thought  it  my  duty  once  more  to  write 
unto  you  For  more  strength  to  be  speedily  sent  unto  us,  for 
this  great  Service. 

"  I  suppose  you  hear  of  the  great  Defeat  given  by  my  Lord 
Fairfax  to  the  Newcastle  Forces  at  Wakefield.  It  was  a  great 
mercy  of  God  to  us.  And  had  it  not  been  bestowed  upon  us 
at  this  very  present,  my  Lord  Fairfax  had  not  known  how 

1  Lithgow  (in  Somers  Tracts,  iv.  536)  ;  Vicars  (date  incorrect),  p.  327. 
*  Old  Newspapers  (30th  May-12th  June,  1643),  in  Cromwelliana,  p.  6. 
8  21st  May,  1643 :  Letter  by  Lord  Fairfax  (in  Rushworth,  v.  268) ;  Short 
Memorials,  by  the  younger  Fairfax  (in  Somers  Tracts,  v.  380). 


1643.  LETTER  XI.    LINCOLNSHIRE.  147 

to  have  subsisted.  We  assure  you,  should  the  Force  we  have 
miscarry,  —  expect  nothing  but  a  speedy  march  of  the  Enemy 
up  unto  you. 

"  Why  you  should  not  strengthen  us  to  make  us  subsist,  — 
judge  you  the  danger  of  the  neglect ;  and  how  inconvenient 
this  improvidence,  or  unthrift,  may  be  to  you !  I  shall  never 
write  but  according  to  my  judgment :  I  tell  you  again,  It  con- 
cerns you  exceedingly  to  be  persuaded  by  me.  My  Lord  New- 
castle is  near  six  thousand  foot,  and  above  sixty  troops  of 
horse ;  my  Lord  Fairfax  is  about  three  thousand  foot,  and  nine 
troops  of  horse;  and  we  have  about  twenty-four  troops  of 
horse  and  dragooners.  The  Enemy  draws  more  to  the  Lord 
Fairfax :  our  motion  and  yours  must  be  exceeding  speedy,  or 
else  it  will  do  you  no  good  at  all. 

"  If  you  send,  let  your  men  come  to  Boston.  I  beseech  you 
hasten  the  supply  to  us  :  —  forget  not  money !  I  press  not 
hard ;  though  I  do  so  need  that,  I  assure  you,  the  foot  and 
dragooners  are  ready  to  mutiny.  Lay  not  too  much  upon  the 
luck  of  a  poor  gentleman,  who  desires,  without  much  noise,  to 
lay  down  his  life,  and  bleed  the  last  drop  to  serve  the  Cause 
and  you.  I  ask  not  your  money  for  myself :  if  that  were  my 
end  and  hope,  —  viz.  the  pay  of  my  place,  —  I  would  not  open 
my  mouth  at  this  time.  I  desire  to  deny  myself;  but  others 
will  not  be  satisfied.  I  beseech  you  hasten  supplies.  Forget 
not  your  prayers.  Gentlemen,  I  am 

"Yours, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." * 

"  Lay  not  too  much  upon  a  poor  gentleman,"  —  who  is  really 
doing  what  he  can  ;  shooting  swiftly,  now  hither,  now  thither, 
wheresoever  th<>  tug  of  difficulty  lies ;  struggling  very  sore,  as 
beseems  the  Son  of  Light  and  Son  of  Adam,  not  to  be  van- 
quished by  the  mud-element ! 

Intricate  struggles ;  sunk  almost  all  in  darkness  now :  —  of 
which  t:ik<»  this  other  as  a  token,  gathered  still  luminous  from 
i  it  In  n  tic  but  mostly  inane  opacities  of  the  Common*  Jour- 
nal*:* "21  June,  1643,  Mr.  Pym  reports  from  the  Committee 
1  Munuit'»  Uittmif  of  Colcktttrr,  book  i.  p.  5«.  a  iii  138 


148  PART  It.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  27  July, 

of  the  Safety  of  the  kingdom,"  our  chief  authority  at  present, 
to  this  effect,  That  Captain  Hotham,  son  of  the  famed  Hull 
Hotham,  had,  as  appeared  by  Letters  from  Lord  Grey  and 
Colonel  Cromwell,  now  at  Nottingham,  been  behaving  very  ill ; 
had  plundered  divers  persons  without  regard  to  the  side  they 
were  of ;  had,  on  one  occasion,  "  turned  two  pieces  of  ordnance 
against  Colonel  Cromwell ; "  nay,  once,  when  Lord  Grey's 
quartermaster  was  in  some  huff  with  Lord  Grey  "  about  oats," 
had  privily  offered  to  the  said  quartermaster  that  they  two 
should  draw  out  their  men,  and  have  a  fight  for  it  with  Lord 
Grey ;  —  not  to  speak  of  frequent  correspondences  with  New- 
ark, with  Newcastle,  and  the  Queen  now  come  back  from 
Holland :  wherefore  he  is  arrested  there  in  Nottingham,  and 
locked  up  for  trial. 

This  was  on  the  Wednesday,  this  report  of  Pym's:  and, 
alas,  while  Pym  reads  it,  John  Hampden,  mortally  wounded 
four  days  ago  in  a  skirmish  at  Chalgrove  Field,  lies  dying  at 
Thame ;  —  died  on  the  Saturday  following ! 


LETTERS  XII.-XV. 

Thursday,  July  the  27th,"  on,  or  shortly  before  that 
day,  "  news  reach  London  "  that  Colonel  Cromwell  has  taken 
Stamford,  —  retaken  it,  I  think  ;  at  all  events  taken  it.  Where- 
upon the  Cavaliers  from  Newark  and  Belvoir  Castle  came 
hovering  about  him :  he  drove  them  into  Burleigh  House,  near 
by,  and  laid  siege  to  the  same ;  "  at  three  in  the  morning," 
battered  it  with  all  his  shot,  and  stormed  it  at  last.1  Which 
is  "a  good  help  we  have  had  this  week." 

On  the  other  hand,  at  Gainsborough  we  are  suffering  siege ; 
indisputably  the  Newarkers  threaten  to  get  the  upper  hand  in 
that  quarter  of  the  County.  Here  is  Cromwell's  Letter,  — 
happily  now  the  original  itself  ;  —  concerning  Lord  Willoughby 
of  Parham,  and  the  relief  of  Gainsborough  "  with  powder  and 
match." 

1  Vicars ;   Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  6). 


j«43.  LETTER  XII.    HUNTINGDON.  149 

LETTER  XII. 

IN  Rushworth  and  the  old  Newspaper  copies  of  this  Letter, 
along  with  certain  insignificant,  perhaps  involuntary  varia- 
tions, there  are  two  noticeable  omissions ;  the  whole  of  the 
first  paragraph,  and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  last,  omitted  for 
cause  by  the  old  official  persons ;  who  furthermore  have  given 
only  the  virtual  address  "  To  the  Committee  of  the  Association 
xittiny  at  Cambridge"  not  the  specific  one  as  here  :  — 

"  T<,  my  noble  Friends,  Sir  Edmund  Bacon,  Knight  and  Baronet, 
Sir  William  Spring,  Knight  and  Baronet,  Sir  Thomas 
Barnardiston,  Knight,  and  Maurice  Barrow,  Esquire: 
Present  these. 

"  HUNTINGDON,  31st  July,  1G43. 

"GENTLEMEN,  —  No  man  desires  more  to  present  you  with 
encouragement  than  myself,  because  of  the  forwardness  I  find 
in  you,  —  to  your  honor  be  it  spoken,  —  to  promote  this  great 
Cause.  And  truly  God  follows  us  with  encouragements,  who 
is  the  God  of  blessings  :  —  and  I  beseech  you  let  Him  not  lose 
His  blessings  upon  us!  They  come  in  season,  and  with  all 
the  advantages  of  heartening :  as  if  God  should  say,  '  Up  and 
be  doing,  and  I  will  stand  by  you,  and  help  you ! '  There  is 
nothing  to  be  feared  but  our  own  sin  and  sloth.1 

"  It  hath  pleased  the  Lord  to  give  your  servant  and  soldiers 
a  notable  victory  now  at  Gainsborough.  I  marched  after  the 
taking  of  Hurleigh  House  upon  Wednesday  to  Grantham, 
where  I  met  about  300  horse  and  dragooners  of  Nottingham. 
With  these,  by  agreement,  we  met  the  Lincolners  at  North 
Si-arle,  which  is  about  ten  miles  from  Gainsborough,  upon 
Thursday  in  the  evening ;  where  we  tarried  until  two  of  the 
clock  in  the  morning ;  and  then  with  our  whole  body  advanced 
towards  Gainsborough. 

"About  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  Town,  we  met  a  forlorn 
hope  of  the  enemy  of  near  100  horse.  Our  dragooners  labored 
to  beat  them  back ;  but  not  alighting  off  their  horses,  the 
enemy  charged  them,  and  beat  some  four  or  five  of  them  off 

1  Tbi*  paragraph  in  omitted  in  Rushworth  and  the  Newspapers. 


150  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  siJuly, 

their  horses  :  out  horse  charged  them,  and  made  them  retire 
unto  their  main  body.  We  advanced,  and  came  to  the  bottom 
of  a  steep  hill  :  we  could  not  well  get  up  but  by  some  tracks  ; 
which  our  men  essaying  to  do,  a  body  of  the  enemy  endeav- 
ored to  hinder;  wherein  we  prevailed,  and  got  the  top  of 
the  hill.  This  was  done  by  the  Lincolners,  who  had  the  van- 
guard. 

"  When  we  all  recovered  the  top  of  the  hill,  we  saw  a  great 
Body  of  the  enemy's  horse  facing  us,  at  about  a  musket-shot 
or  less  distance  ;  and  a  good  Reserve  of  a  full  regiment  of 
horse  behind  it.  We  endeavored  to  put  our  men  into  as  good 
order  as  we  could.  The  enemy  in  the  mean  time  advanced 
towards  us,  to  take  us  at  disadvantage ;  but  in  such  order  as 
we  were,  we  charged  their  great  body,  I  having  the  right  wing ; 
we  came  up  horse  to  horse ;  where  we  disputed  it  with  our 
swords  and  pistols  a  pretty  time  ;  all  keeping  close  order,  so 
that  one  could  not  break  the  other.  At  last,  they  a  little  shrink- 
ing, our  men  perceiving  it,  pressed  in  upon  them,  and  imme- 
diately routed  this  whole  body  ;  some  flying  on  one  side  and 
others  on  the  other  of  the  enemy's  Reserve;  and  our  men, 
pursuing  them,  had  chase  and  execution  about  five  or  six 
miles. 

"I  perceiving  this  body  which  was  the  Reserve  standing 
still  unbroken,  kept  back  my  Major,  Whalley,  from  the  chase ; 
and  with  my  own  troop  and  the  other  of  my  regiment,  in  all 
being  three  troops,  we  got  into  a  body.  In  this  Reserve  stood 
General  Cavendish  ;  who  one  while  faced  me,  another  while 
faced  four  of  the  Lincoln  troops,  which  was  all  of  ours  that 
stood  upon  the  place,  the  rest  being  engaged  in  the  chase. 
At  last  General  Cavendish  charged  the  Lincolners,  and  routed 
them.  Immediately  I  fell  on  his  rear  with  my  three  troops ; 
which  did  so  astonish  him,  that  he  gave  over  the  chase,  and 
would  fain  have  delivered  himself  from  me.  But  I  pressing 
on  forced  them  down  a  hill,  having  good  execution  of  them  ; 
and  below  the  hill,  drove  the  General  with  some  of  his  soldiers 
into  a  quagmire  ;  where  my  Captain-lieutenant  slew  him  with 
a  thrust  under  his  short  ribs.  The  rest  of  the  body  was 
wholly  routed,  not  one  man  staying  upon  the  place. 


1643.  LETTER  XII.    HUNTINGDON.  151 

"We  then,  after  this  defeat  which  was  so  total,  relieved  the 
Town  with  such  powder  and  provision  as  we  brought.  Which 
done,  we  had  notice  that  there  were  six  troops  of  horse  and 
300  foot  on  the  other  side  of  the  Town,  about  a  mile  off  us : 
we  desired  some  foot  of  my  Lord  Willoughby's,  about  400; 
and,  with  our  horse  and  these  foot,  marched  towards  them  : 
when  we  came  towards  the  place  where  their  horse  stood,  we 
beat  back  with  my  troops  about  two  or  three  troops  of  the 
enemy's,  who  retired  into  a  small  village  at  the  bottom  of  the 
hill.  When  we  recovered  the  hill,  we  saw  in  the  bottom, 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  us,  a  regiment  of  foot ;  after 
that  another;  after  that  the  Marquis  of  Newcastle's  own 
regiment ;  consisting  in  all  of  about  60  foot  colors,  and  a 
great  body  of  horse  ;  —  which  indeed  was  Newcastle's  Army. 
Which,  coming  so  unexpectedly,  put  us  to  new  consultations. 
My  Lord  Willoughby  and  I,  being  in  the  town,  agreed  to  call 
off  our  foot.  I  went  to  bring  them  off :  but  before  I  returned, 
divers  of  the  foot  were  engaged ;  the  enemy  advancing  with 
his  whole  body.  Our  foot  retreated  in  disorder ;  and  with 
some  loss  got  the  Town  ;  where  now  they  are.  Our  horse  also 
came  off  with  some  trouble  ;  being  wearied  with  the  long  fight, 
and  their  horses  tired  ;  yet  faced  the  enemy's  fresh  horse,  and 
by  several  removes  got  off  without  the  loss  of  one  man  ;  the 
em -my  following  the  rear  with  a  great  body.  The  honor  of 
this  retreat  is  due  to  God,  as  also  all  the  rest :  Major  Whalley 
did  in  this  carry  himself  with  all  gallantry  becoming  a  gentle- 
man and  a  Christian. 

''  Thus  you  have  this  true  relation,  as  short  as  I  could. 
What  you  are  to  do  upon  it,  is  next  to  be  considered.1  If  I 
ruiild  sjH?;ik  words  to  pierce  your  hearts  with  the  sense  of  our 
and  your  condition,  I  would  !  If  you  will  raise  2,000  Foot  at 
!•!•' '.sent  to  encounter  this  Army  of  Newcastle's,  to  raise  the 
siege,  and  to  enable  us  to  fight  him,  — we  doubt  not,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  but  that  we  shall  be  able  to  relieve  the  Town, 
and  beat  the  Enemy  on  *  the  other  side  of  Trent.  Whereas  if 

1  The  rest  of  this  paragraph,  all  except  the  last  sentence,  is  omitted  :  Post- 
script, t«x>,  omitted. 
»  MeanH  "  to." 


152  PAHT  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  SlJuly, 

somewhat  be  not  done  in  this,  you  will  see  Newcastle's  Army 
march  up  into  your  bowels  ;  being  now,  as  it  is,  on  this  side 
Trent.  I  know  it  will  be  difficult  to  raise  thus  many  in  so 
short  time :  but  let  me  assure  you,  it 's  necessary,  and  there- 
fore to  be  done.  At  least  do  what  you  may,  with  all  possible 
expedition  !  I  would  I  had  the  happiness  to  speak  with  one  of 
you  :  —  truly  I  cannot  coine  over,  but  must  attend  my  charge  ; 
the  Enemy  is  vigilant.  The  Lord  direct  you  what  to  do. 
Gentlemen,  I  am 

"  Your  faithful  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL, 

"P.S.  Give  this  Gentleman  credence:  he  is  worthy  to  be 
trusted,  he  knows  the  urgency  of  our  affairs  better  than  my- 
self. If  he  give  you  intelligence,  in  point  of  time,  of  haste  to 
be  made,  —  believe  him  :  he  will  advise  for  your  good."  1 

About  two  miles  south  of  Gainsborough,  on  the  North-Scarle 
road,  stands  the  Hamlet  and  Church  of  Lea ;  near  which  is  a 
"  Hill,"  or  expanse  of  upland,  of  no  great  height,  but  sandy, 
covered  with  furze,  and  full  of  rabbit-holes,  the  ascent  of  which 
would  be  difficult  for  horsemen  in  the  teeth  of  an  enemy. 
This  is  understood  to  be  the  "  Hill "  of  the  fight  referred  to 
here.  Good  part  of  it  is  enclosed,  and  the  ground  much  al- 
tered, since  that  time  ;  but  one  of  the  fields  is  still  called  "  Red- 
coats Field," 2  and  another  at  some  distance  nearer  Gainsborough 
"  Graves  Field  ;  "  beyond  which  latter,  "  on  the  other  or  west- 
ern face  of  the  Hill,  a  little  over  the  boundary  of  Lea  Parish 
with  Gainsborough  Parish,  on  the  left  hand  (as  you  go  North) 
between  the  Road  and  the  River,"  is  a  morass  or  meadow  still 
known  by  the  name  of  Cavendish's  Boy,  which  points  out  the 
locality.8 

Of  the  "  Hills  "  and  "  Villages  "  rather  confusedly  alluded 

1  Rusbworth,  v.  278  ;  —  given  now  (Third Edition)  according  to  Autograph 
in  the  possession  of  Dawson  Turner,  Esq.,  Great  Yarmouth.  (Papers  of 
Norfolk  Archaeological  Society,  Jan.  1848;  and  Athenaeum,  London,  llth 
March,  1848.) 

a  See  Squire  Papers,  no.  xxxiv.,  vol.  xviii.  p.  87. 

8  MS- penes  me. 


1643.  LETTER  XIII.    HUNTINGDON.  153 

to  in  the  second  part  of  the  Letter,  which  probably  lay  across 
Trent  Bridge  on  the  Newark  side  of  the  river,  I  could  obtain 
no  elucidation,  —  and  must  leave  them  to  the  guess  of  local 
antiquaries  interested  in  such  things.1 

"  General  Cavendish,"  whom  some  confound  with  the  Earl 
of  Newcastle's  brother,  was  his  Cousin,  "  the  Earl  of  Devon- 
shire's second  son ; "  an  accomplished  young  man  of  three- 
and-twenty  ;  for  whom  there  was  great  lamenting ;  —  indeed  a 
general  emotion  about  his  death,  of  which  we,  in  these  radical 
times,  very  irreverent  of  human  quality  itself,  and  much  more 
justly  of  the  dresses  of  human  quality,  cannot  even  with  effort 
form  any  adequate  idea.  This  was  the  first  action  that  made 
Cromwell  to  be  universally  talked  of :  He  dared  to  kill  this 
honorable  person  found  in  arms  against  him  !  "  Colonel  Crom- 
well gave  assistance  to  the  Lord  Willoughby,  and  performed 
very  gallant  service  against  the  Earl  of  Newcastle's  forces. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  his  great  fortunes,  and  now  he 
began  to  appear  in  the  world."  3 

Waller  has  an  Elegy,  not  his  best,  upon  "  Charles  Ca'ndish."  • 
It  must  have  been  written  some  time  afterwards :  poor  Waller, 
in  these  weeks,  very  narrowly  escapes  death  himself,  on  ac- 
count of  the  "  Waller  Plot ; "  —  makes  an  abject  submission ; 
pays  £10,000  fine ;  and  goes  upon  his  travels  into  foreign 
parts  I  — 


LETTER  XIII. 

HERE  meanwhile  is  a  small  noteworthy  thing.  Consider 
these  "Young  Men  and  Maids,"  and  that  little  joint-stock 
company  of  theirs !  Amiable  young  persons,  may  it  prosper 
with  you !  Twelvescore  pounds  and  so  many  stand  of  muskets, 
—  well,  this  little  too,  in  the  great  Cause,  will  help.  For  a 
pure  preached  Gospel,  and  the  ancient  liberties  of  England, 

1  Two  other  Letters  on  this  Gaiimborough  Action,  iu  Appendix,  No.  5. 

*  Whitlocke  (1st  edition,  Loudon,  1682,  —  ai  always,  uulww  the  contrary 
he  specified),  p.  68. 

•  FeuUm's  Waller,  p.  209. 


154  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  2  August, 

who  would  not  try  to  lielp  ?  Fine  new  cloaks  and  fardingales 
are  good  ;  but  a  company  of  musketeers  busy  on  the  right  side, 
how  much  better !  —  Colonel  Cromwell,  now  home  again,  has 
received  a  Deputation  on  the  matter ;  and  suggests  improve- 
ments. "Country"  which  will  take  your  muskets,  means 
County.  Three  pounds,  we  perceive  by  calculation,  will  buy 
a  war-saddle  and  pistols.  Who  the  "  Sir "  is,  guessable  as 
some  Chairman  of  this  "  Young  Men  and  Maids "  Society ; 
and  in  what  Town  he  sits,  whether  in  Huntingdon  itself  or  in 
another,  —  must  remain  forever  uncertain.  His  Address,  by 
negligence,  has  vanished ;  his  affair  wholly  has  vanished ;  the 
body  of  it  gone  all  to  air,  and  only  the  soul  of  it  now  surviving, 
and  like  to  survive  1 


To 


"  [HUNTINGDON,]  2d  August,  1643. 

"  SIB,  —  I  understand  by  these  Gentlemen  the  good  affec- 
tions of  your  Young  Men  and  Maids  ;  for  which  God  is  to  be 
praised. 

"  I  approve  of  the  business :  only  I  desire  to  advise  you  that 
your  '  foot  company '  may  be  turned  into  a  troop  of  horse ; 
which  indeed  will,  by  God's  blessing,  far  more  advantage  the 
Cause  than  two  or  three  companies  of  foot ;  especially  if  your 
men  be  honest  godly  men,  which  by  all  means  I  desire.  I 
thank  God  for  stirring  up  the  youth  to  cast  in  their  mite, 
which  I  desire  may  be  employed  to  the  best  advantage  ;  there- 
fore my  advice  is,  that  you  would  employ  your  Twelvescore 
Pounds  to  buy  pistols  and  saddles,  and  I  will  provide  four- 
score horses  ;  for  £400  more  will  not  raise  a  troop  of  horse. 
As  for  the  muskets  that  are  bought,  I  think  the  Country  will 
take  them  of  you.  Pray  raise  honest  godly  men,  and  I  will 
have  them  of  my  regiment.  As  for  your  Officers,  I  leave  it 
as  God  shall  or  hath  directed  to  choose ;  —  and  rest, 
"Your  loving  friend, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

*  Fairfax  Correspondence  (London,  1849),  iii.  56:  the  Original  is  Auto- 
graph ;  address  quite  gone  ;  docketed  "  Colonel  Cromwell's  Letter  to  [in  regard 
to]  the  Bachelors  and  Maids,  2d  August,  1643,  from  Huntingdon." 


1643.  LETTER  XIV.    HUNTINGDON. 


LETTER  XIV. 

was  directly  taken,  after  this  relief  of  it; 
Lord  Willoughby  could  not  resist  the  Newarkers  with  New- 
castle at  their  head.  Gainsborough  is  lost,  Lincoln  is  lost  ; 
unless  help  come  speedily,  all  is  like  to  be  lost.  The  follow- 
ing Letter,  with  its  enclosure  from  the  Lord  Lieutenant  Wil- 
loughby of  Parham,  speaks  for  itself.  Head  the  Enclosure 
first 

"  To  my  noble  Friend  Colonel  Cromwell,  at  Huntingdon  :   T/tese. 

"BOSTON,  5th  August,  1643. 

"  NOBLE  SIR,  —  Since  the  business  of  Gainsborough,  the 
hearts  of  our  men  have  been  so  deaded  that  we  have  lost  most 
of  them  by  running  away.  So  that  we  were  forced  to  leave 
Lincoln  upon  a  sudden  :  —  and  if  I  had  not  done  it  then,  I 
should  have  been  left  alone  in  it.  So  that  now  I  am  at  Bos- 
ton ;  where  we  are  very  poor  in  strength  ;  —  so  that  without 
some  speedy  supply,  I  fear  we  shall  not  hold  this  long  neither. 

"My  Lord  General,  I  perceive,  hath  writ  to  you,  To  draw 
all  the  forces  together.  I  should  be  glad  to  see  it  :  for  if  that 
will  not  be,  there  can  be  no  good  to  be  expected.  If  you  will 
endeavor  to  stop  my  Lord  of  Newcastle,  you  must  presently 
draw  them  to  him  and  fight  him  !  For  without  we  be  mas- 
ters of  the  field,  we  shall  be  pulled  out  by  the  ears,  one  after 
another. 

••  The  Foot,  if  they  will  come  on,  may  march  very  securely 
to  Boston  ;  which,  to  me,  will  be  very  considerable  to  your 
Association.  For  if  the  Enemy  get  that  Town,  which  is  now 
very  weak  for  (It-fence  for  want  of  men,  I  believe  they  will  not 
be  long  out  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk. 

"  I  can  say  no  more  :  but  desire  you  to  hasten  ;  —  and  rest^ 
"  Your  servant, 

"  FRANCIS  WILLOUGHBY."  ' 

1  Baker  MSS.  (Trinity-College  Library,  Cambridge),  xxxiv    429  ;  ii  in 

M>.v  low,  together  with  the  following. 


156  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  6  August, 

"  To  my  honored  Friends  the  Commissioners  at  Cambridge  : 
These  present. 

"  HUNTINGDON,  6th  August,  1643. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  You  see  by  this  Enclosed  how  sadly  your 
affairs  stand.  It 's  no  longer  Disputing,  but  Out  instantly  all 
you  can  !  Raise  all  your  Bands  ; *  send  them  to  Huntingdon  ; 
—  get  up  what  Volunteers  you  can ;  hasten  your  Horses. 

u  Send  these  Letters  to  Norfolk,  Suffolk  and  Essex,  with- 
out delay.  I  beseech  you  spare  not,  but  be  expeditious  and 
industrious  !  Almost  all  our  Foot  have  quitted  Stamford : 
there  is  nothing  to  interrupt  an  Enemy,  but  our  Horse,  that  is 
considerable.  You  must  act  lively  ;  do  it  without  distraction. 
Neglect  no  means  !  —  I  am, 

"  Your  faithful  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  3 

In  the  Commons  Journals,  August  4th,8  are  various  Orders, 
concerning  Colonel  Cromwell  and  his  affairs,  of  a  comfortable 
nature  :  as,  "  That  he  shall  have  the  Three  Thousand  Pounds, 
already  levied  in  the  Associated  Counties,  for  payment  of  his 
men ;  "  likewise  privilege  of  "  Free  Quarter  on  the  march  he 
is  now  upon ;  "  and  lastly,  "  That  the  Six  Associated  Counties 
do  forthwith  raise  two  thousand  men  more"  for  his  behoof 
and  that  of  the  Cause.  On  which  occasion  Speaker  Lenthall, 
as  we  otherwise  find,  writes  to  him  on  the  part  of  the  House, 
in  these  encouraging  terms  :  "  The  House  hath  commanded  me 
to  send  you  these  enclosed  Orders  ;  and  to  let  you  know  that 
nothing  is  more  repugnant  to  the  sense  of  this  House,  and 
dangerous  to  this  Kingdom,  than  the  unwillingness  of  their 
forces  to  march  out  of  their  several  Counties." —  "  For  your- 
self, they  do  exceedingly  approve  of  your  faithful  endeavors 
to  God  and  the  Kingdom."  4 

1  Trainbands. 

a  Cooper's  Annals  of  Cambridge,  iii.  355 ;  Tanner  MSS.  Uii.  229. 

*  Commons  Journals,   ii.  193. 

*  Tauner  MSS.  bui.  (i.),  221. 


1843.  LETTER  XV.    PETERBOROUGH.  157 

LETTER  XV. 

THE  Committee's  answer,  "  my  return  from  you,"  will  find 
Cromwell  at  Stamford ;  to  which,  as  to  the  place  of  dauger,  he 
is  already  speeding  and  spurring.  Here  is  his  next  Letter  to 
these  honored  Friends  :  — 

"  To  my  honored  Friends  the  Commissioners  at  Cambridge : 
These  present. 

"  [PETERBOROUGH,]  8th  August,  1643. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  Finding  our  foot  much  lessened  at  Stam- 
ford, and  having  a  great  train  and  many  carriages,  I  held  it 
not  safe  to  continue  there,  but  presently  after  my  return  from 
you,  I  ordered  the  foot  to  quit  that  place  and  march  into  Hol- 
land [to  Spalding] ;  which  they  did  on  Monday  last.1  I  was 
the  rather  induced  so  to  do  because  of  the  Letter  I  received 
from  my  Lord  Willoughby,  a  copy  whereof  I  sent  you. 

"  I  am  now  at  Peterborough,  whither  I  came  this  afternoon. 
I  was  no  sooner  come  but  Lieutenant-Colonel  Wood  sent  me 
word,  from  Spalding,  That  the  Enemy  was  marching,  with 
twelve  flying  colors  of  horse  and  foot,  within  a  mile  of  Swin- 
stead :  so  that  I  hope  it  was  a  good  providence  of  God  that 
our  foot  were  at  Spalding. 

"  It  much  concerns  your  Association,  and  the  Kingdom,  that 
so  strong  a  place  as  Holland  is  be  not  possessed  by  them.  If 
you  have  any  foot  ready  to  march,  send  them  away  to  us  with 
all  speed.  I  fear  lest  the  Enemy  should  press  in  upon  our 
foot :  —  he  being  thus  far  advanced  towards  you,  I  hold  it  very 
fit  that  you  should  hasten  your  horse  at  Huntingdon,  and  whut 
you  can  speedily  raise  at  Cambridge,  unto  me.  I  dare  not  go 
into  Holland  with  my  horse,  lest  the  enemy  should  advance 
with  his  whole  body  of  horse,  this  way,  into  your  Association ; 
but  remain  ready  here,  endeavoring8  my  Lord  Grey's  and 
the  Northamptonshire  horse  towards  me  ;  that  so,  if  we  be  able, 
we  may  fight  the  enemy,  or  retreat  unto  you,  with  our  whole 
strength.  I  beseech  you  hasten  your  levies,  what  you  can; 

1  Y««t«rdajr.  J  "but  ain  ready  vudoavoring,"  in  urig. 


158  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  8  August, 

especially  those  of  foot!  Quicken  all  our  friends  with  new 
letters  upon  this  occasion  j  —  which  I  believe  you  will  find  to 
be  a  true  alarm.  The  particulars  I  hope  to  be  able  to  inform 
you  speedily  of,  more  punctually ;  having  sent,  in  all  haste, 
to  Colonel  Wood  for  that  purpose. 

"  The  money  I  brought  with  me  is  so  poor  a  pittance  when 
it  comes  to  be  distributed  amongst  all  my  troops  that,  consider- 
ing their  necessity,  —  it  will  not  half  clothe  them,  they  were  so 
far  behind,  —  if  we  have  not  more  money  speedily,  they  will 
be  exceedingly  discouraged.  I  am  sorry  you  put  me  to  it  to 
write  thus  often.  It  makes  it  seem  a  needless  importunity  in 
me ;  whereas,  in  truth,  it  is  a  constant  neglect  of  those  that 
should  provide  for  us.  Gentlemen,  make  them  able  to  live 
and  subsist  that  are  willing  to  spend  their  blood  for  you  !  —  I 
say  no  more ;  but  rest, 

"Your  faithful  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  1 

Sir  William  Waller,  whonr  some  called  William  the  Con- 
queror, has  been  beaten  all  to  pieces  on  Lansdown  Heath, 
about  three  weeks  ago.  The  Fairfaxes  too  are  beaten  from 
the  field  ;  glad  to  get  into  Hull,  —  which  Hotham  the  Traitor 
was  about  delivering  to  her  Majesty,  when  vigilant  persons 
laid  him  fast.2  And,  in  the  end  of  May,  Earl  Stamford  wa.s 
defeated  in  the  Southwest ;  and  now  Bristol  has  been  sud- 
denly surrendered  to  Prince  Rupert,  —  for  which  let  Colonel 
Nathaniel  Fiennes  (says  Mr.  Prynne,  still  very  zealous)  be 
tried  by  Court-Martial,  and  if  possible,  shot. 

1  Fairfax  Correspondence,  iii.  58. 

2  Of  Hotham  :  29th  June,  1643  (Rushworth,  v.  275,  276) ;  —  of  the  Fairfaxes, 
at  Adderton  Moor:  30th  June  (ib.  279);  —  of  Waller:  13th  July  (ib.  285; 
Clarendon,  ii.  376-379).     Stratton  Fight  in  Cornwall,  defeat  of  Stamford  by 
Hopton,  was  16th  May ;  Bristol  is  22d  July  (Rushworth,  v.  271,  284). 


1643. 


LETTERS  XVI.-XVIL  159 


LETTERS  XVI.-XVIL 

IN  the  very  hours  while  Cromwell  was  storming  the  sand- 
hill near  Gainsborough  "  by  some  tracks,"  honorable  gentle- 
men at  St.  Stephen's  were  voting  him  Governor  of  the  Isle 
of  Ely.  Ely  in  the  heart  of  the  Fens,  a  place  of  great  mili- 
tary capabilities,  is  much  troubled  with  "  corrupt  ministers," 
with  "  corrupt  trainbands,"  and  understood  to  be  in  a  peril- 
ous state  ;  wherefore  they  nominate  Cromwell  to  take  charge 
of  it.1  We  understand  his  own  Family  to  be  still  resident 
in  Ely. 

The  Parliament  affairs,  this  Summer,  have  taken  a  bad 
course ;  and,  except  it  be  in  the  Eastern  Association,  look 
everywhere  declining.  They  have  lost  Bristol,  their  footing 
in  the  Southwest  and  in  the  North  is  mostly  gone ;  Essex's 
Army  has  melted  away,  without  any  action  of  mark  all  Sum- 
mer, except  the  loss  of  Hainpden  in  a  skirmish.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  August,  the  King  breaks  out  from  Oxford,  very 
clearly  superior  in  force ;  goes  to  settle  Bristol ;  and  might 
thence,  it  was  supposed,  have  marched  direct  to  London,  if 
he  had  liked.  He  decides  on  taking  Gloucester  with  him  be- 
fore he  quit  those  parts.  The  Parliament,  in  much  extremity, 
calls  upon  the  Scots  for  help;  who,  under  conditions,  will 
consent. 

In  these  circumstances,  it  was  rather  thought  a  piece  of 
heroism  in  our  old  friend  Lord  Kinibolton,  or  Mandevil,  now 
In  I'oine  Earl  of  Manchester,  to  accept  the  command  of  the 
Eastern  Association  :  he  is  nominated  "  Sergeant-Major  of  the 
Associated  Counties,"  10th  August,  1643;  is  to  raise  new  force, 
infantry  and  cavalry  ;  has  four  Colonels  of  Horse  under  him; 
Colonel  Cromwt-11,  who  soon  lx>came  his  second  in  command, 
is  one  of  them;  Colonel  Norton,  whom  we  shall  meet  aftor- 

1   Commons  Joumalt,  iii.  186  (of  2ftth  July,  1G4.1)  ;  ih   153,  167,  ISO,  &c.  to 

r.-.7  (••(!,  <M..'.,T,  ir.44). 


160  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  21  August 

wards,  is  another.1  "  The  Associated  Counties  are  busy  list- 
ing," intimates  the  old  Newspaper  j  "  and  so  soon  as  their 
harvest  is  over,  which  for  the  present  much  retardeth  them, 
the  Earl  of  Manchester  will  have  a  very  brave  and  considera- 
ble Army,  to  be  a  terror  to  the  Northern  Papists,"  Newark- 
ers  and  Newcastles,  "  if  they  advance  Southward."  2  When 
specially  it  was  that  Cromwell  listed  his  celebrated  body  of 
Ironsides  is  of  course  not  to  be  dated,  though  some  do  care- 
lessly date  it,  as  from  the  very  "  beginning  of  the  War  ;  "  and 
in  Bates  3  and  others  are  to  be  found  various  romantic  details 
on  the  subject,  which  deserve  no  credit.  Doubtless  Cromwell, 
all  along,  in  the  many  changes  his  body  of  men  underwent, 
had  his  eye  upon  this  object  of  getting  good  soldiers  and  dis- 
missing bad ;  and  managed  the  matter  by  common  practical 
vigilance,  not  by  theatrical  clap-traps  as  Dr.  Bates  represents. 
Some  months  ago,  it  was  said  in  the  Newspapers,  of  Colonel 
Cromwell's  soldiers,  "  not  a  man  swears  but  he  pays  his  twelve- 
pence  : "  no  plundering,  no  drinking,  disorder,  or  impiety 
allowed.4  We  may  fancy,  in  this  new  levy,  as  Manchester's 
Lieutenant  and  Governor  of  Ely,  when  the  whole  force  was 
again  winnowed  and  sifted,  he  might  complete  the  process, 
and  see  his  Thousand  Troopers  ranked  before  him,  worthy  at 
last  of  the  name  of  Ironsides.  They  were  men  that  had  the 
fear  of  God  ;  and  gradually  lost  all  other  fear.  "  Truly  they 
were  never  beaten  at  all,"  says  he.  —  Meanwhile :  — 

1643. 

August  21st.  The  shops  of  London  are  all  shut  for  certain 
days  : 6  Gloucester  is  in  hot  siege ;  nothing  but  the  obdurate 
valor  of  a  few  men  there  prevents  the  King,  with  Prince  Ru- 
pert, called  also  Prince  Robert  and  Prince  Robber,  from  riding 
roughshod  over  us.6  The  City,  with  much  emotion,  ranks  its 

1  Commons  Journals,  iii.  199,  200;  Husbands,  ii.  286,  276-278. 

a  29th  August,  1643,  Cromwelliana,  p.  7.  3  Elenckns  Motnum. 

4  May,  1643,  Cromwelliana,  p.  5.  5  Eushworth,  v.  291. 

6  See  Webb's  BiUiotheca  Gloucestre nsis,  a  Collection  &c.  (Gloucester,  1825), 
or  Corbet's  contemporary  Siege  of  Gloucester  (Somers  Tracts,  v.  296),  which 
forms  the  main  substance  of  Mr.  Webb's  Book. 


1643.  LETTER  XVI.    CAMBRIDGE.  161 

Trained  Bands  under  Essex;  making  up  an  Army  for  him, 
despatches  him  to  relieve  Gloucester.  He  marches  on  the 
2Cth;  steadily  along,  in  spite  of  rainy  weather  and  Prince 
Rupert ;  westward,  westward :  on  the  night  of  the  tenth  day, 
September  5th,  the  Gloucester  people  see  his  signal-fire  flame 
up,  amid  the  dark  rain,  "  on  the  top  of  Presbury  Hill ; "  —  and 
understand  that  they  shall  live  and  not  die.  The  King  "  fired 
his  huts,"  and  marched  off  without  delay.  He  never  again 
had  any  real  chance  of  prevailing  in  this  War.  Essex,  having 
relieved  the  West,  returns  steadily  home  again,  the  King's 
forces  hanging  angrily  on  his  rear ;  at  Newbury  in  Berkshire, 
ne  had  to  turn  round,  and  give  them  battle,  —  First  Newbury 
Battle,  20th  September,  1643,  —  wherein  he  came  off  rather 
superior.1  Poor  Lord  Falkland,  in  his  "clean  shirt,"  was 
killed  here.  This  steady  march,  to  Gloucester  and  back  again, 
by  Essex,  was  the  chief  feat  he  did  during  the  War ;  a  con- 
siderable feat,  and  very  characteristic  of  him,  the  slow-going, 
inarticulate,  indignant,  somewhat  elephantine  man. 

Here,  however,  in  the  interim,  are  some  glimpses  of  the 
Associated  Counties  ;  of  the  "  listing  "  that  now  goes  on  there, 
a  thing  attended  with  its  own  confused  troubles. 

LETTER  XVL 

LETTER  Sixteenth  is  not  dated  at  all ;  but  incidentally  names 
Its  place ;  and  by  the  tenor  of  it  sufficiently  indicates  these 
autumn  days,  first  days  of  September,  as  the  approximate  time. 
"Our  handful,"  to  be  known  by  and  by  as  Ironsides,  they  are 
ready  and  steady ;  but  we  see  what  an  affair  the  listing  of  the 
rest  is :  cash  itself  like  to  be  dreadfully  short ;  men  difficult 
to  raise,  worth  little  when  raised ;  —  add  seizure  of  Malig- 
nant neighbors'  horses,  proclamations,  reclamations,  and  the 
Lawyers'  tongues,  and  all  men's,  everywhere  set  wagging! 
Sprint'  ;ind  Harrow  are  leading  Suffolk  Committee-men,  whom 
we  shall  see  again  in  that  rapacity.  Of  Captain  Margery,  else- 
where than  in  that  Suffolk  Troop  now  mustering,  I  know 

l  Clarendon,  ii.  460;  Whitlot-ke,  p.  70. 
TOI.    XTII.  11 


162  PART  II.    FIRST    CIVIL   WAR.  September, 

nothing ;  but  Colonel  Cromwell  knows  him,  can  recommend 
him  as  a  man  worth  something :  if  Margery,  to  mount  himself 
in  this  pressure,  could  "  raise  the  horses  from  Malignants/'  in 
some  measure,  —  were  it  not  well  ? 

"  To  my  noble  Friends,  Sir  William  Spring,  Knight  and  Baro- 
net, and  Maurice  Barrow,  Esquire:  Present  these. 

[CAMBRIDGE,  —  September,  1643.] 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  I  have  been  now  two  days  at  Cambridge, 
in  expectation  to  hear  the  fruit  of  your  endeavors  in  Suffolk 
towards  the  public  assistance.  Believe  it,  you  will  hear  of  a 
storm  in  few  days !  You  have  no  Infantry  at  all  considerable ; 
hasten  your  Horses  ;  — a  few  hours  may  undo  you,  neglected. 
—  I  beseech  you  be  careful  what  Captains  of  Horse  you  choose, 
what  men  be  mounted  :  a  few  honest  men  are  better  than  num- 
bers. Some  time  they  must  have  for  exercise.  If  you  choose 
godly  honest  men  to  be  Captains  of  Horse,  honest  men  will 
follow  them ;  and  they  will  be  careful  to  mount  such. 

"The  King  is  exceedingly  strong  in  the  West.  If  you  be 
able  to  foil  a  force  at  the  first  coming  of  it,  you  will  have  repu- 
tation ;  and  that  is  of  great  advantage  in  our  affairs.  God 
hath  given  it  to  our  handful ;  let  us  endeavor  to  keep  it.  I 
had  rather  have  a  plain  russet-coated  Captain  that  knows  what 
he  fights  for,  and  loves  what  he  knows,  than  that  which  you 
call  '  a  Gentleman '  and  is  nothing  else.  I  honor  a  Gentleman 
that  is  so  indeed  !  — 

"  I  understand  Mr.  Margery  hath  honest  men  will  follow 
him :  if  so,  be  pleased  to  make  use  of  him ;  it  much  concerns 
your  good  to  have  conscientious  men.  I  understand  that  there 
is  an  Order  for  me  to  have  £3,000  out  of  the  Association ;  and 
Essex  hath  sent  their  part,  or  near  it.  I  assure  you  we  need 
exceedingly.  I  hope  to  find  your  favor  and  respect.  I  pro- 
test, if  it  were  for  myself,  I  would  not  move  you.  That  is 
all,  from 

u  Your  faithful  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

'.'P.S.  If  you  send  such  men  as  Essex  hath  sent,  it  will  be 
to  little  purpose.  Be  pleased  to  take  care  of  their  march ;  and 


1643.          LETTER  XVII.    EASTERN  ASSOCIATION.         163 

that  such  .may  come  along  with  them  as  will  be  able  to  bring 
them  to  the  main  Body ;  and  then  I  doubt  not  but  we  shall 
keep  them,  and  make  good  use  of  them  —  I  beseech  you,  give 
countenance  to  Mr.  Margery !  Help  him  in  raising  his  Troop ; 
let  him  not  want  your  favor  in  whatsoever  is  needful  for  pro- 
moting this  work ;  —  and  command  your  servant.  If  he  can 
raise  the  horses  from  Malignants,  let  him  have  your  warrant : 
it  will  be  of  special  service." l 


LETTER  XVIL 

LISTING  still ;  and  with  more  trouble  than  ever.  Matters 
go  not  well :  "  Nobody  to  put  on,"  nobody  to  push ;  cash  too  is 
and  remains  defective:  — here,  however,  is  another  glimpse  of 
the  Ironsides,  first  specific  glimpse,  which  is  something. 

"  To  my  honored  Friend  Oliver  St.  John,  Esquire,  at  Lincoln's 
Inn:  These  present. 
"[EASTERN  ASSOCIATION],  llth  Sept.  [1643]. 

*  SIB,  —  Of  all  men  I  should  not  trouble  you  with  money 
matters,  —  did  not  the  heavy  necessities  my  Troops  are  in, 
press  me  beyond  measure.  I  am  neglected  exceedingly ! 

"  I  am  now  ready  for  a  my  march  towards  the  Enemy ;  who 
luith  entrenched  himself  over  against  Hull,  my  Lord  Newcastle 
having  besieged  the  Town.  Many  of  my  Lord  of  Manchester's 
Troops  are  come  to  me  :  very  bad  and  mutinous,  not  to  be  con' 
iided  in  ;  —  they  paid  to  a  week  almost;  mine  noways  proided 
for  to  support  them,  except  by  the  poor  Sequestrations  o^  the 
County  of  Huntingdon!  —  My  Troops  increase.  I  h&ve  a 
lovely  company  ;  you  would  respect  them,  did  you  know  ihcm. 
They  are  no  '  Anabaptists ; '  they  are  honest  sober  Christians ' 
—  they  expect  to  be  used  as  men  1 

"  If  I  took  pleasure  to  write  to  the  House  in  bitterness, 

1  Original  iu  tbe  pmwesxion  of  Pawson  Turner,  E.*q.,  Great  Yarmouth ; 
printed  iu  I'ajHT-n.f  \..rf<>lk  ArchBologiral  Society  (Norwich,  January,  1848^ 
1  "  upon  "  crossed  out  :t-»  :iml  I/IIOIH  ;  "  ready  for  "  written  over  it. 


164  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  n  Sept 

I  have  occasion.  [Of]  the  £3,000  allotted  me,  I  cannot  got 
the  Norfolk  part  nor  the  Hertfordshire :  it  was  gone  before  I 
had  it.  —  I  have  minded  your  service  to  forgetfulness  of  my 
own  and  Soldiers'  necessities.  I  desire  not  to  seek  myself:  — 
[but]  I  have  little  money  of  my  own  to  help  my  Soldiers, 
My  estate  is  little.  I  tell  you,  the  business  of  Ireland  and 
England  hath  had  of  me,  in  money,  between  eleven  and 
twelve  hundred  pounds;  —  therefore  my  Private  can  do  little 
to  help  the  Public.  You  have  had  my  money :  I  hope  in  God 
I  desire  to  venture  my  skin.  So  do  mine.  Lay  weight  upon 
their  patience ;  but  break  it  not !  Think  of  that  which  may 
be  a  real  help.  I  believe  £5,000 l  is  due. 

"If  you  lay  aside  the  thought  of  me  and  my  Letter,  I 
expect  no  help.  Pray  for 

"  Your  true  friend  and  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"[P.S.]  There  is  no  care  taken  how  to  maintain  that  Force 
of  Horse  and  Foot  raised  and  a-raising  for  my  Lord  of  Man- 
chester. He  hath  not  "one  able  to  put  on  [that  business]. 
The  Force  will  fall  if  some  help  not.  Weak  counsels  and 
weak  actings  undo  all !  —  [two  words  crossed  out}  :  —  all  will 
be  lost,  if  God  help  not !  Remember  who  tells  you." a 

In  Lynn  Kegis  there  arose  "  distractions,"  last  Spring ;  dis- 
tractions ripening  into  open  treason,  and  the  seizure  of  Lynn 
by  Malignant  forces,  —  Roger  L'Estrange,  known  afterwards 
as  Sir  Roger  the  busy  Pamphleteer,  being  very  active  in  it. 
Lynn  lies  strong  amid  its  marshes ;  a  gangrene  in  the  heart 
of  the  Association  itself.  My  Lord  of  Manchester  is  now, 
with  all  the  regular  Foot,  and  what  utmost  effort  of  volun- 
teers the  Country  can  make,  besieging  Lynn,  does  get  it,  at 
last,  in  a  week  hence.  Ten  days  hence  the  Battle  of  Newbury 
is  got ;  and  much  joy  for  Gloucester  and  it.  But  here  in  the 
Association,  with  such  a  weight  of  enemies  upon  us,  and  such 

1  Erased,  as  not  the  correct  sum. 

"  Additional  Ayscough  MSS.  5015,  art.  25  :  printed,  with  some  errors,  in 
Annual  Register,  xxxv.  358 


W43.  LETTER  XVm.    HOLLAND.  LINCOLNSHIRE.    165 

a  stagnancy  and    staggering  want  of  pith  within   us,  things 
still  look  extremely  questionable  !  — 

Monday,  25th  September.  The  House  of  Commons  and  the 
Assembly  of  Divines  take  the  Covenant,  the  old  Scotch  Cove- 
nant, slightly  modified  now  into  a  "  Solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant ; "  in  St.  Margaret's  Church,  Westminster.1  They  lifted 
up  their  hands  seriatim,  and  then  "  stept  into  the  chancel  to 
sign."  The  List  yet  remains  in  Rushworth, —  incorrect  in 
some  places.  There  sign  in  all  about  220  Honorable  Members 
that  day.  The  whole  Parliamentary  Party,  down  to  the  low- 
est constable  or  drummer  in  their  pay,  gradually  signed.  It 
was  the  condition  of  assistance  from  the  Scotch ;  who  are  now 
calling  out  "  all  fencible  men  from  sixteen  to  sixty,"  for  a 
third  expedition  into  England.  A  very  solemn  Covenant,  and 
Vow  of  all  the  People ;  of  the  awfulness  of  which,  we,  in 
these  days  of  Custom-house  oaths  and  loose  regardless  talk, 
cannot  form  the  smallest  notion.  —  Duke  Hamilton,  seeing  his 
painful  Scotch  diplomacy  end  all  in  this  way,  flies  to  the  King 
;ii  i  txford,  —  is  there  "  put  under  arrest,"  sent  to  Pendenuis 
Castle  near  the  Land's  End.* 


LETTER 

IN  Rushworth's  List  of  Members  covenanting  in  St.  Marga- 
ret's Church  on  Monday,  September  25th,  the  name  of  Oliver 
Cromwell  stands  visible :  but  it  is  an  error ;  as  this  Letter  and 
other  good  evidences  still  remain  to  show.  Indeed  some  sin- 
gular oseitancy  must  have  overtaken  the  watchful  Rushworth, 
on  that  occasion  of  the  Covenant ;  or  what  is  likelier,  some 
inextricable  shuffle  had  got  among  his  Paj>er-masses  there, 
wh.-n  In-  i -a  me  to  redact  them  Ion-,'  after, —  the  indefatigable 
painful  man!  Thus  he  says  furthermore,  and  again  says,  the 
signing  took  place  "on  September  2Jd,"  which  was  Friday; 

1   Common*  Jtmnuils,  iii.  2.VJ-2S4  ;   Rashworth  (incorn><  t  in  various  particu- 
law,  —  unusual  with  Kinhworth),  v   475,  4HO ;  the  Covenant  itself,  ib.  478. 
*  Unmet,  Memoirs  of  the  Dukei  oj  Hamilton. 


106  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  28  Sept. 

whereas  the  Rhadamanthine  Commons  Journals  still  testify, 
that  on  Friday,  September  22d,  there  was  merely  order  and 
appointment  made  to  sign  on  the  25th ;  and  that  the  signing 
itself  took  place,  accordingly,  on  Monday,  September  25th,  as 
we  have  given  it.  With  other  errors,  — incident  to  the  exact- 
est  Rush  worth,  when  his  Paper-masses  get  shuffled  !  —  Here 
is  another  entry  of  his,  confirmable  beyond  disputing ;  which 
is  of  itself  fatal  to  that  of  "  Oliver  Cromwell  "  among  " those 
who  signed  the  Covenant  that  day."  Oliver  Cromwell  had 
quite  other  work  to  do  than  signing  of  Covenants,  many  miles 
away  from  him  just  now ;  and  indeed,  I  guess,  did  not  sign 
this  one  for  many  days  and  weeks  to  come;  not 'till  he  got  to 
his  place  in  Parliament  again,  with  more  leisure  on  his  hands 
than  now. 

Tuesday,  "26th  September.  The  Lord  Willoughby  "  of  Par- 
ham  "and  Colonel  Cromwell  came  to  Hull,  to  consult  with 
the  Lord  Fairfax ;  but  made  no  stay :  and  the  same  day,  Sir 
Thomas  Fairfax  crossed  Humber  with  Twenty  Troops  of 
Horse,  to  join  with  Cromwell's  forces  in  Lincolnshire."  *  For 
the  Marquis  of  Newcastle  is  begirdliug,  and  ever  more  closely 
besieging,  the  Lord  Fairfax  in  Hull ;  which  has  obliged  him 
to  ship  his  brave  Son,  with  all  the  horse,  across  the  Humber, 
in  this  manner :  horse  are  useless  here ;  under  the  Earl  of 
Manchester,  on  the  other  side,  they  may  be  of  use. 

The  landing  took  place  at  Saltfleet  that  same  afternoon,  say 
the  Newspapers :  here  now  is  what  followed  thereupon,  — 
successful  though  rather  dangerous  march  into  the  safe  parts 
of  Lincolnshire,  and  continuance  of  the  drillings,  fightings, 
and  enlistments  there.  Committee-men  "  Spring  and  Barrow  " 
are  known  to  us ;  of  Margery  and  "  the  Malignants'  horses  " 
we  have  also  had  some  inkling  once. 

"  To  his  honored  Friends,  Sir  William  Spring  and  Mr.  Barrow: 

These  present. 

"  [HOLLAND,  LINCOLNSHIRE,]  28th  Sept.  1643. 

"GENTLEMEN,  —  It  hath  pleased  God  to  bring  off  Sir 
Thomas  Fairfax  his  Horse  over  the  river  from  Hull,  being 

1  Rushworth,  v.  280. 


LETTER  XVTII.    HOLLAND,    LINCOLNSHIRE.      167 

about  One-and-twenty  Troops  of  Horse  and  Dragoons.  The 
Lincolnshire  horse  labored  to  hinder  this  work,  being  about 
Thirty-four  Colors  of  Horse  and  Dragoons  ;  we  marched  up  to 
their  landing  place,  and  the  Lincolnshire  Horse  retreated. 

"  After  they  were  come  over,  we  all  marched  towards  Hol- 
land ;  and  when  we  came  to  our  last  quarter  upon  the  edge  of 
Holland,  the  Enemy  quartered  within  four  miles  of  us,  and 
kept  the  field  all  night  with  his  whole  body :  his  iutendment, 
as  we  conceive,  was  to  fight  us ;  —  or  hoping  to  interpose 
betwixt  us  and  our  retreat;  having  received,  to  his  Thirty- 
four  Colors  of  Horse,  Twenty  fresh  Troops,  Ten  Companies 
of  Dragoons ; *  and  about  a  Thousand  Foot,  being  General 
King's  own  Kegiment.  With  these  he  attempted  our  guards 
and  our  quarters ;  and,  if  God  had  not  been  merciful,  had 
ruined  us  before  we  had  known  of  it ;  the  Five  Troops  we  set 
to  keep  the  watch  failing  much  of  their  duty.  But  we  got  to 
horse ;  and  retreated  in  good  order,  with  the  safety  of  all  our 
Horse  of  the  Association ;  not  losing  four  of  them  that  I  hear 
of,  and  we  got  five  of  theirs.  And  for  this  we  are  exceedingly 
bound  to  the  goodness  of  God,  who  brought  our  troops  off 
with  so  little  loss. 

"  I  write  unto  you  to  acquaint  you  with  this ;  the  rather 
that  God  may  be  acknowledged ;  and  that  you  may  help  for- 
ward, in  sending  such  force  away  unto  us  as  lie  unprofitably 
in  your  country.  And  especially  that  Troop  of  Captain  Mar 
gery's,  which  surely  would  *  not  be  wauting,  now  we  so  muck 
need  it ! 

"  I  hear  there  hath  been  much  exception  taken  to  Captain 
Margery  and  his  Officers,  for  taking  of  horses.  I  am  sorry 
\  "ti  should  discountenance  those  who  (not  to  make  benefit  to 
f  Sii-inselves,  but  to  serve  their  Country)  are  willing  to  venture 
their  lives,  and  to  purchase  to  themselves  the  displeasure  of 
bad  men,  that  they  may  do  a  I'ulilic  benefit.  I  undertake  not 
to  justify  all  Captain  Margery's  actions:  but  his  own  con- 
science knows  whether  he  hath  taken  the  horses  of  any  but 
Malignants; —  and  it  were  somewhat  too  hard  to  put  it  upon 
the  consciences  of  your  fellow  Deputy  Lieutenants,  whether 
1  \Vw*d  torn. 


168  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  28  Sept 

they  have  not  freed  the  horses  of  known  Malignants  ?  A 
fault  not  less,  considering  the  sad  estate  of  this  Kingdom, 
than  to  take  a  horse  from  a  known  Honest  man ;  the  offence 
being  against  the  Public,  which  is  a  considerable  aggravation  ! 
I  know  not  the  measure  every  one  takes  of  Malignants.  I 
think  it  is  not  fit  Captain  Margery  should  be  the  judge  .  but 
if  he,  in  this  taking  of  horses,  hath  observed  the  plain  char 
acter  of  a  Malignant,  and  cannot  be  charged  for  one  horse 
otherwise  taken,  —  it  had  been  better  that  some  of  the  bitter- 
ness wherewith  he  and  his  have  been  followed  had  been  spared ! 
The  horses  that  his  Cornet 1  Boulry  took,  he  will  put  himself 
upon  that  issue  for  them  all. 

"  If  these  men  be  accounted  '  troublesome  to  the  Country/ 
I  shall  be  glad  you  would  send  them  all  to  me.  I  '11  bid  them 
welcome.  And  when  they  have  fought  for  you,  and  endured 
some  other  difficulties  of  war  which  your  '  honester  '  men  will 
hardly  bear,  I  pray  you  then  let  them  go  for  honest  men  !  I 
protest  unto  you,  many  of  those  men  which  are  of  your  Coun- 
try's choosing,  under  Captain  Johnson,  are  so  far  from  serving 
you,  that,  —  were  it  not  that  I  have  honest  Troops  to  master 
them,  — although  they  be  well  paid,  yet  they  are  so  mutinous 
that  I  may  justly  fear  they  would  cut  my  throat !  —  Gentle- 
men, it  may  be  it  provokes  some  spirits  to  see  such  plain  men 
made  Captains  of  Horse.  It  had  been  well  that  men  of  honor 
and  birth  had  entered  into  these  employments  :  —  but  why  do 
they  not  appear  ?  Who  would  have  hindered  them  ?  But  see- 
ing it  was  necessary  the  work  must  go  on,  better  plain  men 
than  none  ;  —  but  best  to  have  men  patient  of  wants,  faithful 
and  conscientious  in  their  employment.  And  such,  I  hope, 
these  will  approve  themselves  to  be.  Let  them  therefore,  if 
I  be  thought  worthy  of  any  favor,  leave  your  Country  with 
your  good  wishes  and  a  blessing.  I  am  confident  they 2  will 
be  well  bestowed.  And  I  believe  before  it  be  long,  you 
will  be  in  their  debt;  and  then  it  will  not  be  hard  to  quit 
scores. 

"  What  arms  you  can  furnish  them  withal,  I  beseech  you  do 
it.  I  have  hitherto  found  your  kindness  great  to  me  :  —  I 

1  "  Coronett "  in  orig.  2  your  wishes. 


1643.     LETTER  XVIII.    HOLLAND,  LINCOLNSHIRE.         169 

know  not  what  I  have  done  to  lose  it ;  I  love  it  so  well,  and 
prize  it  so  high,  that  I  would  do  my  best  to  gain  more.  You 
have  the  assured  affection  of 

"  Your  most  humble  and  faithful  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"P.S. —  I  understand  there  were  some  exceptions  taken  at  a 
Horse  that  was  sent  to  me,  which  was  seized  out  of  the  hands 
of  one  Mr.  Goldsmith  of  Wilby.  If  he  be  not  by  you  judged 
a  Malignant,  and  that  you  do  not  approve  of  my  having  of  the 
Horse,  I  shall  as  willingly  return  him  again  as  you  shall  desire. 
And  therefore,  I  pray  you,  signify  your  pleasure  to  me  herein 
under  your  hands.  Not  that  I  would,  for  ten  thousand  horses, 
have  the  Horse  to  my  own  private  benefit,  saving  to  make  use 
of  him  for  the  Public  :  —  for  I  will  most  gladly  return  the 
value  of  him  to  the  State.  If  the  Gentleman  stand  clear  in 
your  judgments,  —  I  beg  it  as  a  special  favor  that,  if  the  Gen- 
tleman be  freely  willing  to  let  me  have  him  for  my  money,  let 
him  set  his  own  price :  I  shall  very  justly  return  him  the 
money.  Or  if  he  be  unwilling  to  part  with  him,  but  keeps 
him  for  his  own  pleasure,  be  pleased  to  send  me  an  answer 
thereof :  I  shall  instantly  return  him  his  Horse ;  and  do  it 
with  a  great  deal  more  satisfaction  to  myself  than  keep  him.  — 
Therefore  I  beg  it  of  you  to  satisfy  my  desire  in  this  last  re- 
quest ;  it  shall  exceedingly  oblige  me  to  you.  If  you  do  it  not, 
I  shall  rest  very  unsatisfied,  and  the  Horse  will  be  a  burden  to 
ine  so  long  as  I  shall  keep  him."  l 

The  Earl  of  Manchester,  recaptor  of  Lynn  Regis  lately,  is 
still  besieging  and  retaking  certain  minor  strengths  and  Fen 
i^irrisons,  —  sweeping  the  intrusive  Royalists  out  of  those 
Southern  Towns  of  Lincolnshire.  This  once  done,  his  Foot 
once  joined  to  Cromwell's  and  Fairfax's  Horse,  something  may 
be  expected  in  the  Midland  parts  too. 

1  Original  in  tliu  |>u«tMx»ion  of  Dawaoo  Tomer,  Esq.,  Great  Yarmouth ; 
printed  in  Papt-rs  of  Norfolk  Archaeological  Society  (Norwich,  January, 
ItUtf). 


170  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  1644. 


WINCEBY  FIGHT. 

LINCOLNSHIRE,  which  has  now  become  one  of  the  Associated 
Seven,1  and  is  still  much  overrun  by  Newarkers  and  Northern 
Papists,  shall  at  last  be  delivered. 

Hull  siege  still  continues,  with  obstinate  sally  and  onslaught ; 
on  the  other  hand,  Lynn  siege,  which  the  Earl  of  Manchester 
was  busy  in,  has  prosperously  ended;  and  the  Earl  himself, 
with  his  foot  regiments,  is  now  also  here ;  united,  in  loose 
quarters,  with  Cromwell  and  Fairfax,  in  the  Boston  region, 
and  able  probably  to  undertake  somewhat.  Cromwell  and 
Fairfax  with  the  horse,  we  perceive,  have  still  the  brunt  of  the 
work  to  do.  Here,  after  much  marching  and  skirmishing,  is 
an  account  of  Winceby  Fight,  their  chief  exploit  in  those 
parts,  which  cleared  the  country  of  the  Newarkers,  General 
Kings,  and  renegade  Sir  John  Hendersons ;  —  as  recorded  by 
loud-spoken  Vicars.  In  spite  of  brevity  we  must  copy  the 
Narrative.  Cromwell  himself  was  nearer  death  in  this  action 
than  ever  in  any  other ;  the  victory  too  made  its  due  figure, 
and  "  appeared  in  the  world." 

Winceby,  a  small  upland  Hamlet,  in  the  Wolds,  not  among 
the  Fens,  of  Lincolnshire,  is  some  five  miles  west  of  Horn- 
castle.  The  confused  memory  of  this  Fight  is  still  fresh  there ; 
the  Lane  along  which  the  chase  went  bears  ever  since  the  name 
of  "  Slash  Lane,"  and  poor  Tradition  maunders  about  it  as  she 
can.  Hear  Vicars,  a  poor  human  soul  zealously  prophesying 
as  if  through  the  organs  of  an  ass,  —  in  a  not  mendacious,  yet 
loud-spoken,  exaggerative,  more  or  less  asinine  manner : 2  — 

1  20th  September,  1643,  Husbands,  ii.  327. 

2  Third  form  of  Vicars  :   God's  Ark  overtopping   the  World's  Waves,  or  the 
Third  Part  of  the  Parliamentary  Chronicle :  by  John  Vicars  (London,  printed 
by  M.  Simons  and  J.   Meecock,   1646),  p.  45.     There  are  three  editions  or 
successive  forms  of  this  Book  of  Vicars's  (see  Bliss's  Wood,  tn  voce)  :  it  is 
always,  unless  the  contrary  be  expressed,  the  second  (of  1644)  that  we  refer  to 
here. 


1643.  WIM'tBY   FIGHT.  171 

.  .  .  "All  that  night,"  Tuesday,  10th  October,  1643,  "we 
were  drawing  our  horse  to  the  appointed  rendezvous ;  and  the 
next  morning,  being  Wednesday,  iny  Lord  "  Manchester  "gave 
order  that  the  whole  force,  both  horse  and  foot,  should  be 
drawn  up  to  Bolingbroke  Hill,  where  he  would  expect  the 
enemy,  being  the  only  convenient  ground  to  fight  with  him. 
But  Colonel  Cromwell  was  no  way  satisfied  that  we  should 
fight ;  our  horse  being  extremely  wearied  with  hard  duty  two 
or  three  days  together. 

"  The  enemy  also  drew,  that "  Wednesday  "  morning,  their 
whole  body  of  horse  and  dragooners  into  the  field,  being  74 
colors  of  horse,  and  21  colors  of  dragoons,  in  all  95  colors.  We 
had  not  many  more  than  half  so  many  colors  of  horse  and 
dragooners ;  but  I  believe  we  had  as  many  men,  —  besides  our 
foot,  which  indeed  could  not  be  drawn  up  until  it  was  very 
late.  The  enemy's  word  was  'Cavendish;'"  —  he  that  was 
killed  in  the  Bog ;  "  and  ours  was  '  Religion.'  I  believe  that 
as  we  had  no  notice  of  the  enemy's  coming  towards  us,  so  they 
had  as  little  of  our  preparation  to  fight  with  them.  It  was 
about  twelve  of  the  clock  ere  our  horse  and  dragooners  were 
drawn  up.  After  that  we  marched  about  a  mile  nearer  the 
enemy ;  and  then  we  began  to  descry  him,  by  little  and  little, 
coming  towards  us.  Until  this  time  we  did  not  know  we 
should  fight ;  but  so  soon  as  our  men  had  knowledge  of  the 
enemy's  coming,  they  were  very  full  of  joy  and  resolution, 
thinking  it  a  great  mercy  that  they  should  now  fight  with  him. 
<  >ur  men  went  on  in  several  bodies,  singing  Psalms.  Quarter- 
master-General Vermuyden  with  five  troops  had  the  forlorn 
ho|*-,  and  Colonel  Cromwell  the  van,  assisted  with  other  of  my 
Lord's  troops,  and  seconded  by  Sir  T.  Fairfax.  Both  armies 
about  Ixbie,  if  I  mistake  not  the  Town's  name,"  —  you 
do  mistake.  Mr.  Vicars ;  it  is  Wiuceby,  a  mere  hamlet  and  not 
a  town. 

••  I'.oth  they  and  we  1m. 1  dia\vn  up  our  dragooners ;  who  gave 
the  first  charge;  and  thru  the  horse  fell  in.  Colonel  Cromwell 
f«-ll  with  brave  resolution  141011  the  enemy,  immediately  after 
their  dragoonurs  had  given  him  the  first  volley;  yet  they 
Were  so  nimble,  as  that,  within  half  pistol-shot,  they  gave  him 


172  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  n  Oct.  1643. 

another :  his  horse  was  killed  under  him  at  the  first  charge, 
and  fell  down  upon  him ;  and  as  he  rose  up,  he  was  knocked 
down  again  by  the  Gentleman  who  charged  him,  who  't  was 
conceived  was  Sir  Ingram  Hopton :  but  afterwards  he  "  the 
Colonel  "recovered  a  poor  horse  in  a  soldier's  hands,  and 
bravely  mounted  himself  again.  Truly  this  first  charge  was 
so  home-given,  and  performed  with  so  much  admirable  courage 
and  resolution  by  our  troops,  that  the  enemy  stood  not  another ; 
but  were  driven  back  upon  their  own  body,  which  was  to  have 
seconded  them ;  and  at  last  put  these  into  a  plain  disorder ; 
and  thus,  in  less  than  half  an  hour's  fight,  they  were  all  quite 
routed,  and "  —  driven  along  Slash  Lane  at  a  terrible  rate,  un- 
necessary to  specify.  Sir  Ingram  Hopton,  who  had  been  so 
near  killing  Cromwell,  was  himself  killed.  "  Above  a  hundred 
of  their  men  were  found  drowned  in  ditches,"  in  quagmires 
that  would  not  bear  riding ;  the  "  dragooners  now  left  on  foot " 
were  taken  prisoners  ;  the  chase  lasted  to  Horncastle  or  beyond 
it,  —  and  Henderson  the  renegade  Scot  was  never  heard  of  in 
those  parts  more.  My  Lord  of  Manchester's  foot  did  not  get 
up  till  the  battle  was  over. 

This  very  day  of  Winceby  Fight,  there  has  gone  on  at  Hull 
a  universal  sally,  tough  sullen  wrestle  in  the  trenches  all  day ; 
with  important  loss  to  the  Marquis  of  Newcastle ;  loss  of 
ground,  loss  of  lives,  loss  still  more  of  invaluable  guns,  brass 
drakes,  sackers,  what  not :  —  and  on  the  morrow  morning  the 
Townsfolk,  looking  out,  discern  with  emotion  that  there  is  now 
no  Marquis,  that  the  Marquis  has  marched  away  under  cloud 
of  night,  and  given  up  the  siege.  Which  surely  are  good 
encouragements  we  have  had ;  two  in  one  day. 

This  will  suffice  for  Winceby  Fight,  or  Horncastle  Fight,  of 
llth  October,  1643 ;  *  and  leave  the  reader  to  imagine  that 
Lincolnshire  too  was  now  cleared  of  the  "  Papist  Army,"  as  we 
violently  nickname  it,  —  all  but  a  few  Towns  on  the  Western 
border,  which  will  be  successfully  besieged  when  the  Spring 
comes. 

1  Account  of  it  from  the  other  side,  in  Rushworth,  v.  282 ;  Hull  Siege,  Ac. 
ib.  280. 


1644.  LETTERS   X1X.-XX.  173 


LETTERS  XIX.-XX. 

IN  the  month  of  January,  1643-4,  Oliver,  as  Governor  of 
Ely,  is  present  for  some  time  in  that  City  ;  lodges,  we  suppose, 
with  his  own  family  there  ;  doing  military  and  other  work  of 
government :  —  makes  a  transient  appearance  in  the  Cathedral 
one  day ;  memorable  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Hitch  and  us. 

The  case  was  this.  Parliament,  which,  ever  since  the  first 
meeting  of  it,  had  shown  a  marked  disaffection  to  Surplices  at 
Allhallowtide  and  "  monuments  of  Superstition  and  Idolatry," 
and  passed  Order  after  Order  to  put  them  down,  — has  in 
August  last  come  to  a  decisive  Act  on  the  subject,  and  specifi- 
cally explained  that  go  they  must  and  shall.1  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment which,  like  the  previous  Orders  of  Parliament,  could 
only  have  gradual  partial  execution,  according  to  the  humor 
of  the  locality ;  and  gave  rise  to  scenes.  By  the  Parliament's 
directions,  the  Priest,  Churchwardens,  and  proper  officers  were 
to  do  it,  with  all  decency :  failing  the  proper  officers,  improper 
officers,  military  men  passing  through  the  place,  these  and 
such  like,  backed  by  a  Puritan  populace  and  a  Puritan  soldiery, 
had  to  do  it ;  —  not  always  in  the  softest  manner.  As  many 
a  Querela,  Peter  Heylin's  (lying  Peter's)  History,  and  Perse- 
cutio  Untlecima,  still  testifies  with  angry  tears.  You  cannot 
pull  the  shirt  off  a  man,  the  skin  off  a  man,  in  a  way  that  will 
please  him  !  —  Our  Assembly  of  Divines,  sitting  earnestly 
deliberative  ever  since  June  last,2  will  direct  us  what  Form  of 
Worship  we  are  to  adopt,  —  some  form,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  not 
gm\vn  dramaturgic  to  us,  but  still  awfully  symbolic  for  us. 

1  28th  Anpnst,  lf.4.3  (Scuh«ll,  i.  53  ;   Commons  Journals,  Hi.  220) :  2d  NoTem- 
'•.inmrms  Journals,  uml  Hiis>i:iinls,  ii.  119) :  31st  August,  1641  ;  23d 
January,  1641  (Commons  Journals,  in  die-bus). 

*  Bill  for  convocation  of  them,  read  a  third  time,  6th  January,  1642-3 
•inns  Journals,  ii.  916);  Act  iUelf,  with   the  Names,   13th   June,  1643 
il,  i.  42-44). 


174  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  10  Jan. 

Meanwhile  let  all  Churches,  especially  all  Cathedrals,  be  stript 
of  whatever  the  general  soul  so  much  as  suspects  to  be  stage- 
property  and  prayer  by  machinery,  —  a  thing  we  very  justly 
hold  in  terror  and  horror,  and  dare  not  live  beside  !  — 

Ely  Cathedral,  it  appears,  had  still  been  overlooked,  —  Ely, 
much  troubled  with  scandalous  ministers,  as  well  as  with 
disaffected  trainbands, — and  Mr.  Hitch,  under  the  very  eyes 
of  Oliver,  persists  in  his  Choir-service  there.  Here  accord- 
ingly is  an  official  Note,  copies  of  which  still  sleep  in  some 
repositories. 

LETTER  XIX. 

[To  the  Reverend  Mr.  Hitch,  at  Ely :  These.'] 

"  [ELY,]  10th  January,  1643. 

"MB.  HITCH,  —  Lest  the  Soldiers  should  in  any  tumultuary 
or  disorderly  way  attempt  the  reformation  of  the  Cathedral 
Church,  I  require  you  to  forbear  altogether  your  Choir-service, 
so  unedifying  and  offensive  :  —  and  this  as  you  shall  answer 
it,  if  any  disorder  should  arise  thereupon. 

"  I  advise  you  to  catechise,  and  read  and  expound  the  Scrip- 
ture to  the  people ;  not  doubting  but  the  Parliament,  with  the 
advice  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  will  direct  you  farther. 
I  desire  your  Sermons  [too],  where  usually  they  have  been, 

—  but  more  frequent. 

"  Your  loving  friend, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." l 

Mr.  Hitch  paid  no  attention ;  persisted  in  his  Choir-service  : 

—  whereupon  enter  the  Governor  of  Ely  with  soldiers,  "  with 
a  rabble  at  his  heels,"  say  the  old  Querelas.     With  a  rabble 
at  his  heels,  with  his  hat  on,  he  walks  up  to  the  Choir ;  says 
audibly :  "  I  am  a  man  under  Authority  ;  and  am  commanded 
to  dismiss  this  Assembly,"  —  then  draws  back  a  little,  that  the 
Assembly  may  dismiss  with  decency.     Mr.  Hitch  has  paused 

1  Gentleman's  Magazine  (London,  1788),  Iviii.  225  :  copied  "  from  an  old  Copy, 
by  a  Country  Rector,"  who  has  had  some  difficulty  in  reading  the  nauic  of 
Hitch,  and  knows  nothing  farther  about  him  or  it. 


1644.  LETTER  XX.    CAMBRIDGE.  175 

for  a  moment ;  but  seeing  Oliver  draw  back,  he  starts  again : 
"  As  it  was  in  the  beginning  "  —  !  "  Leave  off  your  fooling, 
and  come  down,  Sir  !  "  1  said  Oliver,  in  a  voice  still  audible  to 
this  Editor ;  which  Mr.  Hitch  did  now  instantaneously  give 
ear  to.  And  so,  "  with  his  whole  congregation,"  files  out,  and 
vanishes  from  the  field  of  History. 

Friday,  19th  January.  The  Scots  enter  England  by  Berwick, 
21,000  strong:  on  Wednesday  they  left  Dunbar  "up  to  the 
kiit-cs  in  snow;"  such  a  heart  of  forwardness  was  in  them.3 
Old  Lesley,  now  Earl  of  Leven,  was  their  General,  as  before ; 
a  Committee  of  Parliamenteers  went  with  him.  They  soon 
drove  in  Newcastle's  "Papist  Army"  within  narrower  quar- 
ters ;  in  May,  got  Manchester  with  Cromwell  and  Fairfax 
brought  across  the  Humber  to  join  them,  and  besieged  New- 
castle himself  in  York.  Which,  before  long,  will  bring  us  to 
Marston  Moor,  and  Letter  Twenty-first. 

In  this  same  month  of  January,  22d  day  of  it,  directly 
after  Hitch's  business,  Colonel  Cromwell,  now  more  properly 
Licutenant-General  Cromwell,  Lieutenant  to  the  Earl  of  Man- 
chester in  the  Association,  transiently  appeared  in  his  place 
in  Parliament ;  complaining  much  of  my  Lord  Willoughby, 
t  a  backward  General,  with  strangely  dissolute  people 
alnmt  him,  a  great  sorrow  to  Lincolnshire;8  —  and  craving 
that  my  Lord  Manchester  might  be  appointed  there  instead : 
which,  as  we  see,  was  done ;  with  good  result. 


LETTER  XX. 

ABOUT  the  end  of  next  month,  February,  1644,  the  Lieu- 
tenant-fJenenil,  w«-  find,  has  been  in  Gloucester,  successfully 
convoying  Ammunition  thither;  and  has  taken  various  strong- 
IIOURPR  by  the  road. — anion;:  i-tlicrs,  Hilsden-House  in  Buck- 
inghamshire, with  important  gentlemen,  and  many  prisoners; 

1  Walker's  Suffering  of  the  Clrryy  (London,  1714),  Part  ii.  p.  ->.T 

2  Ru»hw.,rtli,  v   603-606.  »  D'Ewe*  MM.  vol.  iv.  f.  280  h. 


176  PART  II.     FIRST    CIVIL    WAR.  February, 

which  latter,  "  Walloons,  French,  and  other  outlandish  men," 
appear  in  Cambridge  streets  in  a  very  thirsty  condition ;  and 
are,  in  spite  of  danger,  refreshed  according  to  ability  by  the 
loyal  Scholars,  and  especially  by  "Mrs.  Cumber's  maid,"  with 
a  temporary  glass  of  beer.1  In  this  expedition  there  had  gone 
with  Cromwell  a  certain  Major-General  Crawford,  whom  he 
has  left  behind  in  the  Hilsden  neighborhood ;  to  whom  there 
is  a  Letter,  here  first  producible  to  modern  readers,  and  con- 
nected therewith  a  tale  otherwise  known. 

Letter  Twentieth,  which  exists  as  a  Copy,  on  old  dim  paper, 
in  the  Kimbolton  Archives,  addressed  on  the  back  of  the  sheet, 
with  all  reverence,  To  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  and  forms  a 
very  opaque  puzzle  in  that  condition,  —  turns  out,  after  due 
study,  to  have  been  a  Copy  by  that  Crawford  of  a  Letter 
addressed  to  himself:  Copy  hastily  written  off,  along  with 
other  hasty  confused  sheets  still  extant  beside  it,  for  the 
Earl  of  Manchester's  use,  on  a  certain  Parliamentary  occasion, 
which  will  by  and  by  concern  us  too  for  a  moment. 

A  "  Lieutenant-Colonel,"  Packer  I  dimly  apprehend  is  the 
name  of  him,  has  on  this  Hilsden-and-Gloucester  expedition 
given  offence  to  Major-General  Crawford ;  who  again,  in  a 
somewhat  prompt  way,  has  had  Packer  laid  under  arrest, 
under  suspension  at  Cambridge;  in  which  state  Packer  still 
painfully  continues.  And  may,  seemingly,  continue  :  for  here 
has  my  Lord  of  Manchester  just  come  down  with  a  Parlia- 
mentary Commission  "to  reform  the  University,"  a  thing  of 
immense  noise  and  moment,  and  "  is  employed  in  regard 
of  many  occasions ; "  is,  in  fact,  precisely  in  these  hours,'2 
issuing  his  Summonses  to  the  Heads  of  Houses ;  and  cannot 
spare  an  instant  for  Packer  and  his  pleadings.  Crawford  is 
still  in  Buckinghamshire;  nevertheless  the  shortest  way  foi 
Packer  will  be  to  go  to  Crawford,  and  take  this  admonitory 
Letter  from  his  superior  in  command :  — 

1  Qufirela  (in  Cooper's  Annals,  iii.  370) ;   Cromwelliana,  p.  8  (5th  March 
1643). 

2  llth  March  (Cooper,  iii.  371 ;  details  in  Neal,  ii.  79-89). 


1644.  LETTER  XX.    CAMBRIDGE.  177 

[To  Major- General  Crawford :    These."] 

"CAMBRIDGE,  10th  March  [1643].1 

"  SIR,  —  The  complaints  you  preferred  to  my  Lord  against 
your  Lieutenant-Colonel,  both  by  Mr.  Lee  and  your  own 
Letters,  have  occasioned  his  stay  here :  —  my  Lord  being 
[so]  employed,  in  regard  of  many  occasions  which  are  upon 
him,  that  he  hath  not  been  at  leisure  to  hear  him  make  his 
defence :  which,  in  pure  justice,  ought  to  be  granted  him  or 
any  man  before  a  judgment  be  passed  upon  him. 

"During  his  abode  here  and  absence  from  you,  he  hath 
acquainted  me  what  a  grief  it  is  to  him  to  be  absent  from 
his  charge,  especially  now  the  regiment  is  called  forth  to 
action:  and  therefore,  asking  of  me  my  opinion,  I  advised 
him  speedily  to  repair  unto  you.  Surely  you  are  not  well 
advised  thus  to  turn  off  one  so  faithful  to  the  Cause,  and  so 
able  to  serve  you  as  this  man  is.  Give  me  leave  to  tell  you, 
I  cannot  be  of  your  judgment;  [cannot  understand]  if  a 
man  notorious  for  wickedness,  for  oaths,  for  drinking,  hath 
as  great  a  share  in  your  affection  as  one  who  fears  an  oath, 
who  fears  to  sin,  —  that  this  doth  commend  your  election  of 
men  to  serve  as  fit  instruments  in  this  work !  — 

"Ay,  but  the  man  'is  an  Anabaptist.'  Are  you  sure  of 
that  ?  Admit  he  be,  shall  that  render  him  incapable  to  serve 
the  Public?  *  He  is  indiscreet.'  It  may  be  so,  in  some  things : 
we  have  all  human  infirmities.  I  tell  you,  if  you  had  none  but 
such  '  indiscreet  men  '  about  you,  and  would  be  pleased  to  use 
them  kindly,  you  would  find  as  good  a  fence  to  you  as  any 
you  have  yet  chosen. 

"  Sir,  the  State,  in  choosing  men  to  serve  it,  takes  no  notice 
of  their  opinions  ;  if  they  be  willing  faithfully  to  serve  it,  — 
that  satisfies.  I  advised  you  formerly  to  bear  with  men  of 
diff.-rent  minds  from  yourself:  if  you  had  done  it  when  I 
advised  you  to  it,  I  think  you  would  not  have  had  so  many 
stumbling-blocks  in  your  way.  It  may  be  you  judge  other- 
;  but  I  tell  you  my  mind.  —  I  desire  you  would  receive 

1  In  Appendix,  No.  6  .  Letter  from  Oliver,  uuully  busy,  and  not  yet  got 
to  Cambridge. 

TOI.      XTII  12       ' 


178  PART  II.     FIRST    CIVIL    WAR.  10  March, 

this  man  into  your  favor  and  good  opinion.  I  believe,  if  he 
follow  my  counsel,  he  will  deserve  no  other  but  respect  from 
you.  Take  heed  of  being  sharp,  or  too  easily  sharpened  by 
others,  against  those  to  whom  you  can  object  little  but  that 
they  square  not  with  you  in  every  opinion  concerning  matters 
of  religion.  If  there  be  any  other  offence  to  be  charged  upon 
him,  —  that  must  in  a  judicial  way  receive  determination.  1 
know  you  will  not  think  it  fit  my  Lord  should  discharge  ao 
Officer  of  the  Field  but  in  a  regulate  way.  I  question  whether 
you  or  I  have  any  precedent  for  that. 

"  I  have  not  farther  to  trouble  you :  —  but  rest, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

Adjoined  to  this  Letter,  as  it  now  lies,  —  in  its  old  reposi- 
tory at  Kimbolton,  copied  and  addressed  in  the  enigmatic  way 
above  mentioned,  —  there  is,  written  in  a  Clerk's  hand,  but 
corrected  in  the  hand  which  copied  the  Letter,  a  confused 
loud-spoken  recriminatory  Narrative,  of  some  length,  about 
the  Second  Battle  of  Newbury ;  touching  also,  in  a  loud  con- 
fused way,  on  the  case  of  Packer  and  others  :  —  evidently 
the  raw-material  of  the  Earl's  Speech  in  defence  of  himself? 
in  the  time  of  the  Self-denying  Ordinance;  of  which  the 
reader  will  hear  by  and  by.  Assiduous  Crawford  had  pro- 
vided the  Earl  with  these  helps  to.  prove  Cromwell  an  insub- 
ordinate person,  and  what  was  equally  terrible,  a  favorer  of 
Anabaptists.  Of  the  Letter,  Crawford,  against  whom  also 
there  lay  accusations,  retains  the  Original ;  but  furnishes 
this  Copy ;  —  of  which,  unexpectedly,  we  too  have  now  ob- 
tained a  reading. 

This  sharp  Letter  may  be  fancied  to  procure  the  Lieutenant- 
Colonel's  reinstatement ;  who,  we  have  some  intimation,  does 
march  with  his  regiment  again,  in  hopes  to  take  the  Western 
Towns  of  Lincolnshire.  Indeed  Lieutenant-Colonel  Packer, 
if  this  were  verily  Packer  as  he  seems  to  be,  became  a  dis- 

1  Communicated,  with  much  politeness,  by  the  Duke  of  Manchester,  from 
Family  Papers  at  Kimbolton. 

2  Rnshworth,  v.  733-736. 


1844.  LETTER  XX.    CAMBRIDGE.  179 

tinguished  Colonel  afterwards,  and  gave  Oliver  himself  some 
trouble  with  his  Auabaptistries.1  In  the  Letter  itself,  still 
more  in  the  confused  Papers  adjoined  to  it,  of  Major-General 
Crawford's  writing,  there  is  evidence  enough  of  smouldering 
fire-elements  in  my  Lord's  Eastern-Association  Army  !  The 
Lieutenant-General  Cromwell,  one  perceives,  is  justly  sus- 
]>ected  of  a  lenity  for  Sectaries,  Independents,  Anabaptists 
themselves,  provided  they  be  "men  that  fear  God,"  as  he 
phrases  it.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Lilburn  (Freeborn  John),  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Fleetwood  risen  from  Captaincy  now :  these  and 
others,  in  the  Crawford  Documents,  come  painfully  to  view  in 
this  Lincolnshire  campaign  and  afterwards ;  with  discontents, 
with  "Petitions,"  and  one  knows  not  what;  all  tending  to 
Sectarian  courses,  all  countenanced  by  the  Lieutenant-General.8 
Most  distasteful  to  Scotch  Crawford,  to  my  Lord  of  Man- 
chester, not  to  say  criminal  and  unforgivable  to  the  respect- 
able Presbyterian  mind. 

Reverend  Mr.  Baillie  is  now  up  in  Town  again  with  the 
Scotch  Commissioners,  — for  there  is  again  a  Scotch  Commis- 
sion here,  now  that  their  Army  has  joined  us :  Reverend  Mr. 
Buillie,  taking  good  note  of  things,  has  this  pertinent  passage 
some  six  months  hence :  "  The  Earl  of  Manchester,  a  sweet 
meek  man,  did  formerly  permit  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell 
to  guide  all  the  Army  at  his  pleasure :  the  man  Cromwell  is  a 
very  wise  and  active  head  "  —  yes,  Mr.  Robert !  —  "  universally 
well  beloved  as  religious  and  stout ;  but  a  known  Independent 
or  favorer  of  Sects,"  —  the  issues  of  which  might  have  been 
frightful !  "  But  now  our  countryman  Crawford  has  got  a 
great  hand  with  Manchester,  stands  high  with  all  that  are 
against  Sects ;  "  which  is  a  blessed  change  indeed,*  —  and  may 
partly  explain  this  Letter  and  some  other  things  to  us  ! 

Of  Major-General  Crawford,  who  was  once  a  loud-sounding 
well-known  man,  but  whose  chance  for  being  remembered  much 
longer  will  mainly  ground  itself  on  a  Letter  he  copied  with 
very  different  views,  let  us  say  here  what  little  needs  to  be 

1  Ludlow  (London,  1721),  ii.  599. 
1  MS.  by  Crawford  at  Kimboltou. 
•  Baillie,  ii.  229  (16tb  September,  1644). 


180  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR. 

said.  He  is  Scotch ;  of  the  Crawfords  of  Jordan-Hill,  in  Ren- 
frewshire ;  has  seen  service  in  the  German  Wars,  and  is  deeply 
conscious  of  it;  —  paints  himself  to  us  as  a  headlong  audacious 
fighter,  of  loose  loud  tongue,  much  of  a  pedant  and  braggart, 
somewhat  given  to  sycophancy  too.  Whose  history  may  sum 
itself  up  practically  in  this  one  fact,  That  he  helped  Cromwell 
and  the  Earl  of  Manchester  to  quarrel ;  and  his  character  in 
this  other,  That  he  knew  Lieutenant-G-eneral  Cromwell  to  be 
a  coward.  This  he,  Crawford,  knew ;  had  seen  it ;  was  wont 
to  assert  it,  and  could  prove  it.  Nay  once,  in  subsequent 
angry  months,  talking  to  the  Honorable  Denzil  Holies  in  West- 
minster Hall,  he  asserted  it  within  earshot  of  Cromwell  him- 
self;  "who  was  passing  into  the  House,  and  I  am  very  sure 
did  hear  it,  as  intended ; "  —  who,  however,  heard  it  as  if  it 
had  been  no  affair  of  his  at  all;  and  quietly  walked  on,  as  if 
his  affairs  lay  elsewhere  than  there  ! :  From  which  I  too,  the 
knowing  Denzil,  drew  my  inferences,  —  ignominious  to  the 
human  character  !  —  Poor  Crawford,  after  figuring  much  among 
the  Scotch  Committee-men  and  Presbyterian  Grandees  for  a 
time,  joined  or  rejoined  the  Scotch  Army  under  Lesley  ;  and 
fell  at  the  Siege  of  Hereford  in  1645,  fighting  gallantly  I  doubt 
not,  and  was  quiet  thenceforth.8 

In  these  same  weeks  there  is  going  on  a  very  famous  Treaty 
once  more,  "  Treaty  of  Uxbridge : "  with  immense  apparatus 
of  King's  Commissioners  and  Parliament  and  Scotch  Commis- 
sioners ; 8  of  which,  however,  as  it  came  to  nothing,  there  need 
nothing  here  be  said.  Mr.  Christopher  Love,  a  young  eloquent 
divine,  of  hot  Welsh  blood,  of  Presbyterian  tendency,  preach- 
ing by  appointment  in  the  place,  said,  He  saw  no  prospect  of 
an  agreement,  he  for  one ;  "  Heaven  might  as  well  think  of 
agreeing  with  Hell ; "  4  words  which  were  remembered  against 
Mr.  Christopher.  The  King  will  have  nothing  to  do  with 

1  Holles's  Memoirs:  in  Maseres's  Select  Tracts  (London,  1815),  i.  199. 

2  Wood's  Athence  (Life,  p.  8) ;  Baillie,  ii.  235  and  ssepius  (correct  ib.  ii. 
218  n.  and  Godwin,  i.  380) ;  Holies;  Scotch  Peerages;  &c.  &c. 

8  29th  Jan.-  5th  March,  Rushworth,  v.  844-946;  Whitlocke,  122,  123. 
*  Wood,  iii.  281 ;  Commons  Journals,  &c. 


1644.  LETTER  XXI.    MARSTON  MOOR.  181 

Presbyterianism,  will  not  stir  a  step  without  his  Surplices  at 
Allhallowtide  ;  there  remains  only  War ;  a  supreme  managing 
"  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms ;  "  combined  forces,  and  war. 
On  the  other  hand,  his  Majesty,  to  counterbalance  the  Scots, 
had  agreed  to  a  "Cessation  in  Ireland,"  sent  for  his  "Irish 
Army  "  to  assist  him  here,  —  and  indeed  already  got  them  as 
good  as  ruined,  or  reduced  to  a  mere  marauding  apparatus.1 
A  new  "  Papist "  or  partly  "  Papist  Army,"  which  gave  great 
scandal  in  this  country.  By  much  the  remarkablest  man  in  it 
was  Colonel  George  Monk ;  already  captured  at  Nantwich,  and 
lodged  in  the  Tower. 

But  now  the  "Western  Towns  of  Lincolnshire  are  all  taken ; 
Manchester  with  Cromwell  and  Fairfax  are  across  the  Hum- 
ber,  joined  with  the  Scots  besieging  York,  where  Major-General 
Crawford  again  distinguishes  himself ; a  —  and  we  are  now  at 
Marstou  Moor. 


LETTER  XXI. 

MARSTON   MOOB. 

IN  the  last  days  of  June,  1644,  Prince  Kupert,  with  an  army 
of  some  20,000  fierce  men,  came  pouring  over  the  hills  from 
Lancashire,  where  he  had  left  harsh  traces  of  himself,  to  re- 
lieve the  Marquis  of  Newcastle,  who  was  now  with  a  force  of 
6,000  besieged  in  York,  by  the  united  forces  of  the  Scots  under 
Leven,  the  Yorkshiremen  under  Lord  Fairfax,  and  the  Asso- 
ciated Counties  under  Manchester  and  Cromwell.  On  hearing 
of  his  approach,  the  Parliament  Generals  raised  the  Siege; 
drew  out  on  the  Moor  of  Long  Marston,  some  four  miles  off, 
to  oppose  his  coming.  He  avoided  them  by  crossing  the  river 
Ouse ;  relieved  York,  Monday,  1st  July ;  and  might  have  re- 

1  Kushworth,  v.  547  (Ce«ation,  15th  September,  1643)  ;  v.  299-303  (Sieg* 
of  Naotwirh,  nn<l  ruin  of  the  Irish  Army,  2lst  November). 

1  ir«-s  a  mine  without  onlrr-  :  St-mns  in,  hoping  to  take  the  City  himself; 
Iv  repulsed  (Rushworth,  v.  631  ;  B&illie,  ii.  200). 


182  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  6  July, 

turned  successful ;  but  insisted  on  Newcastle's  joining  him,  and 
going  out  to  fight  the  Roundheads.  The  Battle  of  Marston 
Moor,  fought  on  the  morrow  evening,  Tuesday,  2d  July,  1644, 
from  7  to  10  o'clock,  was  the  result,  —  entirely  disastrous  for 
him. 

Of  this  Battle,  the  bloodiest  of  the  whole  War,  I  must  leave 
the  reader  to  gather  details  in  the  sources  indicated  below ; l 
or  to  imagine  it  in  general  as  the  most  enormous  hurly-burly, 
of  fire  and  smoke,  and  steel-flashings  and  death-tumult,  ever 
seen  in  those  regions  :  the  end  of  which,  about  ten  at  night, 
was  "four  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  bodies"  to  be 
buried,  and  total  ruin  to  the  King's  affairs  in  those  Northern 
parts. 

The  Armies  were  not  completely  drawn  up  till  after  five 
in  the  evening ;  there  was  a  ditch  between  them  ;  they  stood 
facing  one  another,  motionless  except  the  exchange  of  a  few 
cannon-shots,  for  an  hour  and  half.  Newcastle  thought  there 
would  be  no  fighting  till  the  morrow,  and  had  retired  to  his 
carriage  for  the  night.  There  is  some  shadow  of  surmise  that 
the  stray  cannon-shot  which,  as  the  following  Letter  indicates, 
proved  fatal  to  Oliver's  Nephew,  did  also,  rousing  Oliver's 
humor  to  the  charging  point,  bring  on  the  general  Battle. 
"The  Prince  of  Plunderers,"  invincible  hitherto,  here  first 
tasted  the  steel  of  Oliver's  Ironsides,  and  did  not  in  the  least 
like  it.  "  The  Scots  delivered  their  fire  with  such  constancy 
and  swiftness,  it  was  as  if  the  whole  air  had  become  an  ele- 
ment of  fire,"  —  in  the  ancient  summer  gloaming  there. 

[To  my  loving  Brother,  Colonel  Valentine  Walton:  These."] 
"  [LEAGUER  BEFORE  YORK,]  5th  July,  1644. 

"  DEAR  SIR,  —  It 's  our  duty  to  sympathize  in  all  mercies  ; 
and  to  praise  the  Lord  together  in  chastisements  or  trials, 
that  so  we  may  sorrow  together. 

1  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  164  (various  accounts  hy  eye-witnesses) ; 
no.  168,  one  by  Simeon  Ash,  the  Earl  of  Manchester's  Chaplain  ;  no.  167,  &c. ; 
Rushworth,  v.  632  :  Carte's  Ormond  Papers  (London,  1739),  i.  56:  Fairfax's 
Memorials  (Somers  Tracts,  v.  389).  Modern  accounts  are  numerous,  but  of 
no  value. 


1644.  LETTER  XXI.    MARSTON   MOOR.  183 

"  Truly  England  and  the  Church  of  God  hath  had  a  great 
favor  from  the  Lord,  in  this  great  Victory  given  unto  us,  such 
as  the  like  never  was  since  this  War  began.  It  had  all  the 
evidences  of  an  absolute  Victory  obtained  by  the  Lord's  bless- 
ing upon  the  Godly  Party  principally.  We  never  charged  but 
we  routed  the  enemy.  The  Left  Wing,  which  I  commanded, 
being  our  own  horse,  saving  a  few  Scots  in  our  rear,  beat  all 
the  Prince's  horse.  God  made  them  as  stubble  to  our  swords. 
We  charged  their  regiments  of  foot  with  our  horse,  and  routed 
all  we  charged.  The  particulars  I  cannot  relate  now ;  but  I 
believe,  of  twenty  thousand  the  Prince  hath  not  four  thou- 
sand left.  Give  glory,  all  the  glory,  to  God.  — 

"  Sir,  God  hath  taken  away  your  eldest  Son  by  a  cannon- 
shot.  It  brake  his  leg.  We  were  necessitated  to  have  it  cut 
off,  whereof  he  died. 

"  Sir,  you  know  my  own  trials  this  way : l  but  the  Lord  sup- 
ported me  with  this,  That  the  Lord  took  him  into  the  happi- 
ness we  all  pant  for  and  live  for.  There  is  your  precious 
child  full  of  glory,  never  to  know  sin  or  sorrow  any  more. 
He  was  a  gallant  young  man,  exceedingly  gracious.  God  give 
you  His  comfort.  Before  his  death  he  was  so  full  of  comfort 
that  to  Frank  Russel  and  myself  he  could  not  express  it,  '  It 
was  so  great  above  his  pain.'  This  he  said  to  us.  Indeed  it 
was  admirable.  A  little  after,  he  said,  One  thing  lay  upon 
his  spirit.  I  asked  him,  What  that  was  ?  He  told  me  it  was, 
Th;it  God  had  not  suffered  him  to  be  any  more  the  executioner 
<>f  His  enemies.  At  his  fall,  his  horse  being  killed  with  the 
1'iillct,  and  as  I  am  informed  three  horses  more,  I  am  told  he 
bid  them,  Open  to  the  right  and  left,  that  he  might  see  the 
rogues  run.  Truly  he  was  exceedingly  beloved  in  the  Army, 

1  I  conclude,  the  poor  Boy  Oliver  lias  already  fallen  in  these  Ware,  —  none 
of  us  knows  where,  though  his  Father  well  knew  !  —  Note  to  Third  Edition  : 
In  the  Squire  PUJH-IS  (Frurer's  Magazine,  December,  1847)  is  this  pa.- 
"  Meeting  Cromwell  again  after  nome  ahsence,  just  on  the  edge  of  Marstmi 
Hiittlc,  Sjiiirn  navs.  '  I  ilmught  he  looked  aad  and  wearied,  for  he  had  had  a 
•ad  lorn ;  young  Oliver  got  killi-l  to  death  not  long  before,  I  heard  :  it  was 
ueur  Kuureeborough,  ami  30  more  got  killed.'  "  —  JVute  of  1857  :  see  autea, 
p.  48  u. 


184  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  5  July, 

of  all  that  knew  him.  But  few  knew  him  ;  for  he  was  a  pre- 
cious young  man,  fit  for  God.  You  have  cause  to  bless  the 
Lord.  He  is  a  glorious  Saint  in  Heaven ;  wherein  you  ought 
exceedingly  to  rejoice.  Let  this  drink  up  your  sorrow  ;  seeing 
these  are  not  feigned  words  to  comfort  you,  but  the  thing  is 
so  real  and  undoubted  a  truth.  You  may  do  all  things  by  the 
strength  of  Christ.  Seek  that,  and  you  shall  easily  bear  your 
trial.  Let  this  public  mercy  to  the  Church  of  God  make  you 
to  forget  your  private  sorrow.  The  Lord  be  your  strength : 
so  prays 

"  Your  truly  faithful  and  loving  brother, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 


"  My  love  to  your  Daughter,  and  my  Cousin  Perceval,  Sis- 
ter Desborow  and  all  friends  with  you.' 


» i 


Colonel  Valentine  Walton,  already  a  conspicuous  man,  and 
more  so  afterwards,  is  of  Great-Staughton,  Huntingdonshire, 
a  neighbor  of  the  Earl  of  Manchester's ;  Member  for  his 
Coiinty,  and  a  Colonel  since  the  beginning  of  the  War.  There 
had  long  been  an  intimacy  between  the  Cromwell  Family  and 
his.  His  Wife,  the  Mother  of  this  slain  youth,  is  Margaret 
Cromwell,  Oliver's  younger  Sister,  next  to  him  in  the  family 
series.  "Frank  Russel"  is  of  Chippenham,  Cambridgeshire, 
eldest  son  of  the  Baronet  there ;  already  a  Colonel ;  soon  after- 
wards Governor  of  Ely  in  Oliver's  stead.2  It  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  this  Frank  that  Henry  Cromwell,  some  ten  years  hence, 
wedded. 

Colonel  Walton,  if  he  have  at  present  some  military  charge 
of  the  Association,  seems  to  attend  mainly  on  Parliament ;  and 
this  Letter,  I  think,  finds  him  in  Town.  The  poor  wounded 
youth  would  have  to  lie  on  the  field  at  Marston  while  the  Bat- 
tle was  fought ;  the  whole  Army  had  to  bivouac  there,  next  to 
no  food,  hardly  even  water  to  be  had.  That  of  "  Seeing  the 
rogues  run,"  occurs  more  than  once  at  subsequent  dates  in  these 

1  Seward's  Anecdotes  (London,  1798),  i.  362;  reproduced  in  Ellis's  Original 
Letters  (First  Series),  iii.  299.     "  Original  once  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Lang- 
ton  of  Welbeck  Street,"  says  Ellis  ;  —  "in  the  Bodleian  Library,"  says  Seward. 

2  See  Noble,  ii.  407,  408,  —  with  vigilance  against  his  blunders. 


1644.  LETTER  XXII.    LINCOLN. 

Wars  :  *  who  first  said  it,  or  whether  anybody  ever  said  it, 
must  remain  uncertain. 

York  was  now  captured  in  a  few  days  :  Prince  Rupert  had 
fled  across  into  Lancashire,  and  so  "  south  to  Shropshire,  to 
recruit  again ; "  Marquis  Newcastle  with  "  about  eighty  gen- 
tlemen," disgusted  at  the  turn  of  affairs,  had  withdrawn 
beyond  seas.  The  Scots  moved  northward  to  attend  the 
Siege  of  Newcastle,  —  ended  it  by  storm  in  October  next. 
On  the  24th  of  which  same  month,  24th  October,  1644,  the 
Parliament  promulgated  its  Rhadamanthine  Ordinance,  To 
"  hang  any  Irish  Papist  taken  in  arms  in  this  country ; " 2  a 
very  severe  Ordinance,  but  not  uncalled  for  by  the  nature  of 
the  "  marauding  apparatus  "  in  question  there. 


LETTERS  XXII.-XXIII. 

THE  next  Two  Letters  represent  the  Army  and  Lieutenant- 
General  got  home  to  the  Association  again ;  and  can  be  read 
with  little  commentary.  "  The  Committee  for  the  Isle  of  Ely," 
we  are  to  remark,  consists  of  Honorable  Members  connected 
with  that  region,  and  has  its  sittings  in  London.  Of  "  Major 
Ireton  "  we  shall  hear  farther  ;  "  Husband  "  also  is  slightly 
met  with  elsewhere ;  and  "  Captain  Castle  "  grew,  I  think,  to 
be  Colonel  Castle,  and  perished  at  the  Storm  of  Tredah,  some 
years  afterwards. 

LETTER  XXH. 

"  For  my  noble  Friends  the  Committee  for  the  Isle  rfEly: 
Present  these: 

"LiwooLif,  1st  September,  1644. 

"GENTLEMEN,  — I  understand  that  you  have  lately  release.! 
some  persons  committed  by  Major  Ireton  and  Captain  II 
band,  aud  one  committed  by  Captain  Castle, — all  [committed] 

1  Ludlow.  »  Kuj*bwwrtli,  v.  783 


186  PAET  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  i  Sept. 

upon  clear  and  necessary  grounds  as  they  are  represented 
unto  me ;  [grounds]  rendering  them  as  very  enemies  as  any 
we  have,  and  as  much  requiring  to  have  them  continued 
secured. 

"I  have  given  order  to  Captain  Husband  to  see  them  re- 
committed to  the  hands  of  my  Marshal,  Richard  White.  And 
I  much  desire  you,  for  the  future,  Not  to  entrench  upon  me 
so  much  as  to  release  them,  —  or  any  committed  in  the  like 
case  by  myself,  or  my  Deputy  and  Commanders  in  the  Gar- 
rison, —  until  myself  or  some  Superior  Authority l  be  satisfied 
in  the  cause,  and  do  give  order  in  allowance  of  their  enlarge- 
ment. For  I  profess  I  will  be  no  Governor,  nor  engage  any 
other  under  me  to  undertake  such  a  charge,  upon  such  weak 
terms  !  — 

"I  am  so  sensible  of  the  need  we  have  to  improve  the 
present  opportunity  of  our  being  masters  in  the  field  and 
having  no  Enemy  near  the  Isle,  and  to  spare  whatever  charge 
we  can  towards  the  making  of  those  Fortifications,  which  may 
render  it  more  defensible  hereafter  if  we  shall  have  more 
need,  —  I  shall  desire  you,  for  that  end,  to  ease  the  Isle  and 
Treasury  from  the  superfluous  charge  of  [having]  two  several 
Committees  for  the  several  parts  of  the  Isle;  and  that  one 
Committee,  settled  at  March,  may  serve  for  the  whole  Isle. 

"  Wherefore  I  wish  that  one  of  your  number  may,  in  your 
courses,  intend 2  and  appear  at  that  Committee,  to  manage  and 
uphold  it  the  better  for  all  parts  of  the  Isle.  Resting  upon 
your  care  herein,  I  remain, 

"  Your  friend  to  serve  you, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  3 

1  Not  inferior ! 

2  "  intend  "  means  "  take  pains ; "  March  is  a  Town  in  the  Ely  region. 

8  Old  Copy,  now  (January,  1846)  on  sale  at  Mr.  Graves's,  Pall-Mali : 
printed  in  the  Athenceum  of  13th  December,  1845.  Old  copy,  such  as  the 
Clerks  of  Honorable  Members  were  wont  to  take  of  Letters  read  in  the 
House,  or  officially  elsewhere  ;  —  worth  copying  for  certain  parties,  in  a  time 
without  Newspapers  like  ours. 


1644.  LETTER  XXIII.    SLEAFORD.  187 

LETTER  XXIII. 

SLEAFORD  is  in  Lincolnshire,  a  march  farther  South.  Lieu- 
teuant-General  Cromwell  with  the  Eastern- Association  Horse, 
if  the  "  Foot "  were  once  settled,  —  might  not  he  dash  down 
to  help  the  Lieutenant-General  Essex  and  his  "  Army  in  the 
West"?  Of  whom,  and  of  whose  sad  predicament  amid  tin; 
hills  of  Cornwall  there,  we  shall  see  the  issue  anon.  Brother 
Walton,  a  I'arliainent-inau,  has  written,  we  perceive,  to  Crom- 
well, suggesting  such  a  thing;  urging  haste  if  possible.  In 
Cromwell  is  no  delay :  but  the  Eastern-Association  Army, 
horse  or  foot,  is  heavy  to  move,  —  beset,  too,  with  the  old 
internal  discrepancies,  Crawfordisms,  scandals  at  Sectaries, 
and  what  not. 

"  For  Colonel  Valentine  Walton :  These,  in  London. 

"SLEAFORD,  6th  or  5th  September  [1644]. 

"  SIR,  —  We  do  with  grief  of  heart  resent  the  sad  condition 
of  our  Army  in  the  West,  and  of  affairs  there.  That  business 
has  our  hearts  with  it ;  and  truly  had  we  wings,  we  would  fly 
thither  !  So  soon  as  ever  my  Lord  and  the  Foot  set  me  loose, 
there  shall  be  in  me  no  want  to  hasten  what  I  can  to  that 
service. 

"For  indeed  all  other  considerations  are  to  be  laid  aside 
and  to  give  place  to  it,  as  being  of  far  more  importance.  I 
hope  the  Kingdom  shall  see  that,  in  the  midst  of  our  neces- 
sities, we  shall  serve  them  without  disputes.  We  hope  to  for- 
get our  wants,  which  are  exceeding  great,  and  ill  cared  for; 
and  desire  to  refer  the  many  slanders  heaped  ujxm  us  by  false 
tongues  to  God,  —  who  will,  in  due  time,  make  it  appear  to 
the  world  that  we  study  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  honor  and 
liberty  of  the  Parliament.  For  which  we  unanimously  fight ; 
without  seeking  our  own  interests. 

"  Indeed,  we  never  find  our  men  so  cheerful  as  when  there 
is  work  to  do.  I  trust  you  will  always  hear  so  of  them.  Tho 
Lord  is  our  strength,  and  in  Him  is  all  our  hope.  Pray  for 
ns.  Present  my  love  to  my  friends :  I  beg  their  prayers. 
The  Lord  still  bless  you. 


188  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  6  or  5  Sept. 

"  We  have  some  amongst  us  much l  slow  in  action  :  —  if  we 
could  all  intend  our  own  ends  less,  and  our  ease  too,  our 
business  in  this  Army  would  go  on  wheels  for  expedition  ! 
[But]  because  some  of  us  are  enemies  to  rapine  and  other 
wickednesses,  we  are  said  to  be  '  factious,'  to  ( seek  to  maintain 
our  opinions  in  religion  by  force,'  —  which  we  detest  and 
abhor.  I  profess  I  could  never  satisfy  myself  of  the  justness 
of  this  War,  but  from  the  Authority  of  the  Parliament  to 
maintain  itself  in  its  rights  :  and  in  this  Cause  I  hope  to 
approve  myself  an  honest  man  and  single-hearted. 

"  Pardon  me  that  I  am  thus  troublesome.  I  write  but  sel- 
dom :  it  gives  me  a  little  ease  to  pour  my  mind,  in  the  midst 
of  calumnies,  into  the  bosom  of  a  friend.  Sir,  no  man  more 

truly  loves  you  than 

"Your  brother  and  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  2 


THREE  FRAGMENTS  OF  SPEECHES. 

SELF-DENYING  ORDINANCE. 

THE  following  Three  small  Fragments  of  Speeches  will  have 
to  represent  for  us  some  six  months  of  occasional  loud  debat- 
ing, and  continual  anxious  gestation  and  manipulation,  in  the 
Two  Houses,  in  the  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms,  and  in  many 
other  houses  and  places ;  —  the  ultimate  outcome  of  which  was 
the  celebrated  "  Self-denying  Ordinance,"  and  "  New  Model " 
of  the  Parliament's  Army ;  which  indeed  brings  on  an  entirely 
New  Epoch  in  the  Parliament's  Affairs. 

Essex  and  Waller  had,  for  the  third  or  even  fourth  time, 
chiefly  by  the  exertions  of  ever-zealous  London,  been  fitted  out 
with  Armies ;  had  marched  forth  together  to  subdue  the  West ; 
• — and  ended  in  quite  other  results  than  that.  The  two  Gen- 
erals differed  in  opinion ;  did  not  march  long  together :  Essex, 

1  "  much  "  is  old  for  very.  *  Seward's  Anecdotes^  ut  supra,  i.  362. 


1644.  SELF-DENYING   ORDINANCE.  189 

urged  by  a  subordinate,  Lord  Roberts,  who  had  estates  in 
Cornwall  and  hoped  to  get  some  rents  out  of  them,1  turned 
down  thitherwards  to  the  left;  Waller  bending  up  to  the 
right ;  —  with  small  issue  either  way.  Waller's  last  action 
was  au  indecisive,  rather  unsuccessful  Fight,  or  day  of  skirm- 
ishing, with  the  King,  at  Cropredy  Bridge  on  the  border  of 
Oxford  and  Northampton  Shires,2  three  days  before  Marston 
Moor.  After  which  both  parties  separated :  the  King  to  fol- 
low Essex,  since  there  was  now  no  hope  in  the  North ;  Waller 
to  wander  London-wards,  and  gradually  "lose  his  Army  by 
desertion,"  as  the  habit  of  him  was.  As  for  the  King,  he  fol- 
lowed Essex  into  Cornwall  with  effect ;  hemmed  him  in  among 
the  hills  there,  about  Bodmin,  Lostwithiel,  Foy,  with  contin- 
ual skirmishing,  with  ever-growing  scarcity  of  victual ;  forced 
poor  Essex  to  escape  to  Plymouth  by  the  Fleet,8  and  leave  his 
Army  to  shift  for  itself  as  best  might  be :  the  horse  under 
Balfour  to  cut  their  way  through ;  the  foot  under  Skippon  to 
lay  down  their  arms,  cease  to  be  soldiers,  and  march  away 
"  with  staves  in  their  hands  "  into  the  wide  world.  This  sur- 
render was  effected  1st  September,  1644,  two  months  after 
Marston  Moor.  The  Parliament's  and  Cromwell's  worst  an- 
ticipation, in  that  quarter,  is  fulfilled. 

The  Parliament  made  no  complaint  of  Essex  ;  with  a  kind 
of  Roman  dignity,  they  rather  thanked  him.  They  proceeded 
to  recruit  Waller  and  him,  summoned  Manchester  with  Crom- 
well his  Lieutenant-General  to  join  them ;  by  which  three 
bodies,  making  again  a  considerable  army,  under  the  command 
of  .Manchester  and  Waller  (for  Essex  lay  "  sick,"  or  seeming 
to  be  sick),  the  King,  returning  towards  Oxford  from  his 
victory,  was  intercepted  at  Ncwbury ;  and  there,  on  Sunday, 
27th  October,  1644,  fell  out  the  Second  Battle  of  Newbury.4 
Wherein  his  Majesty,  after  four  hours'  confused  fighting, 
rather  had  the  worse ;  yet  contrived  to  march  off,  unmolested, 
"  by  moonlight,  at  10  o'clock,"  towards  Wallingford,  and  got 

1  Clarendon.  *  29th  June,  K,J4,  (M.in mlun,  ii.  655. 

»  His  own  distinct,  downright  and  aumewhat  sulk/  Narrative,  in  Ruah- 
worth,  v.  701. 
«  Clarendon,  ii.  717. 


190  PART  II.     FIRST    CIVIL   WAR.  25  Nor. 

safe  home.  Manchester  refused  to  pursue ;  though  urged  by 
Cromwell,  and  again  urged.  Nay  twelve  days  after,  when  the 
King  came  back,  and  openly  revictualled  Dennington  Castle, 
an  important  strong-place  hard  by,  —  Manchester,  in  spite  of 
Cromwell's  urgency,  still  refused  to  interfere. 

They,  in  fact,  came  to  a  quarrel  here,  these  two:  —  and 
much  else  that  was  represented  by  them  came  to  a  quarrel ; 
Presbytery  and  Independency,  to  wit.  Manchester  was  re- 
ported to  have  said,  If  they  lost  this  Army  pursuing  the  King, 
they  had  no  other ;  the  King  "  might  hang  them  all."  To 
Cromwell  and  the  thorough-going  party,  it  had  become  very 
clear  that  high  Essexes  and  Manchesters,  of  limited  notions 
and  large  estates  and  anxieties,  who  besides  their  fear  of  being 
themselves  beaten  utterly,  and  forfeited  and  "  hanged,"  were 
afraid  of  beating  the  King  too  well,  would  never  end  this 
Cause  in  a  good  way.  Whereupon  ensue  some  six  months  of 
very  complex  manipulation,  and  public  and  private  consulta- 
tion, which  these  Three  Fragments  of  Speeches  are  here  to 
represent  for  us. 

I.  In  the  House,  of  Commons,  on  Monday,  25th  November,  1644, 
Lieutenant- General  Cromwell  did,  as  ordered  on  the  Satur- 
day before,  exhibit  a  charge  against  the  Earl  of  Manchester, 
to  this  effect:  — 

"  That  the  said  Earl  hath  always  been  indisposed  and  back- 
ward to  engagements,  and  the  ending  of  the  War  by  the 
sword ;  and  [always]  for  such  a  Peace  as  a  [thorough]  vic- 
tory would  be  a  disadvantage  to ;  —  and  hath  declared  this 
by  principles  express  to  that  purpose,  and  [by]  a  continued 
series  of  carriage  and  actions  ansAverable. 

"  That  since  the  taking  of  York,1  as  if  the  Parliament  had 
now  advantage  fully  enough,  he  hath  declined  whatsoever 
tended  to  farther  advantage  upon  the  Enemy  ;  [hath]  neg- 
lected and  studiously  shifted  off  opportunities  to  that  purpose, 
as  if  he  thought  the  King  too  low,  and  the  Parliament  too 
high,  —  especially  at  Dennington  Castle. 

1  Directly  after  Marston  Moor. 


K44.  PKLF  DKNY1NG  ORDINANCE.  191 

"  That  he  hath  drawn  the  Army  into,  and  detained  them  in, 
such  a  posture  as  to  give  the  Enemy  fresh  advantages ;  and 
this,  before  his  conjunction  with  the  other  Armies,1  by  his 
own  absolute  will,  against  or  without  his  Council  of  War, 
against  many  commands  of  the  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms, 
and  with  contempt  and  vilifying  of  those  commands  ;  —  and, 
since  the  conjunction,  sometimes  against  the  Councils  of  War, 
and  sometimes  by  persuading  and  deluding  the  Council  to  neg- 
lect one  opportunity  with  pretence  of  another,  and  this  again 
of  a  third,  and  at  last  by  persuading  [them]  that  it  was  not 
fit  to  fight  at  all."  » 

To  these  heavy  charges,  Manchester  —  furnished  with  his 
confused  Crawford  Documents,  and  not  forgetting  Letter 
fifth  which  we  lately  read  —  makes  heavy  answer,  at 
great  length,  about  a  week  after :  of  which  we  shall  remember 
only  this  piece  of  countercharge,  How  his  Lordship  had  once, 
in  those  very  Newbury  days,  ordered  Cromwell  to  proceed  to 
some  rendezvous  with  the  horse,  and  Cromwell,  very  unsuit- 
ably for  a  Lieutenant-General,  had  answered,  The  horses  were 
already  worn  off  their  feet ;  "  if  your  Lordship  want  to  have 
the  skins  of  the  horses,  this  is  the  way  to  get  them  ! "  — 
Through  which  small  slit,  one  looks  into  large  seas  of  general 
discrepancy  in  those  old  months  !  Lieutenant-General  Crom- 
well is  also  reported  to  have  said,  in  a  moment  of  irritation 
surely,  "  There  would  never  be  a  good  time  in  England  till  we 
)i:nl  done  with  Lords."8  But  the  most  appalling  report  that 
now  circulates  in  the  world  is  this,  of  his  saying  once,  "  If  he 
iii<-t  the  King  in  battle,  he  would  fire  his  pistol  at  the  King 
as  at  another;" — pistol,  at  our  poor  semi-divine  misguided 
Father  fallen  insane :  a  thing  hardly  conceivable  to  the  Pres- 
l))U'riuu  human  mind  !4 

1  Waller's  and  EM«X'S  at  Newbnry. 

*  Riwhwnrth.  v.  732;   Common*  Journal*,  ill.  703-706. 

»  Kushworth.  v.  734. 

«  Old  Pamphlet*  Ktpiut,  onwards  to  1649. 


192  PART  II.    FIRST    CIVIL    WAR.  9  Dec. 

II.  In  the  House  of  Commons,  on  Wednesday,  9th  December,  all 
sitting  in  Grand  Committee,  u  there  was  a  general  silence  for 
a  good  space  of  time"  one  looking  upon  the  other  to  see  who 
would  break  the  ice,  in  regard  to  this  delicate  point  of  getting 
our  Essexes  and  Manchesters  softly  ousted  from  the  Army  ; 
a  very  delicate  point  indeed;  —  when  Lieutenant- General 
Cromwell  stood  up,  and  spake  shortly  to  this  effect :  — 

"  It  is  now  a  time  to  speak,  or  forever  hold  the  tongue.  The 
important  occasion  now,  is  no  less  than  To  save  a  Nation,  out 
of  a  bleeding,  nay  almost  dying  condition  :  which  the  long 
continuance  of  this  War  hath  already  brought  it  into  ;  so  that 
without  a  more  speedy,  vigorous  and  effectual  prosecution  of 
the  War,  —  casting  off  all  lingering  proceedings  like  [those 
of]  soldiers-of-fortune  beyond  sea,  to  spin  out  a  war,  —  we 
shall  make  the  kingdom  weary  of  us,  and  hate  the  name  of  a 
Parliament. 

"  For  what  do  the  Enemy  say  ?  Nay,  what  do  many  say  that 
were  friends  at  the  beginning  of  the  Parliament  ?  Even  this, 
That  the  Members  of  both  Houses  havo  got  great  places  and 
commands,  and  the  sword  into  their  hands ;  and,  what  by 
interest  in  Parliament,  what  by  power  in  the  Army,  will  per- 
petually continue  themselves  in  grandeur,  and  not  permit 
the  War  speedily  to  end,  lest  their  own  power  should  deter- 
mine with  it.  This  [that]  I  speak  here  to  our  own  faces,  is 
but  what  others  do  utter  abroad  behind  our  backs.  I  am  far 
from  reflecting  on  any.  I  know  the  worth  of  those  Com- 
manders, Members  of  both  Houses,  who  are  yet  in  power : 
but  if  I  may  speak  my  conscience  without  reflection  upon 
any,  I  do  conceive  if  the  Army  be  not  put  into  another 
method,  and  the  War  more  vigorously  prosecuted,  the  People 
can  bear  the  War  no  longer,  and  will  enforce  you  to  a  dis- 
honorable Peace. 

"But  this  I  would  recommend  to  your  prudence,  Not  to  insist 
upon  any  complaint  or  oversight  of  any  Commander-in-chief 
upon  any  occasion  whatsoever ;  for  as  I  must  acknowledge 
myself  guilty  of  oversights,  so  I  know  they  can  rarely  be 
avoided  in  military  affairs.  Therefore,  waiving  a  strict  inquiry 


1644.  SELF-DENYING  ORDINANCE.  103 

into  the  causes  of  these  things,  let  us  apply  ourselves  to  the 
remedy ;  which  is  most  necessary.  And  I  hope  we  have  such 
true  English  hearts,  and  zealous  affections  towards  the  general 
weal  of  our  Mother  Country,  as  no  Members  of  either  House 
will  scruple  to  deny  themselves,  and  their  own  private  inter- 
ests, for  the  public  good ;  nor  account  it  to  be  a  dishonor  done 
to  them,  whatever  the  Parliament  shall  resolve  upon  in  this 
weighty  matter."  * 

III.  On  the  same  day,  seemingly  at  a  subsequent  part  of  the  de- 
bate, Lieutenant- General  Cromwell  said  likewise,  as  follows: 

"  MR.  SPEAKER,  —  I  am  not  of  the  mind  that  the  calling  of  the 
Members  to  sit  in  Parliament  will  break,  or  scatter  our  Armies. 
J  can  speak  this  for  my  own  soldiers,  that  they  look  not  upon, 
me,  but  upon  you ;  and  for  you  they  will  fight,  and  live  and 
die  in  your  Cause  ;  and  if  others  be  of  that  mind  that  they  are 
of,  you  need  not  fear  them.  They  do  not  idolize  me,  but  look 
upon  the  Cause  they  fight  for.  You  may  lay  upon  them  what 
commands  you  please,  they  will  obey  your  commands  in  that 
Cause  they  fight  for.2 

To  be  brief,  Mr.  Zouch  Tate,  Member  for  Northampton, 
moved  this  day  a  Self-denying  Ordinance;  which,  in  a  few 
days  more,  was  passed  in  the  Commons.  It  was  not  so  easily 
got  through  the  Lords ;  but  there  too  it  had  ultimately  to  pass. 
One  of  the  most  important  clauses  was  this,  introduced  not 
without  difficulty,  That  religious  men  might  now  serve  without 
taking  the  Covenant  as  a  first  preliminary,  —  perhaps  they 
might  take  it  by  and  by.  This  was  a  great  ease  to  tender  con- 
sciences ;  and  indicates  a  deep  split,  which  will  grow  wider 
and  wider,  in  our  religious  affairs.  The  Scots  Commissioners 
have  sent  for  Whitlocke  and  Maynard  to  the  Lord  General's, 
to  ask  in  judicious  Scotch  dialect,  Whether  there  be  not  ground 
•  >secute  Cromwell  as  an  "  incendiary  "  ?  "  You  ken  varry 
weel ! "  —  The  two  learned  gentlemen  shook  their  heads.' 

1   Huxhworth,  vi.  4.  *  Cromwelliana,  p.  1? 

•  Whitlocke,  Hi.  p.  Ill  (December,  1644). 
VOL.  XTII.  13 


194  PAKT  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  a  April, 

This  Self-denying  Ordinance  had  to  pass ;  it  and  the  New 
Model  wholly;  by  the  steps  indicated  below.1  Essex  was 
gratified  by  a  splendid  Pension,  —  very  little  of  it  ever  act- 
ually paid ;  for  indeed  he  died  some  two  years  after :  Man- 
chester was  put  on  the  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms :  the 
Parliament  had  its  New-Model  Army,  and  soon  saw  an  entirely- 
new  epoch  in  its  affairs. 


LETTER  XXIV. 

BEFORE  the  old  Officers  laid  down  their  commissions,  Waller 
with  Cromwell  and  Massey  were  sent  on  an  expedition  into 
the  West  against  Goring  and  Company;  concerning  which 
there  is  some  echo  in  the  old  Books  and  Commons  Journals, 
but  no  definite  vestige  of  it,  except  the  following  Letter,  read 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  9th  April,  1645;  which  D'Ewes 
happily  had  given  his  Clerk  to  copy.  The  Expedition  itself, 
which  proved  successful,  is  now  coming  towards  an  end.  Fair- 
fax the  new  General  is  at  Windsor  all  April ;  full  of  business, 
regimenting,  discharging,  enlisting,  new-modelling. 

LETTER  XXIV. 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the 
Army:  Haste,  Haste:  These:  At  Windsor. 

"  [SALISBURY,]  9th  April  (ten  o'clock  at  night),  1645. 

"  SIR,  —  Upon  Sunday  last  we  marched  towards  Bruton  in 
Somersetshire,  which  was  General  Goring's  head-quarter :  but 
he  would  no  stand  us ;  but  marched  away,  upon  our  appear- 
ance, to  Wells  and  Glastonbury.  Whither  we  held  it  unsafe 

1  Rushworth,  vi.  7,  8  :  Self-denying  Ordinance  passed  in  the  Commons  19th 
December,  and  is  sent  to  the  Lords ;  Conference  about  it,  7th  January ;  re- 
jected by  the  Lords  1 5th  January,  —  because  "  we  do  not  know  what  shape 
the  Army  will  now  suddenly  take."  Whereupon,  21st  January,  "Fairfax  is 
'  nominated  General ; "  and  on  the  19th  February,  the  New  Model  is  completed 
and  passed  :  "  This  is  the  shape  the  Army  is  to  take."  A  second  Self-denying 
Ordinance,  now  introduced,  got  itself  finally  passed  3d  April,  1G45. 


1645.  LETTER  XXIV.    SALISBURY.  195 

to  follow  him ;  lest  we  should  engage  our  Body  of  Horse  too 
far  into  that  enclosed  country,  not  having  foot  enough  to  stand 
by  them  ;  and  partly  because  we  doubted  the  advance  of  Prince 
Rupert  with  his  force  to  join  with  Goring ;  having  some  notice 
from  Colonel  Massey  of  the  Prince  his  coming  this  way. 

"General  Goring  hath  [Sir  Richard]  Greenvil  in  a  near 
jjosture  to  join  with  him.  He  hath  all  their  Garrisons  iw 
Devon,  Dorset  and  Somersetshire,  to  make  an  addition  to  him. 
Whereupon,  Sir  William  Waller  having  a  very  poor  Infantry 
of  about  1,COO  men,  —  lest  they,  being  so  inconsiderable, 
should  engage *  our  Horse,  —  we  came  from  Shaftesbury  to 
Salisbury  to  secure  our  Foot ;  to  prevent  our  being  necessitated 
to  a  too  unequal  engagement,  and  to  be  nearer  a  communica 
tion  with  our  friends. 

"  Since  our  coming  hither,  we  hear  Prince  Rupert  is  come  to 
Marshfield,  a  market-town  not  far  from  Trowbridge.  If  the 
enemy  advance  all  together,  how  far  we  may  be  endangered,  — 
that  I  humbly  offer  to  you ;  entreating  you  to  take  care  of  us, 
and  to  send  us  with  all  speed  such  an  assistance,  to  Salisbury, 
as  may  enable  us  to  keep  the  field  and  repel  the  enemy,  if  God 
assist  us  :  at  least  to  secure  and  countenance  us  so,  as  that  we 
be  not  put  to  the  shame  and  hazard  of  a  retreat ;  which  will 
lose  the  Parliament  many  friends  in  these  parts,  who  will 
think  themselves  abandoned  on  our  departure  from  them.  Sir, 
I  beseech  you  send  what  Horse  and  Foot  you  can  spare  towards 
Salisbury,  by  way  of  Kingscleere,  with  what  convenient  ex- 
pedition may  be.  Truly  we  look  to  be  attempted  upon  every 
day. 

"  These  things  being  humbly  represented  to  your  knowledge 
and  care,  I  subscribe  myself, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 2 

In  Carte's  Ormond  Papers  (i.  79)  is  a  Letter  of  the  same 
date  on  the  same  subject,  somewhat  illustrative  of  this.  See 
also  Commons  Journals  in  die. 

1  entangle  or  encumber. 

MSS   >..!   v.  p   189;  p  445  of  Traiucript 


196  PART    IT.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  April, 


LETTERS   XXV.-XXVII. 

PRINCE  EUPERT  had  withdrawn  without  fighting ;  was  now 
at  Worcester  with  a  considerable  force,  meditating  new  infall. 
For  which  end,  we  hear,  he  has  sent  2,000  men  across  the 
country  to  his  Majesty  at  Oxford,  to  convoy  "his  Majesty's 
person  and  the  Artillery  "  over  to  Worcester  to  him,  both  of 
which  objects  are  like  to  be  useful  there.  The  Committee  of 
Both  Kingdoms  order  the  said  Convoy  to  be  attacked. 

"  The  charge  of  this  service  they  recommended  particularly 
to  General  Cromwell,  who,  looking  on  himself  now  as  dis- 
charged of  military  employment  by  the  New  Ordinance,  which 
was  to  take  effect  within  few  days,  and  to  have  no  longer 
opportunity  to  serve  his  country  in  that  way,  —  was,  the  night 
before,  come  to  Windsor,  from  his  service  in  the  West,  to  kiss 
the  General's  hand  and  take  leave  of  him  :  when,  in  the  morn- 
ing ere  he  was  come  forth  of  his  chamber,  those  commands, 
than  which  he  thought  of  nothing,  less  in  all  the  world,  came 
to  him  from  the  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms."  * 

"  The  night  before  "  must  mean,  to  all  appearance,  the  22d 
of  April.  How  Cromwell  instantly  took  horse ;  plunged  into 
Oxfordshire,  and  on  the  24th,  at  Islip  Bridge,  attacked  and 
routed  this  said  Convoy ;  and  the  same  day,  "  merely  by  dra- 
goons "  and  fierce  countenance,  took  Bletchington  House,  for 
which  poor  Colonel  Windebank  was  shot,  so  angry  were  they  : 
all  this  is  known  from  Clarendon,  or  more  authentically  from 
Eushworth ; 2  and  here  now  is  Cromwell's  own  account  of  it : 

1  Sprigge's  Anglia  Rediviva  (London,  1647),  p.   10.     Sprigge  was  one  of 
Fairfax's  Chaplains ;  his  Book,  a  rather  ornate  work,  gives  florid  but  authen- 
tic and  sufficient  account  of  this  New-Model  Army  in  all  its  features  and 
operations,  by  which  "  England  "  had  "  come  alive  again."    A  little  sparing 
in  dates ;  but  correct  where  they  are  given.     None  of  the  old  Books  is  better 
worth  reprinting.  —  For  some  glimmer  of  notice  concerning  Joshua  Sprigge 
himself,  see  Wood  in  voce,  —  and  disbelieve  altogether  that  "  Nat.  Fiennes  " 
had  anything  to  do  with  this  Book. 

2  vi.  23,  24. 


1645,  LETTER  XXV.    BLETCHINGTON.  197 

LETTER  XXV. 

"  COMMITTEE  of  Both  Kingdoms,"  first  set  up  in  February 
gone  a  year,  when  the  Scotch  Army  came  to  help,  has  been 
the  Executive  in  the  War-department  ever  since  ;  a  great  but 
now  a  rapidly  declining  authority.  Sits  at  Derby  House  : 
Four  Scotch  ;  Twenty-one  English,  of  whom  Six  a  quorum. 
Johnston  of  Warriston  is  the  notablest  Scotchman  ;  among 
tin-  leading  English  are  Philip  Lord  Wharton  and  the  Younger 
Vane.1 

"  Watlington  "  is  in  the  Southeast  nook  of  Oxfordshire  ;  a 
day's  march  from  Windsor.  "  Major-General  Browne  "  com- 
mands at  Abingdon  ;  a  City  Wood-merchant  once  ;  a  zealous 
soldier,  of  Presbyterian  principles  at  present.  The  rendezvous 
;tt  Watlington  took  place  on  Wednesday  night  ;  the  25th  o£ 
April  is  Friday. 

"  To  the  Riyht  JTonornl>le  the  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms, 
at  Derby  House  :   These. 

"  BLETCHINGTON,  25th  April,  1645. 

"Mr  LORDS  ANI>  GENTLEMEX,  —  According  to  your  Lord 
ships'  appointment,  I  have  attended  your  Service  in  these 
parts  ;  and  have  not  had  so  fit  an  opportunity  to  give  you  an 
account  as  now. 

"  So  soon  as  I  received  your  commands,  I  appointed  a  ren- 
ile/vuus  at  Watlington.  The  body  being  come  up,  I  marched 
to  \Yhe;itley  Bridge,  having  sent  before  to  Major-General 
1!  ro  \vne  for  intelligence;  audit  being  market-day  at  Oxford, 
from  whence  I  likewise  lioj^d,  by  some  of  the  market-people, 
to  •jjiin  notice  where  the  Enemy  was. 

"  Towards  night  I  received  certain  notice  by  Major-General 
I'.rowne,  that  the  Carriages  were  not  stirred,  that  Prince 
M:mrice  was  not  here  ;  and  by  some  Oxford  scholars,  that 


1   List,  and   liuht  as  to   its   n|>|H>intment,   in    Commons  Journals  (7th   Feb. 

I),  iii-  391  ;  Haillic,  ii.  Ml  <  t  -rpius.     Its  Papers  sod  Correspondence, 

a  <  urioin   Mt  of  record*,  lie  iu   very   tolerable  order  iu   the   Stoto-Pupe* 

(  till,  .• 


198  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL   WAR.  25  April, 

there  were  Four  Carriages  and  Wagons  ready  in  one  place,  and 
in  another  Five  ;  all,  as  I  conceived,  fit  for  a  march.1 

"  I  received  notice  also  that  the  Earl  of  Northampton's 
Regiment  was  quartered  at  Islip  ;  wherefore  in  the  evening  I 
marched  that  way,  hoping  to  have  surprised  them;  but,  by 
the  mistake  and  failing  of  the  forlorn-hope,  they  had  an  alarm 
there,  and  to  all  their  quarters,  and  so  escaped  me  ;  by  means 
whereof  they  had  time  to  draw  all  together. 

"  I  kept  my  body  all  night  at  Islip  :  and,  in  the  morning,  a 
party  of  the  Earl  of  Northampton's  Eegiment,  the  Lord  Wil- 
mot's,  and  the  Queen's,  came  to  make  an  infall  upon  me.  Sir 
Thomas  Fairfax's  Eegiment  2  was  the  first  that  took  the  field  ; 
the  rest  drew  out  with  all  possible  speed.  That  which  is  the 
General's  Troop  charged  a  whole  squadron  of  the  Enemy,  and 
presently  broke  it.  Our  other  Troops  coming  seasonably  on, 
the  rest  of  the  Enemy  were  presently  put  into  confusion  ;  so 
that  we  had  the  chase  of  them  three  or  four  miles  ;  wherein 
we  killed  many,  and  took  near  two  hundred  prisoners,  and 
about  four  hundred  horse. 

"  Many  of  them  escaped  towards  Oxford  and  Woodstock  ; 
divers  were  drowned  5  and  others  got  into  a  strong  House  in 
Bletchington,  belonging  to  Sir  Thomas  Cogan  ;  wherein  Colonel 
Windebank  kept  a  garrison  with  near  two  hundred  men. 
Whom  I  presently  summoned  ;  and  after  a  long  Treaty  he 
went  out,  about  twelve  at  night,  with  these  Terms  here  en- 
closed ;  leaving  us  between  two  and  three  hundred  muskets, 
besides  horse-arms,  and  other  ammunition,  and  about  three- 
score-and-eleven  horses  more. 

"  T^ia  was  the  mercy  of  God  ;  and  nothing  is  more  due 
than  a  real  acknowledgment.  And  though  I  have  had  greater 
mercies,  yet  none  clearer  :  because,  in  the  first  [place"],  God 
brought  them  to  our  hands  when  we  looked  not  for  them  ;  and 
delivered  them  out  of  our  hands  when  we  laid  a  reasonable 
design  to  surprise  them,  and  which  we  carefully  endeavored. 
His  merGy  appears  in  this  also,  That  I  did  much  doubt  the 

1  "  mar«rti,"  out  towards  Worcester. 

2  *'  whi«"j  was  once  mine,"  he  might  have  added,  but  modestly  does  not  ; 


only  allud'Hg  to  it  from  afar,  in  the  next  sentence. 


1645.  LETTER  XXVI.    FARRINGDON.  199 

storming  of  the  House,  it  being  strong  and  well  manned,  and 
I  having  few  dragoons,  and  this  being  not  my  business ;  — 
and  yet  we  got  it. 

"  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  say,  God  is  not  enough 
owned.  We  look  too  much  to  men  and  visible  helps  :  this 
hath  much  hindered  our  success.  But  I  hope  God  will  direct 
all  to  acknowledge  Him  alone  in  all  [things]. 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL,."  1 

Poor  Windebank  was  shot  by  sudden  Court-martial,  so  en- 
raged were  they  at  Oxford,  —  for  Cromwell  had  not  even  foot- 
soldiers,  still  less  a  battering  gun.  It  was  his  poor  young 
Wife,  they  said,  she  and  other  "  ladies  on  a  visit  there,"  that 
had  confused  poor  Windebank  :  he  set  his  back  to  the  wall  of 
Merton  College,  and  received  his  death-volley  with  a  soldier's 
stoicism.*  The  Son  of  Secretary  Windebank,  who  fled  beyond 
seas  long  since. 


LETTER   XXVI. 

How  Cromwell,  sending  off  his  new  guns  and  stores  to 
Abingdon,  now  shot  across  westward  to  "  Kadcot  Bridge "  or 
"  Bainpton-in:the-Bush ; "  and  on  the  26th  gained  a  new  vic- 
tory thru; ;  uud  on  the  whole  made  a  rather  brilliant  sally  of 
it :  —  this  too  is  known  from  Clarendon,  or  more  authentically 
in>m  Uush  worth ;  but  only  the  concluding  unsuccessful  part 
"t  this,  the  fruitless  Summons  to  Farringdon,  has  left  any 
trace  in  autograph. 

"  To  the  Governor  of  the  Garrison  in  Farringdon. 

"  29th  April,  1645. 

"  SIR,  —  I  summon  you  to  deliver  into  my  hands  the  House 
wherein  you  are,  and  your  Ammunition,  with  ;ill  things  else 

1  I'amphlet,  in  /'iirliammiary  Hillary,  xiii.  459 :  read  in  the  House,  Monday, 
2Sth  April  (Commons  Jonrnalt,iv.  124).  —  Letter  to  Fairfax  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, A|i|M-mlix,  No.  7. 

<c/«,  p.  128. 


200  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  S9  April, 

there  ;  together  with  your  persons,  to  be  disposed  of  as  the 
Parliament  shall  appoint.  Which  if  you  refuse  to  do,  you  are 
to  expect  the  utmost  extremity  of  war.  I  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  1 


THIS  Governor,  "  Koger  Burgess,"  is  not  to  be  terrified  with 
fierce  countenance  and  mere  dragoons ;  he  refuses.  Cromwell 
condenses  himself  about  Farringdou  Town,  "  sends  for  in- 
fantry "  (but,  we  fear,  gets  none),  and  again  summons :  — 

LETTER   XXVII. 

To  the  same ;  same  date. 

"  SIR,  —  I  understand  by  forty  or  fifty  poor  men  whom  you 
forced  into  your  House,  that  you  have  many  there  whom  you 
cannot  arm,  and  who  are  not  serviceable  to  you. 

"  If  these  men  should  perish  by  your  means,  it  were  great 
inhumanity  surely.  Honor  and  honesty  require  this,  That 
though  you  be  prodigal  of  your  own  lives,  yet  not  to  be  so  of 
theirs.  If  God  give  you  into  my  hands,  I  will  not  spare  a  man 
of  you,  if  you  put  me  to  a  storm. 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  2 

Roger  Burgess,  still  unawed,  refuses;  Cromwell  waits  for 
infantry  from  Abingdon  "till  3  next  morning,"  then  storms; 
loses  fourteen  men,  with  a'  captain  taken  prisoner ;  —  and 
draws  away,  leaving  Burgess  to  crow  over  him.  The  Army, 
which  rose  from  Windsor  yesterday,  gets  to  Reading  this  day, 
and  he  must  hasten  thither.8 

Yesterday,  Wednesday,  Monthly-fast  day,  all  Preachers,  by 
Ordinance  of  Parliament,  were  praying  for  "God's  merciful 
assistance  to  this  New  Army  now  on  march,  and  His  blessing 
upon  their  endeavors." 4  Consider  it ;  actually  "  praying  "  ! 
It  was  a  capability  old  London  and  its  Preachers  and  Popula- 
tions had ;  to  us  the  incrediblest. 

1  Rushworth,  vi.  26.  2  Ibid. 

3  For  Bampton,  &c.  see  Appendix,  No.  7.  *  Rushworth,  vi.  25 


1646.  LETTER  XX VIII.    HUNTINGDON.  201 

LETTER  XXVIIL 

BY  Letter  Twenty-eighth  it  will  be  seen  that  Lieutenant- 
General  Cromwell  has  never  yet  resumed  his  Parliamentary 
duty.  In  fact,  he  is  in  the  Associated  Counties,  raising  force ; 
"  for  protection  of  the  Isle  of  Ely,"  and  other  purposes.  To 
Fairfax  and  his  Officers,  to  the  Parliament,  to  the  Committee 
of  Both  Kingdoms,  to  all  persons,  it  is  clear  that  Cromwell 
cannot  be  dispensed  with.  Fairfax  and  the  Officers  peti- 
tion Parliament  *  that  he  may  be  appointed  their  Lieutenant- 
General,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Horse.  There  is  a  clear 
necessity  in  it.  Parliament,  the  Commons  somewhat  more 
readily  than  the  Lords,  continue,  by  instalments  of  "forty 
days,"  of  "  three  months,"  his  services  in  the  Army ;  and  at 
length  grow  to  regard  him  as  a  constant  element  there.  A  few 
others  got  similar  leave  of  absence,  similar  dispensation  from 
the  Self-denying  Ordinance.  Sprigge's  words,  cited  above,  are 
no  doubt  veracious ;  yet  there  is  trace  of  evidence  a  that  Crom- 
well's continuance  in  the  Army  had,  even  by  the  framers  of 
the  Self-denying  Ordinance,  been  considered  a  thing  possible, 
a  thing  desirable.  As  it  well  might !  To  Cromwell  himself 
there  was  no  overpowering  felicity  in  getting  out  to  be  shot 
at,  except  where  wanted ;  he  very  probably,  as  Sprigge  inti- 
mates, did  let  the  matter  in  silence  take  its  own  course. 

[2b  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the 
Parliament's  Army:  These.] 

"  HUNTIXODON,  4th  Jane,  1645. 

"SiB,  —  I  most  humbly  beseech  you  to  pardon  my  lon^ 
silence.  I  am  conscious  of  the  fault,  considering  the  great 
obligations  lying  upon  me.  But  since  my  coming  into  these 
parts,  I  have  been  busied  to  secure  that  part  of  the  Isle  of  Ely 
where  I  conceived  most  danger  to  be. 

"  Truly  I  found  it  in  a  very  ill  posture :  and  it  is  yet  but 
weak ;  without  works,  ammunition  or  men  considerable,  — and 

1  Their  letter  (NcwKpapers,  9th-16th  June),  in  Crowvelliana,  p.  18. 
1  Godwin's  I/itlory  of  the  Commvnwealth  (London,  1824),  i.  405. 


202  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  June, 

of  money  least :  and  then,  I  hope,  you  will  easily  conceive  of 
the  defence  :  and  God  has  preserved  us  all  this  while  to  a 
miracle.  The  party  under  Vermuyden  waits  the  King's  Army, 
and  is  about  Deeping ;  has  a  command  to  join  with  Sir  John 
Gell,  if  he  commands  him.  So  [too]  the  Nottingham  Horse. 
I  shall  be  bold  to  present  you  with  intelligence  as  it  comes 
to  me. 

"  I  am  bold  to  present  this  as  my  humble  suit :  That  you 
would  be  pleased  to  make  Captain  Rawlins,  this  Bearer,  a  Cap- 
tain of  Horse.  He  has  been  so  before ;  was  nominated  to  the 
Model ;  is  a  most  honest  man.  Colonel  Sidney  leaving  his 
regiment,  if  it  please  you  to  bestow  his  Troop  on  him,  I  am 
confident  he  will  serve  you  faithfully.  So,  by  God's  assist- 
ance will 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

The  "  Vernmyden "  mentioned  here,  who  became  Colonel 
Vermuyden,  is  supposed  to  be  a  son  of  the  Dutch  Engineer  who 
drained  the  Fens.  "Colonel  Sidney"  is  the  celebrated  Alger- 
non ;  he  was  nominated  in  the  "  Model,"  but  is  "  leaving  his 
regiment ; "  having  been  appointed  Governor  of  Chichester.2 
Captain  Rawlins  does  obtain  a  Company  of  Horse;  under 
"  Colonel  Sir  Robert  Pye."  8  —  Colonel  Montague,  afterwards 
Earl  of  Sandwich,  has  a  Foot-Regiment  here.  Hugh  Peters 
is  "  Chaplain  to  the  Train." 


BY  EXPRESS. 

FAIRFAX,  with  his  New-Model  Army,  has  been  beleaguering 
Oxford  for  some  time  past ;  but  in  a  loose  way,  and  making 
small  progress  hitherto.  The  King,  not  much  apprehensive 
about  Oxford,  is  in  the  Midland  Counties ;  has  just  stormed 

1  Rushworth,  vi.  (London,  1701),  p.  37. 

a  Commons  Journals,  iv.  136  (9th  May,  1645). 

*  Army-List,  in  Sprigge  (p.  330). 


1645.  BY   EXPRESS,  CAMBRIDGE.  203 

Leicester  ("Lost  night  of  May,"  says  Clarendon,1  a  terrible 
night,  and  still  more  terrible  "  daybreak  "  and  day  following 
it),  which  perhaps  may  itself  relieve  Oxford.  His  Majesty  is 
since  at  halt,  or  in  loose  oscillating  movement,  "  hunting  "  on 
the  hills,  "  driving  large  herds  of  cattle  before  him,"  —  nobody, 
not  even  himself,  yet  knows  whitherward.  Whitherward? 
This  is  naturally  a  very  agitating  question  for  the  neighboring 
populations ;  but  most  of  all,  intensely  agitating  for  the  Eastern 
Association,  —  though  Cromwell,  in  that  Huntingdon  Letter, 
occupied  with  Ely  aud  other  Garrisons,  seems  to  take  it  rather 
quietly.  But  two  days  later,  we  have  trace  of  him  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  of  huge  alarm  round  him  there.  Here  is  an  old 
Piece  of  Paper  still  surviving;  still  emblematic  of  old  dead 
days  and  their  extinct  agitations,  when  once  we  get  to  decipher 
it!  They  are  the  Cambridge  Committee  that  write;  "the 
Army  about  Oxford,"  we  have  seen,  is  Fairfax's. 

\_To  the  Deputy-Lieutenants  of  Suffolk :  These.~\ 

"CAMBRIDGE,  6th  Jane,  1645. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  The  cloud  of  the  Enemy's  Army  hanging 
still  upon  the  borders,  and  drawing  towards  Harborough,  make 
some  supposals  that  they  aim  at  the  Association.  In  regard 
whereof,  we  having  information  that  the  Army  about  Oxford 
was  not  yesterday  advanced,  albeit  it  was  ordered  so  to  do,  we 
thought  meet  to  give  you  intelligence  thereof ;  —  and  therewith 
earnestly  to  propound  to  your  consideration,  That  you  will 
have  in  readiness  what  Horse  and  Foot  may  be  had,  that  so  a 
proportion  may  be  drawn  forth  for  this  service,  such  as  may 
be  expedient. 

"And  because  we  conceive  that  the  exigence  may  require 
Horse  and  Dragoons,  we  desire  That  all  your  Horse  and  Dni- 
goons  may  hasten  to  Newmarket;  where  they  will  receive 
orders  for  farther  advance,  according  as  the  motion  of  the 
Enemy  and  of  our  Army  shall  require.  And  To  allow  both 
the  several  Troops  of  Dragoons  and  Horse  one  week's  pay,  to 
be  laid  down  by  the  owner ;  which  shall  be  repaid  out  of  the 

»  ii.  857. 


204  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  CJune, 

public  money  out  of  the  County ;  the  pay  of  each  Trooper 
being  14  shillings  per  week,  and  of  a  Dragoon  10s.  6d.  per 
week. 

"Your  servants, 

"H.  MILDMAY,  W.  SPRING, 

W.  HEVENINGHAM,     MAURICE  BARROW, 
Ti.  MIDLTON  (sic),      NATHANIEL  BACON, 
"  [P.S.]  The  Place  of  Rendezvous  for     FRANCIS  RUSSELL, 
the  Horse   and  Dragoons   is   to  be  at    OLIVER  CROMWELL, 
Newmarket;  and  for  the  Foot  Bury. —     HUM.  WALCOT, 
Since  the  writing  hereof,  we  received    ISAAK  PULLER, 
certain    intelligence   that   the   Enemy's     ED  ...  [illegible]. 
Body,  with  60  carriages,  was  upon  his  march  towards  the 
Association,  3  miles  on  this  side  Harborough,  last  night  at 
4  of  the  clock." 1 

The  Original,  a  hasty,  blotted  Paper,  with  the  Signatures  in 
two  unequal  columns  (as  imitated  here),  and  with  the  Post- 
script crammed  hurriedly  into  the  corner,  and  written  from 
another  ink-bottle  as  is  still  apparent,  —  represents  to  us  an 
agitated  scene  in  the  old  Committee-rooms  at  Cambridge  that 
Friday.  In  Rushworth  (see  vi.  36-38),  of  the  same  date,  and 
signed  by  the  same  parties,  with  some  absentees  (Oliver  among 
them,  probably  now  gone  on  other  business)  and  more  new 
arrivals,  —  is  a  Letter  to  Fairfax  himself,  urging  him  to  speed 
over,  and  help  them  in  their  peril.  They  say,  "  We  had  for- 
merly written  to  the  Counties  to  raise  their  Horse  and  Dra- 
goons, and  have  now  written,"  as  above  for  one  instance,  "  to 
quicken  them."  —  The  Suffolk  and  other  Horse,  Old  Ironsides 
not  hindmost,  did  muster;  and  in  about  a  week  hence,  there 
came  other  news  from  "  this  side  Harborough  last  night "  ! 

1  Original,  long  stationary  at  Ipswich,  is  now  (Jan.  1849)  the  property  of 
John  Wodderspoon,  Esq.,  Mercury  Office,  Norwich. 


LETT EK  XXiX.    NASEBY.  205 


LETTER  XXIX. 
NASEBY. 

THE  old  Hamlet  of  Naseby  stands  yet,  on  its  old  hill-top, 
very  much  as  it  did  in  Saxon  days,  on  the  Northwestern  border 
of  Northamptonshire;  some  seven  or  eight  miles  from  Market- 
Harborough  in  Leicestershire;  nearly  on  a  line,  and  nearly 
midway,  between  that  Town  and  Daventry.  A  peaceable  old 
Hamlet,  of  some  eight  hundred  souls  ;  clay  cottages  for 
laborers,  but  neatly  thatched  "and  swept;  smith's  shop,  sad- 
dler's shop,  beer-shop,  all  in  order ;  forming  a  kind  of  square, 
which  leads  off  Southwards  into  two  long  streets  :  the  old 
Church,  with  its  graves,  stands  in  the  centre,  the  truncated 
spire  finishing  itself  with  a  strange  old  Ball,  held  up  by  rods; 
a  "  hollow  copper  Ball,  which  came  from  Boulogne  in  Henry 
the  Eighth's  time,"  —  which  has,  like  Hudibras's  breeches, 
"been  at  the  Siege  of  Bullen."  The  ground  is  upland,  moor- 
land, though  now  growing  corn ;  was  not  enclosed  till  the  last 
generation,  and  is  still  somewhat  bare  of  wood.  It  stands 
nearly  in  the  heart  of  England :  gentle  Dulness,  taking  a  turn 
at  etymology,  sometimes  derives  it  from  Navel ;  "  Navesby, 
quasi  Navelsby,  from  being"  &c. :  Avon  Well,  the  distinct 
source  of  Shakspeare's  Avon,  is  on  the  Western  slope  of  the 
high  grounds  ;  Xen  and  AVi-lland,  streams  leading  towards 
Cromwell's  Fen-country,  begin  to  gather  themselves  from 
b°ggy  places  on  the  Eastern  side.  The  grounds,  as  we  say, 
lie  high ;  and  are  still,  in  their  new  subdivisions,  known  by  the 
name  of  "  Hills,"  «  Rutjmt  Hill,"  "  Mill  Hill,"  "  Dust  Hill," 
and  the  like,  precisely  as  in  Rushworth's  time :  but  they  are 
not  projMM-ly  hills  at  all ;  they  are  broad  blunt  clayey  masses, 
swelling  towards  and  from  each  other,  like  indolent  waves  of 
a  sea,  sometimes  of  miles  in  extent. 

It  was  on  this  high  moor-ground,  in  the  centre  of  England, 
that  King  Charles,  on  the  14th  of  June,  1645,  fought  his  last 


206  PAKT  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  UJune. 

battle ;  dashed  fiercely  against  the  New-Model  Array,  which  he 
had  despised  till  then  ;  and  saw  himself  shivered  utterly  to 
ruin  thereby.  "  Prince  Rupert,  on  the  King's  right  wing, 
charged  up  the  hill,  and  carried  all  before  him ; "  but  Lieu- 
tenant-General Cromwell  charged  downhill  on  the  other  wing, 
likewise  carrying  all  before  him,  —  and  did  not  gallop  off  the 
field  to  plunder,  he.  Cromwell,  ordered  thither  by  the  Parlia- 
ment, had  arrived  from  the  Association  two  days  before,  "amid 
shouts  from  the  whole  Army :  "  he  had  the  ordering  of  the 
Horse  this  morning.  Prince  Rupert,  on  returning  from  his 
plunder,  finds  the  King's  Infantry  a  ruin ;  prepares  to  charge 
again  with  the  rallied  Cavalry ;  but  the  Cavalry  too,  when  it 
came  to  the  point,  "broke  all  asunder,"  — never  to  reassemble 
more.  The  chase  went  through  Harborough  ;  where  the  King 
had  already  been  that  morning,  when  in  an  evil  hour  he  turned 
back,  to  revenge  some  "  surprise  of  an  outpost  at  Naseby  the 
night  before,"  and  give  the  Roundheads  battle. 

Ample  details  of  this  Battle,  and  of  the  movements  prior  and 
posterior  to  it,  are  to  be  found  in  Sprigge,  or  copied  with  some 
abridgment  into  Rushworth ;  who  has  also  copied  a  strange 
old  Plan  of  the  Battle ;  half  plan,  half  picture,  which  the  Sale- 
Catalogues  are  very  chary  of,  in  the  case  of  Sprigge.  By 
assiduous  attention,  aided  by  this  Plan,  as  the  old  names  yet 
stick  to  the  localities,  the  Narrative  can  still  be,  and  has  lately 
been,  pretty  accurately  verified,  and  the  Figure  of  the  old 
Battle  dimly  brought  back  again.1  The  reader  shall  imagine 
it,  for  the  present.  —  On  the  crown  of  Naseby  Height  stands 
a  modern  Battle-monument ;  but,  by  an  unlucky  oversight,  it 
is  above  a  mile  to  the  east  of  where  the  Battle  really  was. 
There  are  likewise  two  modern  Books  about  Naseby  and  its 
Battle  ;  both  of  them  without  value. 

The  Parliamentary  Army  stood  ranged  on  the  Height  still 
partly  called  "  Mill  Hill,"  as  in  Rushworth's  time,  a  mile  and 
half  from  Naseby ;  the  King's  Army,  on  a  parallel  "  Hill,"  its 
back  to  Harborough ;  —  with  the  wide  table  of  upland  now 
named  Broad  Moor  between  them  ;  where  indeed  the  main 
brunt  of  the  action  still  clearly  enough  shows  itself  to  have 

1  Appendix.  No.  8. 


1645.  LETTER  XXIX.    NASEBY.  207 

been.  There  are  hollow  spots,  of  a  rank  vegetation,  scattered 
over  that  Broad  Moor ;  which  are  understood  to  have  once  been 
burial  mounds  ;  —  some  of  which,  one  to  my  knowledge,  have 
been  (with  more  or  less  of  sacrilege)  verified  as  such.  A  friend 
of  mine  has  in  his  cabinet  two  ancient  grinder-teeth,  dug  lately 
from  that  ground,  —  and  waits  for  an  opportunity  to  rebury 
them  there.  Sound  effectual  grinders,  one  of  them  very  largo  ; 
which  ate  their  breakfast  on  the  fourteenth  morning  of  June 
two  hundred  years  ago,  and  except  to  be  clenched  once  in  grim 
battle,  had  never  work  to  do  more  in  this  world !  —  "A  stack 
of  dead  bodies,  perhaps  about  100,  had  been  buried  in  this 
Trench ;  piled  as  in  a  wall,  a  man's  length  thick  :  the  skeletons 
lay  in  courses,  the  heads  of  one  course  to  the  heels  of  the  next ; 
one  figure,  by  the  strange  position  of  the  bones,  gave  us  the 
hideous  notion  of  its  having  been  thrown  in  before  death !  We 
did  not  proceed  far :  —  perhaps  some  half-dozen  skeletons. 
The  bones  were  treated  with  all  piety  ;  watched  rigorously, 
over  Sunday,  till  they  could  be  covered  in  again."  1  Sweet 
friends,  for  Jesus'  sake  forbear !  — 

At  this  Battle  Mr.  John  Rush  worth,  our  Historical  Rush  worth, 
h:ul  unexpectedly,  for  some  instants,  sight  of  a  very  famous  per 
M'ii.  Mr.  John  is  Secretary  to  Fairfax  ;  and  they  have  placed 
him  to-day  among  the  Baggage-wagons,  near  Naseby  Hamlet, 
above  a  mile  from  the  fighting,  where  he  waits  in  an  anxious 
manner.  It  is  known  how  Prince  Rupert  broke  our  left  wing, 
while  Cromwell  was  breaking  their  left.  "  A  gentleman  of 
Public  Employment  in  the  late  Service  near  Naseby  "  writes 
next  day,  "  Harborough,  15th  June,  2  in  the  morning,"  a  rough 
graphic  Letter  in  the  Newspapers,2  wherein  is  this  sentence : 

..."  A  party  of  theirs,  that  broke  through  the  left  wing  of 
horse,  came  quite  behind  the  rear  to  our  Train ;  the  Leader 
of  them,  U-ing  a  person  somewhat  in  habit  like  the  General, 
in  a  red  montero,  as  the  General  had.  He  came  as  a  friend; 
our  i-ommandrr  of  the  guard  of  the  Train  went  with  his  hat  in 

1   MS.  jtenn  me. 

Kin"'-"  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  212,  §  26,  p.  2 :  the  punctual  contem- 
p'. run  mi-  r.. 1|.-, •;.,!•  h:i.-  n.iin.  I  him  with  liix  pen  "Mr.  Hushwortli'i*  Letter, 
being  tue  Secretory  to  hut  L.\i«-U< -m  \  " 


208  PART  II.    FIRST    CIVIL   WAR.  14 June, 

his  hand,  and  asked  him,  How  the  day  went  ?  thinking  it 
had  been  the  General :  the  Cavalier,  who  we  since  heard  was 
Rupert,  asked  him  and  the  rest,  If  they  would  have  quar- 
ter ?  They  cried  No  j  gave  fire,  and  instantly  beat  them  off.  It 
was  a  happy  deliverance,"  —  without  doubt. 

There  were  taken  here  a  good  few  "  ladies  of  quality  in  car- 
riages ; "  —  and  above  a  hundred  Irish  ladies  not  of  quality, 
tattery  camp-followers  "  with  long  skean-knives  about  a  foot 
in  length,"  which  they  well  knew  how  to  use  ;  upon  whom  I 
fear  the  Ordinance  against  Papists  pressed  hard  this  day.1 
The  King's  Carriage  was  also  taken,  with  a  Cabinet  and  many 
Royal  Autographs  in  it,  which  when  printed  made  a  sad  im- 
pression against  his  Majesty, — gave,  in  fact,  a  most  melan- 
choly view  of  the  veracity  of  his  Majesty,  "  On  the  word  of  a 
King." 2  All  was  lost !  — 

Here  is  Cromwell's  Letter,  written  from  Harborough,  or 
"  Haverbrowe  "  as  he  calls  it,  that  same  night ;  after  the  hot 
Battle  and  hot  chase  were  over.  The  original,  printed  long 
since  in  Rushworth,  still  lies  in  the  British  Museum,  —  with 
"  a  strong  steady  signature,"  which  one  could  look  at  with  in 
terest.  "  The  Letter  consists  of  two  leaves  ;  much  worn,  and 
now  supported  by  pasting  ;  red  seal  much  defaced ;  is  addressed 
on  the  second  leaf  :  "  — 

"  For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Speaker  of  the  Commons 
House  of  Parliament :   These. 

"  HARBOROUGH,  14th  June,  1645. 

"  SIB,  —  Being  commanded  by  you  to  this  service,  I  think 
myself  bound  to  acquaint  you  with  the  good  hand  of  God 
towards  you  and  us. 

"  We  marched  yesterday  after  the  King,  who  went  before 
us  from  Daventry  to  Harborough ;  and  quartered  about  six 
miles  from  him.  This  day  we  marched  towards  him.  He 
drew  out  to  meet  us ;  both  Armies  engaged.  We,  after  three 
hours'  fight  very  doubtful,  at  last  routed  his  Army ;  killed  and 

1  Whitlocke. 

2  The  King's  Cabinet  opened ;  or  Letters  taken  in  the  Cabinet  at  Naseby  Field 
(London,  1645)  :  —  reprinted  in  Harleian  Miscellany  (London,  1810),  v.  514. 


164*.  LETTER  XXIX.    NASEBY.  f>09 

took  about  5,000,  —  very  many  officers,  but  of  what  quality 
we  yet  know  not.  We  took  also  about  200  carriages,  all  he 
had ;  and  all  his  guns,  being  12  in  number,  whereof  two  were 
demi-cannon,  two  demi-culverins,  and  I  think  the  rest  sackers. 
We  pursued  the  Enemy  from  three  miles  short  of  Harborough 
to  nine  beyond,  even  to  the  sight  of  Leicester,  whither  the 
King  fled. 

"  Sir,  this  is  none  other  but  the  hand  of  God ;  and  to  Him 
alone  belongs  the  glory,  wherein  none  are  to  share  with  Him. 
The  General  served  you  with  all  faithfulness  and  honor  :  and 
the  best  commendation  I  can  give  him  is,  That  I  daresay  he 
attributes  all  to  God,  and  would  rather  perish  than  assume  to 
himself.  Which  is  an  honest  and  a  thriving  way  :  —  and  yet 
as  much  for  bravery  may  be  given  to  him,  in  this  action,  as  to 
a  man.  Honest  men  served  you  faithfully  in  this  action.  Sir, 
they  are  trusty ;  I  beseech  you,  in  the  name  of  God,  not  to 
discourage  them.  I  wish  this  action  may  beget  thankfulness 
and  humility  in  all  that  are  concerned  in  it.  He  that  ventures 
his  life  for  the  liberty  of  his  country,  I  wish  he  trust  God  for 
the  liberty  of  his  conscience,  and  you  for  the  liberty  he  fights 
for.  In  this  he  rests,  who  is 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

John  Bunyan,  I  believe,  is  this  night  in  Leicester,  —  not 
yet  writing  his  Pilyrim's  Progress  on  paper,  but  acting  it  on 
the  face  of  the  Earth,  with  a  brown  matchlock  on  his  shoulder. 
Or  rather,  vrithout  the  matchlock  just  at  present ;  Leicester  and 
he  having  beea  taken  the  other  day.  "  Harborough  Church  " 
is  getting  "  filled  with  prisoners,"  while  Oliver  writes, —  and  an 
immense  contemporaneous  tumult  everywhere  going  on  I 

The  "  honest  men  who  served  you  faithfully  "  on  this  occa- 
sion are  the  considerable  portion  of  the  Army  who  have  not 
yet  succeeded  in  bringing  themselves  to  take  the  Covenant. 
Whom  the  Presbyterian  Party,  rigorous  for  their  own  formula, 
call  "  Schismatics,"  "  Sectaries,"  "  Anabaptists,"  and  other  hard 

1  Harl.  M8S  uu.  7502,  art.  6,  p.  7 ;  Kushworth,  vi.  45. 
VOL.  xvu.  14 


210  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  14  June, 

names ;  whom  Cromwell,  here  and  elsewhere,  earnestly  pleads 
for.  To  Cromwell,  perhaps  as  much  as  to  another,  order  was 
lovely,  and  disorder  hateful ;  but  he  discerned  better  than  some 
others  what  order  and  disorder  really  were.  The  forest-trees 
are  not  in  "  order "  because  they  are  all  clipt  into  the  same 
shape  of  Dutch-dragons,  and  forced  to  die  or  grow  in  that 
way ;  but  because  in  each  of  them  there  is  the  same  genuine 
unity  of  life,  from  the  inmost  pith  to  the  outmost  leaf,  and 
they  do  grow  according  to  that !  —  Cromwell  naturally  became 
the  head  of  this  Schismatic  Party,  intent  to  grow  not  as  Dutch- 
dragons,  but  as  real  trees  ;  a  Party  which  naturally  increased 
with  the  increasing  earnestness  of  events  and  of  men. 

The  King  stayed  but  a  few  hours  in  Leicester  ;  he  had  taken 
Leicester,  as  we  saw,  some  days  before,  and  now  it  was  to  be 
re-taken  from  him  some  days  after  :  —  he  stayed  but  a  few 
hours  here  ;  rode  on,  that  same  night,  to  Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 
which  he  reached  "at  daybreak," — poor  wearied  King  !  — 
then  again  swiftly  Westward,  to  Wales,  to  Ragland  Castle,  to 
this  place  and  that;  in  the  hope  of  raising  some  force,  and 
coining  to  fight  again ;  which,  however,  he  could  never  do.1 
Some  ten  mouths  more  of  roaming,  and  he,  "  disguised  as  a 
groom,"  will  be  riding  with  Parson  Hudson  towards  the  Scots 
at  Newark. 

The  New-Model  Army  marched  into  the  Southwest;  very 
soon  "  relieved  Colonel  Robert  Blake  "  (Admiral  Blake),  and 
many  others  ;  —  marched  to  ever  new  exploits  and  victories, 
which  excite  the  pious  admiration  of  Joshua  Sprigge ;  and 
very  soon  swept  all  its  enemies  from  the  field,  and  brought  this 
War  to  a  close.2 

The  following  Letters  exhibit  part  of  Cromwell's  share  in 
that  business,  and  may  be  read  with  little  commentary. 

1  Iter  Carolinum ;  being  a  succinct  Relation  of  the  necessitated  Marches, 
Retreats  and  Sufferings  of  his  Majesty  Charles  the  First,  from  10th  January, 
1641,  till  the  time  of  his  Death,  1648  :  Collected  by  a  daily  Attendant  upon  his 
Sacred  Majesty  during  all  the  said  time.  London,  1660.  — It  is  reprinted  in 
Somers  Tracts  (v.  263),  but,  as  usual  there,  without  any  editing  except  a  nomi- 
nal one,  though  it  somewhat  needed  more. 

a  A  Journal  of  every  day's  March  of  the  Army  under  his  Excellency  Sir 
Thomas  Fairfax  (in  Sprigge,  p.  331). 


1646.  LETTER  XXX.    THE  CLUBMEN.  211 


LETTEK  XXX. 

THE    CLUBMEN. 

THE  victorious  Army,  driving  all  before  it  in  the  Southwest, 
where  alone  the  King  had  still  any  considerable  fighting  force, 
found  itself  opposed  by  a  very  unexpected  enemy,  famed  in 
the  old  Pamphlets  by  the  name  of  Clubmen.  The  design  was 
at  bottom  Royalist;  but  the  country -people  in  these  regions 
had  been  worked  upon  by  the  Royalist  Gentry  and  Clergy,  on 
the  somewhat  plausible  ground  of  taking  up  arms  to  defend 
themselves  against  the  plunder  and  harassment  of  loth  Armies. 
The  great  mass  of  them  were  Neutrals ;  there  even  appeared 
by  and  by  various  transient  bodies  of  "  Clubmen  "  on  the  Par- 
liament side,  whom  Fairfax  entertained  occasionally  to  assist 
him  in  pioneering  and  other  such  services.  They  were  called 
Clubmen,  not,  as  M.  Villemain  supposes,1  because  they  united 
in  Clubs,  but  because  they  were  armed  with  rough  country 
weapons,  mere  bludgeons  if  no  other  could  be  had.  Sufficient 
understanding  of  them  may  be  gained  from  the  following 
Letter  of  Cromwell,  prefaced  by  some  Excerpts. 

From  Rushworth :  "  Thursday,  July  3d,  Fairfax  marched 
from  Blandford  to  Dorchester,  12  miles ;  a  very  hot  day. 
Where  Colonel  Sidenham,  Governor  of  Weymouth,  gave  him 
information  of  the  condition  of  those  parts ;  and  of  the  great 
danger  from  the  Club-risers ; "  a  set  of  men  "  who  would  not 
suffer  either  contribution  or  victuals  to  be  carried  to  the  Par- 
liament's garrisons.  And  the  same  night  Mr.  Hollis  of  Dor- 
setshire, the  chief  leader  of  the  Ch.bmen,  with  some  others 
of  their  principal  men,  came  to  Fairfax :  and  Mr.  Hollis  owned 
himself  to  be  one  of  their  leaders ;  affm.ring  that  it  was  fit  the 

1  Our  French  friend*  ought  to  be  informed  that  M.  Vi Ill-main's  Book  on 
Cromwell  ia,  unluckily,  a  rather  ignorant  and  shallow  one.  —  Of  M.  Gni/»t, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  are  to  say  that  his  Two  Volume*,  so  far  as  they  go,  nro 
thr  fruit  of  n-al  ability  and  solid  itudii-H  applied  to  those  Transaction*. 


212  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  4  August, 

people  should  show  their  grievances  and  their  strength.  Fair- 
fax treated  them  civilly,  and  promised  they  should  have  an 
answer  the  next  morning.  For  they  were  so  strong  at  that 
time,  that  it  was  held  a  point  of  prudence  to  be  fair  in  de- 
meanor towards  them  for  a  while ;  for  if  he  should  engage 
with  General  Goring  and  be  put  to  the  worst,  these  Clubmen 
would  knock  them  on  the  head  as  they  should  fly  for  safety. 
—  That  which  they  desired  from  him  was  a  safe-conduct  for 
certain  persons  to  go  to  the  King  and  Parliament  with  Peti- 
tions : " l  which  Fairfax  in  a  very  mild  but  resolute  manner 
refused. 

From  Sprigge,2  copied  also  into  Rushworth  with  some  inac- 
curacies :  "  On  Monday,  August  4th,  Lieutenant-General  Crom- 
well, having  intelligence  of  some  of  their  places  of  rendezvous 
for  their  several  divisions,  went  forth  "  from  Sherborne  "  with 
a  party  of  Horse  to  meet  these  Clubmen  ;  being  well  satisfied 
of  the  danger  of  their  design.  As  he  was  marching  towards 
Shaftesbury  with  the  party,  they  discovered  some  colors  upon 
the  top  of  a  high  Hill,  full  of  wood  and  almost  inaccessible. 
A  Lieutenant  with  a  small  party  was  sent  to  them  to  know 
their  meaning,  and  to  acquaint  them  that  the  Lieutenant- 
General  of  the  Army  was  there  ;  whereupon  Mr.  Newman,  one 
of  their  leaders,  thought  fit  to  come  down,  and  told  us,  The  in- 
tent was  to  desire  to  know  why  the  gentlemen  were  taken  at 
Shaftesbury  on  Saturday  ?  The  Lieutenant-General  returned 
him  this  answer  :  That  he  held  himself  not  bound  to  give  him 
or  them  an  account;  what  was  done  was  by  Authority;  and 
they  that  did  it  were  not  responsible  to  them  that  had  none : 
but  not  to  leave  them  wholly  unsatisfied,  he  told  him,  Those 
persons  so  met  had  been  the  occasion  and  stirrers  of  many 
tumultuous  and  unlawful  meetings ;  for  which  they  were  to  be 
tried  by  law ;  which  trial  ought  not  by  them  to  be  questioned 
or  interrupted.  Mr.  Newman  desired  to  go  up  to  return  the 
answer ;  the  Lieutenant-General  with  a  small  party  went  with 
him  ;  and  had  some  conference  with  the  people  to  this  pur- 
pose :  That  whereas  they  pretended  to  meet  there  to  save 
their  goods,  they  took  a  very  ill  course  for  that :  to  leave  their 
1  Rmshworth,  vi  52.  a  pp.  78,  79. 


J645.  LETTER  XXX.    THE  CLUBMEN.  213 

houses  was  the  way  to  lose  their  goods ;  and  it  was  offered 
them,  That  justice  should  be  done  upon  any  who  offered  them 
violence:  and  as  for  the  gentlemen  taken  at  Shaftesbury,  it 
was  only  to  answer  some  things  they  were  accused  of,  which 
they  had  done  contrary  to  law  and  the  peace  of  the  Kingdom. 
—  Herewith  they  seeming  to  be  well  satisfied,  promised  to 
return  to  their  houses ;  and  accordingly  did  so. 

"These  being  thus  quietly  sent  home,  the  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral  advanced  farther,  to  a  meeting  of  a  greater  number,  of 
about  4,000,  who  betook  themselves  to  Hambledon  Hill,  near 
Shrawton.  At  the  bottom  of  the  Hill  ours  met  a  man  with  a 
musket,  and  asked,  Whither  he  was  going  ?  he  said,  To  the 
Club  Army ;  ours  asked,  What  he  meant  to  do  ?  he  asked, 
What  they  had  to  do  with  that  ?  Being  required  to  lay  down 
his  arms,  he  said  He  would  first  lose  his  life ;  but  was  not  so 
good  as  his  word,  for  though  he  cocked  and  presented  his  mus- 
ket, he  was  prevented,  disarmed,  and  wounded,  but  not "  — 
Here,  however,  is  Cromwell's  own  Narrative :  — 

"  To  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Parliament' s  Forces  [at  Sherbome :  These~\. 

"  [SHAFTESBURY,]  4th  August,  1645. 

«  SIR,  —  I  marched  this  morning  towards  Shaftesbury.  In 
my  way  I  found  a  party  of  Clubmen  gathered  together,  about 
two  miles  on  this  side  of  the  Town,  towards  you;  and  one  Mr. 
Newman  in  the  head  of  them,  —  who  was  one  of  those  who  did 
attend  you  at  Dorchester,  with  Mr.  Hollis.  I  sent  to  them  to 
know  the  cause  of  their  meeting :  Mr.  Newman  came  to  me  ; 
ami  told  me,  That  the  Clubmen  in  Dorset  and  Wilts,  to  the 
number  of  ten  thousand,  were  to  meet  about  their  men  who 
were  taken  away  at  Shaftesbury,  and  that  their  intendment 
was  to  secure  themselves  from  plundering.  To  the  first  I  told 
them,  That  although  no  account  was  due  to  them,  yet  I  knew 
the  men  were  taken  by  your  authority,  to  be  tried  judicially 
for  raising  ;i  Third  Party  in  the  Kingdom  ;  and  if  they  should 
be  found  guilty,  they  must  suffer  according  to  the  nature  of 
tin  ir  offfinv;  if  innocent,  T  assured  them  you  would  acquit 
them.  Upon  this  th^y  said.  It  (h.-y  have  deserved  punish- 


214  PART  II.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR. 

ment,  they  would  not  have  anything  to  do  with  them ;  and 
so  were  quieted  as  to  that  point.  For  the  other  [point],  I 
assured  them,  That  it  was  your  great  care,  not  to  suffer  them 
in  the  least  to  be  plundered,  and  that  they  should  defend 
themselves  from  violence,  and  bring  to  your  Army  such  as 
did  them  any  wrong,  where  they  should  be  punished  with  all 
severity :  upon  this,  very  quietly  and  peaceably  they  marched 
away  to  their  houses,  being  very  well  satisfied  and  contented. 

"  We  marched  on  to  Shaftesbury,  where  we  heard  a  great 
body  of  them  was  drawn  together  about  Hambledon  Hill ;  — 
where  indeed  near  two  thousand  were  gathered.  I  sent  [up] 
a  forlorn-hope  of  about  fifty  Horse ;  who  coming  very  civilly 
to  them,  they  fired  upon  them ;  and  ours  desiring  some  of 
them  to  come  to  me,  were  refused  with  disdain.  They  were 
drawn  into  one  of  the  old  Camps,1  upon  a  very  high  Hill :  I 
sent  one  Mr.  Lee  2  to  them,  To  certify  the  peaceableness  of 
my  intentions,  and  To  desire  them  to  peaceableness,  and  to 
submit  to  the  Parliament.  They  refused,  and  fired  at  us.  I 
sent  him  a  second  time,  To  let  them  know,  that  if  they  would 
lay  down  their  arms,  no  wrong  should  be  done  them.  They 
still  (through  the  animation  of  their  leaders,  and  especially 
two  vile  Ministers)  refused;  I  commanded  your  Captain-Lieu- 
tenant to  draw  up  to  them,  to  be  in  readiness  to  charge ;  and 
if  upon  his  falling  on,  they  would  lay  down  arms,  to  accept 
them  and  spare  them.  When  we  came  near,  they  refused  his 
offer,  and  let  fly  at  him ;  killed  about  two  of  his  men,  and  at 
least  four  horses.  The  passage  not  being  for  above  three 
abreast,  kept  us  out :  whereupon  Major  Desborow  wheeled 
about ;  got  in  the  rear  of  them,  beat  them  from  the  work,  and 
did  some  small  execution  upon  them;  —  I  believe  killed  not 
twelve  of  them,  but  cut  very  many  [and  put  them  all  to 
flight].  We  have  taken  about  300 ;  many  of  which  are  poor 
silly  creatures,  whom  if  you  please  to  let  me  send  home,  they 
promise  to  be  very  dutiful  for  time  to  come,  and  'will  be 
hanged  before  they  come  out  again.' 

1  Roman  Camps  (Cough's  Camden,  i.  52). 

2  "  One  Mr.  Lee,  who,  upon  the  approach  of  ours,  had  come  from  them." 
(Sprigge,  p.  79.) 


1645.  LETTER  XXX.    THE  CLUBMEN.  215 

"  The  ringleaders  which  we  have,  I  intend  to  bring  to  you. 
They  had  taken  divers  of  the  Parliament  soldiers  prisoners, 
besides  Colonel  Fiennes  his  men;  and  used  them  most  barba- 
rously ;  bragging  They  hoped  to  see  my  Lord  Hopton,  and  that 
he  is  to  command  them.  They  expected  from  Wilts  great 
store ;  and  gave  out  they  meant  to  raise  the  siege  at  Sherborne, 
when  [once]  they  were  all  met.  We  have  gotten  great  store 
of  their  arms,  and  they  carried  few  or  none  home.  We  quar- 
ter about  ten  miles  off,  and  purpose  to  draw  our  quarters  near 
to  you  to-morrow. 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVEK  CROMWELL."  * 

"  On  Tuesday  at  night,  August  5th,  the  Lieutenant-General " 
Cromwell  "  with  his  party  returned  to  Sherborne,"  where  the 
General  and  the  rest  were  very  busy  besieging  the  inexpug- 
nable Sir  Lewis  Dives. 

"  This  work,"  which  the  Lieutenant  General  had  now  been 
upon,  continues  Sprigge,  "  though  unhappy,  was  very  neces- 
sary." a  No  messenger  could  be  sent  out  but  he  was  picked 
up  by  these  Clubmen  ;  these  once  dispersed,  "  a  man  might 
ride  very  quietly  from  Sherborne  to  Salisbury."  The  inexpug- 
nable Sir  Lewis  Dives  (a  thrasonical  person  known  to  the 
readers  of  Evelyn),  after  due  battering,  was  now  soon  stormed: 
whereupon,  by  Letters  found  on  him,  it  became  apparent  how 
deeply  Koyalist  this  scheme  of  Clubmen  had  been ;  "  Commis- 
sions for  raising  regiments  of  Clubmen  ; "  the  design  to  be 
extended  over  England  at  large,  "yea  into  the  Associated 
Counties."  However,  it  has  now  come  to  nothing:  and  the 
Army  turns  Northward  to  the  Siege  of  Bristol,  where  Prince 
Bupert  is  doing  all  he  can  to  entrench  himself. 

1  Newspapers  (Cromwelliana,  p.  20).  *  Sprigge,  p.  81. 


PAltT  II.    .FlliST   CIVIL   WAR.  14  Sept. 


LETTER  XXXI. 

STORM    OF    BRISTOL. 

"ON  the  Lord's  Day,  September  21,  according  to  Order  of 
Parliament,  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell's  Letter  on  the  tak- 
ing of  Bristol  was  read  in  the  several  Congregations  about 
London,  and  thanks  returned  to  Almighty  God  for  the  admira- 
ble and  wonderful  reducing  of  that  city.  The  Letter  of  the 
renowned  Commander  is  well  worth  observation."  *  For  the 
Siege  itself,  and  what  preceded  and  followed  it,  see,  besides 
this  Letter,  Rupert's  own  account,2  and  the  ample  details  of 
Sprigge  copied  with  abridgment  by  Rushworth :  Sayer's  His- 
tory of  Bristol  gives  Plans,  and  all  manner  of  local  details, 
though  in  a  rather  vague  way. 

[For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Speaker  of  the  Commons 
House  of  Parliament :  These.'} 

"BRISTOL,  14th  September,  1645. 

"  SIR,  —  It  has  pleased  the  General  to  give  me  in  charge 
to  represent  unto  you  a  particular  account  of  the  taking  of 
Bristol;  the  which  I  gladly  undertake. 

"  After  the  finishing  of  that  service  at  Sherborne,  it  was  dis- 
puted at  a  council  of  war,  Whether  we  should  march  into  the 
West  or  to  Bristol  ?  Amongst  other  arguments,  the  leaving 
so  considerable  an  enemy  at  our  backs,  to  march  into  the  heart 
of  the  Kingdom,  the  undoing  of  the  country  about  Bristol, 
which  was  [already]  exceedingly  harassed  by  the  Prince  his 
being  thereabouts  but  a  fortnight;  the  correspondency  he 
might  hold  in  Wales ;  the  possibility  of  uniting  the  Enemy's 
forces  where  they  pleased,  and  especially  of  drawing  to  ail 
head  the  disaffected  Clubmen  of  Somerset,  Wilts  and  Dorset, 

1  Newspapers  (Cromwdliana,  p.  24).  a  Bushworth,  vi.  69,  &c. 


1645.  LETTER  XXXI.    STORM   OF   BRISTOL.          217 

when  once  our  backs  were  towards  them :  these  considerations, 
together  with  [the  hope  of]  taking  so  important  a  place,  so 
advantageous  for  the  opening  of  trade  to  London,  —  did  sway 
the  balance,  and  beget  that  conclusion.  . 

"  When  we  came  within  four  miles  of  the  City,  we  had  a 
new  debate,  Whether  we  should  endeavor  to  block  it  up,  or 
make  a  regular  siege  ?  The  latter  being  overruled,  Colonel 
Welden  with  his  brigade  marched  to  Pile  Hill,  on  the  South 
side  of  the  City,  being  within  musket-shot  thereof :  —  where 
in  a  few  days  they  made  a  good  quarter,  overlooking  the  City. 
Upon  our  advance,  the  enemy  fired  Bedmiiister,  Clifton,  and 
some  other  villages  lying  near  to  the  City;  and  would  have 
fired  more,  if  our  unexpected  coming  had  not  hindered.  The 
General  caused  some  Horse  and  Dragoons  under  Commissary- 
General  Ireton  to  advance  over  Avon,  to  keep  in  the  enemy  on 
the  North  side  of  the  Town,  till  the  foot  could  come  up  :  and 
after  a  day,  the  General,  with  Colonel  Montague's  and  Colonel 
Rainsborough's  Brigades,  inarched  over  at  Kensham  to  Staple- 
ton,  where  he  quartered  that  night.  The  next  day,  Coionel 
Montague,  having  this  post  assigned  with  his  brigade,  To 
secure  all  between  the  Rivers  Froom  and  Avon ;  he  came 
up  to  Lawford's  Gate,1  within  musket-shot  thereof.  Colonel 
Rainsborough's  post  was  near  to  Durdham  Down,  whereof 
the  Dragoons  and  three  regiments  of  Horse  made  good  a  post 
HIM »u  the  Down,  between  him  and  the  River  Avon,  on  his 
right  hand.  And  from  Colonel  Raiusborough's  quarters  to 
Froom  River,  on  his  left,  a  part  of  Colonel  Birch's,  and  [the 
whole  of]  General  Skippon's  regiment  were  to  maintain  that 
post. 

"  These  posts  thus  settled,  our  Horse  were  forced  to  be  upon 
exceeding  great  duty ;  to  stand  by  the  Foot,  lest  the  Foot, 
being  so  weak  in  all  their  posts,  might  receive  an  affront.  And 
truly  lirn-in  we  were  very  happy,  that  we  should  receive  so 
little  loss  by  sallies ;  considering  the  paucity  of  our  men  to 
make  good  tin-  posts,  and  strength  of  the  Enemy  within.  I'-y 
sallies  (which  were  three  or  four)  I  know  not  that  we  lost 
thirty  men,  in  all  the  time  of  our  siege.  Of  officers  of  quality, 

1  Ouo  of  thu  Uristul  Gates. 


218  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  14  Sept. 

only  Colonel  Okey  was  taken  by  mistake  (going  [of  himself] 
to  the  Enemy,  thinking  they  had  been  friends),  and  Captain 
Guilliams  slain  in  a  charge.  We  took  Sir  Bernard  Astley  ; 
and  killed  Sir  Kichard  Crane,  —  one  very  considerable  with 
the  Prince. 

"  We  had  a  council  of  war  concerning  the  storming  of  the 
Town,  about  eight  days  before  we  took  it ;  and  in  that  there 
appeared  great  unwillingness  to  the  work,  through  the  unsea- 
sonableness  of  the  weather,  and  other  apparent  difficulties. 
Some  inducement  to  bring  us  thither  had  been  the  report  of 
the  good  affection  of  the  Townsmen  to  us ;  but  that  did  not 
answer  expectation.  Upon  a  second  consideration,  it  was 
overruled  for  a  storm.  And  all  things  seemed  to  favor  the  • 
design  ;  —  and  truly  there  hath  been  seldom  the  like  cheerful- 
ness to  any  work  like  to  this,  after  it  was  once  resolved  upon. 
The  day  and  hour  of  our  storm  was  appointed  to  be  on  Wednes- 
day morning  the  Tenth  of  September,  about  one  of  the  clock. 
We  chose  to  act  it  so  early  because  we  hoped  thereby  to  sur- 
prise the  Enemy.  With  this  resolution  also,  to  avoid  confu- 
sion and  falling  foul  one  upon  another,  That  when  [once]  we 
had  recovered1  the  Line  and  Forts  upon  it,  we  should  not 
advance  farther  till  day.  The  General's  signal  unto  a  storm, 
was  to  be,  The  firing  of  straw,  and  discharging  four  pieces  of 
cannon  at  Pryor's  Hill  Fort. 

"  The  signal  was  very  well  perceived  of  all ;  —  and  truly  the 
men  went  on  with  great  resolution  ;  and  very  presently  recov- 
ered the  Line,  making  way  for  the  Horse  to  enter.  Colonel 
Montague  and  Colonel  Pickering,  who  stormed  at  Lawford's 
Gate,  where  was  a  double  work,  well  filled  with  men  and  can- 
non, presently  entered ;  and  with  great  resolution  beat  the 
Enemy  from  their  works,  and  possessed  their  cannon.  Their 
expedition  was  such  that  they  forced  the  Enemy  from  their 
advantages,  without  any  considerable  loss  to  themselves.  They 
laid  down  the  bridges  for  the  Horse  to  enter ;  —  Major  Des- 
borow  commanding  the  Horse;  who  very  gallantly  seconded 

1  recovered  means  "  taken,"  "  got  possession  of :  "  the  Line  is  a  new  earthen 
work  outside  the  walls ;  very  deficient  in  height,  according  to  Kupert's  ac- 
count. 


1645.  LETTER  XXXI.    STOKM   OF   BRISTOL.         219 

the  Foot.  Then  our  Foot  advanced  to  the  City  Walls  ;  where 
they  possessed  the  Gate  against  the  Castle  Street :  where  into 
were  put  a  hundred  men;  who  made  it  good.  Sir  Hardress 
Waller  with  his  own  and  the  General's  regiment,  with  no  less 
resolution,  entered  on  the  other  side  of  Lawford's  Gate,  towards 
Avon  Eivor;  and  put  themselves  into  immediate  conjunction 
with  the  rest  of  the  brigade. 

"  During  this,  Colonel  Kainsborough  and  Colonel  Hammond 
attempted  Fryer's  Hill  Fort,  and  the  Line  downwards  towards 
Froom ;  and  the  Major-General's  regiment  being  to  storm  to- 
wards Froom  River,  Colonel  Hammond  possessed  the  Lino  im- 
mediately, and  beating  the  enemy  from  it,  made  way  for  the 
Horse  to  enter.  Colonel  Ilainsborough,  who  had  the  hardest 
task  of  all  at  Pryor's  Hill  Fort,  attempted  it ;  and  fought  near 
three  hours  for  it.  And  indeed  there  was  great  despair  of 
carrying  the  place  ;  it  being  exceeding  high,  a  ladder  of  thirty 
rounds  scarcely  reaching  the  top  thereof;  but  his  resolution 
was  such  that,  notwithstanding  the  inaccessibleness  and  diffi- 
culty, he  would  not  give  it  over.  The  Enemy  had  four  pieces 
of  cannon  upon  it,  which  they  plied  with  round  and  case  shot 
upon  our  men :  his  Lieutenant-Colonel  Bowen,  and  others, 
were  two  hours  at  push  of  pike,  standing  upon  the  palisadoes, 
but  could  not  enter.  [But  now]  Colonel  Hammond  being 
entered  the  Line  (and  [here]  Captain  Ireton,1  with  a  forlorn 
of  Colonel  Rich's  regiment,  interposing  with  his  Horse  between 
the  Enemy's  Horse  and  Colonel  Hammond,  received  a  shot  with 
two  pistol-bullets,  which  broke  his  arm),  —  by  means  of  this 
entrance  of  Colonel  Hammond,  they  did  storm  the  Fort  on  that 
part  which  was  inward ;  [and  so]  Colonel  Rainsborough's  and 
('••loud  Hammond's  men  entered  the  Fort,  and  immediately 
put  almost  all  the  men  in  it  to  the  sword. 

••  \n<l  as  this  was  the  place  of  most  difficulty,  so  [it  was]  of 
most  loss  to  us  on  that  side,  —  and  of  very  great  honor  to  the 
undertaker.     The  Horse  [too]  did  second  them  with  great  res- 
olution :  both  these  Colonels  do  acknowledge  that  the.lr  inter- 
ion  between  the  Enemy's  Horse  and  their  Foot  was  a 

1  'Him  uuot  the  famuli*  I retoii ;  thin  is  his  Brother.    "  Commissary-General 
Irotoo,"  aa  we  have  wen  (p.  234),  i»  alao  here  ;  he  is  not  wedded  yet. 


220  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  14  Sept. 

great  means  of  obtaining  of  this  strong  Fort.  Without  which 
all  the  rest  of  the  Line  to  Froom  River  would  have  done  us 
little  good:  and  indeed  neither  Horse  nor  Foot  could  have 
stood  in  all  that  way,  in  any  manner  of  security,  had  not  the 
Fort  been  taken.  —  Major  Bethel's  were  the  first  Horse  that 
entered  the  Line ;  who  did  behave  himself  gallantly  ;  and  was 
shot  in  the  thigh,  had  one  or  two  shot  more,  and  had  his  horse 
shot  under  him.  Colonel  Birch  with  his  men,  and  the  Major- 
General's  regiment,  entered  with  very  good  resolution  where 
their  post  was ;  possessing  the  Enemy's  guns,  and  turning  them 
upon  them. 

"By  this,  all  the  Line  from  Pryor's  Hill  Fort  to  Avon 
(which  was  a  full  mile),  with  all  the  forts,  ordnance  and  bul- 
warks, were  possessed  by  us ;  —  save  one,  wherein  were  about 
two  hundred  and  twenty  men  of  the  Enemy ;  which  the  Gen- 
eral summoned,  and  all  the  men  submitted. 

"The  success  on  Colonel  Welden's  side  did  not  answer  with 
this.  And  although  the  Colonels,  and  other  the  officers  and 
soldiers  both  Horse  and  Foot,  testified  as  much  resolution  as 
could  be  expected,  —  Colonel  Welden,  Colonel  Ingoldsby,  Colo- 
nel Herbert,  and  the  rest  of  the  Colonels  and  Officers,  both  of 
Horse  and  Foot,  doing  what  could  be  well  looked  for  from  men 
of  honor,  —  yet  what  by  reason  of  the  height  of  the  works, 
which  proved  higher  than  report  made  them,  and  the  shortness 
of  the  ladders,  they  were  repulsed,  with  the  loss  of  about 
a  hundred  men.  Colonel  Fortescue's  Lieutenant-Colonel  was 
killed,  and  Major  Cromwell 1  dangerously  shot :  and  two  of 
Colonel  Ingoldsby's  brothers  hurt ;  with  some  Officers. 

"Being  possessed  of  thus  much  as  hath  been  related,  the 
Town  was  fired  in  three  places  by  the  Enemy  ;  which  we  could 
not  put  out.  Which  begat  a  great  trouble  in  the  General  and 
us  all ;  fearing  to  see  so  famous  a  City  burnt  to  ashes  before 
our  faces.  Whilst  we  were  viewing  so  sad  a  spectacle,  and 
consulting  which  way  to  make  farther  advantage  of  our  suc- 
cess, the  Prince  sent  a  trumpet  to  the  General  to  desire  a 
treaty  for  the  surrender  of  the  Town.  To  which  the  General 

1  A  cousin. 


IMS  LETTER  XXXI.   STORM  OF  BRISTOL.        221 

agreed ;  and  deputed  Colonel  Montague,  Colonel  Rainsborough, 
and  Colonel  Pickering  for  that  service  ;  authorizing  them  with 
instructions  to  treat  and  conclude  the  Articles,  —  which  [ac- 
cordingly] are  these  enclosed.  For  performance  whereof  hos- 
tages were  mutually  given. 

"  On  Thursday  about  two  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon,  the 
Prince  marched  out ;  having  a  convoy  of  two  regiments  of 
Horse  from  us ;  and  making  election  of  Oxford  for  the  place 
he  would  go  to,  which  he  had  liberty  to  do  by  his  Arti- 
cles. 

"The  cannon  which  we  have  taken  are  about  a  hundred 
and  forty  mounted ;  about  a  hundred  barrels  of  powder  already 
come  to  our  hands,  with  a  good  quantity  of  shot,  ammunition, 
and  arms.  We  have  found  already  between  two  and  three 
thousand  muskets.  The  Royal  Fort  had  victual  in  it  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  for  three  hundred  and  twenty  days ; 
the  Castle  victualled  for  nearly  half  so  long.  The  Prince  had 
in  Foot  of  the  Garrison,  as  the  Mayor  of  the  City  informed 
me,  two  thousand  five  hundred,  and  about  a  thousand  Horse, 
besides  the  Trained  Bands  of  the  Town,  and  Auxiliaries  a 
thousand,  some  say  a  thousand  five  hundred.  —  I  hear  but  of 
one  man  that  hath  died  of  the  plague  in  all  our  Army,  although 
we  have  quartered  amongst  and  in  the  midst  of  infected  per- 
sons and  places.  We  had  not  killed  of  ours  in  the  Storm,  nor 
in  all  this  Siege,  two  hundred  men. 

"  Thus  T  have  given  you  a  true,  but  not  a  full  account  of 
this  great  business;  wherein  lie  that  runs  may  read,  That  all 
this  is  none  other  than  the  work  of  God.  He  must  be  a  very 
Atheist  that  doth  not  acknowledge  it. 

"  It  may  be  thought  that  some  praises  are  due  to  those  gal- 
l.int  men,  of  whose  valor  so  much  mention  is  made:  —  their 
humble  suit  to  you  and  all  that  have  an  interest  in  this  bless- 
ing, is,  That  in  the  remembrance  of  God's  praises  they  be 
forgotten.  It's  their  joy  that  they  are  instruments  of  God's 
glory  and  their  country's  good.  It 's  their  honor  tliat  God 
vouchsafes  to  use  them.  Sir,  they  that  have  been  employed 
in  this  service  know,  that  faith  and  prayer  obtained  this  City 


222  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL   WAR.  u  Sept. 

for  you  :  I  do  not  say  ours  only,  but  of  the  people  of  God  with 
you  and  all  England  over,  who  have  wrestled  with  God  for  a 
blessing  in  this  very  thing.  Our  desires  are,  that  God  may  be 
glorified  by  the  same  spirit  of  faith  by  which  we  ask  all  our 
sufficiency,  and  have  received  it.  It  is  meet  that  He  have 
all  the  praise.  Presbyterians,  Independents,  all  have  here  the 
same  spirit  of  faith  and  prayer ;  the  same  presence  and  an- 
swer ;  they  agree  here,  have  no  names  of  difference :  pity  it 
is  it  should  be  otherwise  anywhere  !  All  that  believe,  have 
the  real  unity,  which  is  most  glorious ;  because  inward,  and 
spiritual,  in  the  Body,  and  to  the  Head.1  For  being  united  in 
forms,  commonly  called  Uniformity,  every  Christian  will  for 
peace-sake  study  and  do,  as  far  as  conscience  will  permit.  And 
for  brethren,  in  things  of  the  mind  we  look  for  no  compulsion, 
but  that  of  light  and  reason.  In  other  things,  God  hath  put 
the  sword  in  the  Parliament's  hands,  —  for  the  terror  of  evil- 
doers, and  the  praise  of  them  that  do  well.  If  any  plead  ex- 
emption from  that,  —  he  knows  not  the  Gospel :  if  any  would 
wring  that  out  of  your  hands,  or  steal  it  from  you  under  what 
pretence  soever,  I  hope  they  shall  do  it  without  effect.  That 
God  may  maintain  it  in  your  hands,  and  direct  you  in  the  use 
thereof,  is  the  prayer  of 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

These  last  paragraphs  are,  as  the  old  Newspapers  say,  "  very 
remarkable."  If  modern  readers  suppose  them  to  be  "  cant," 
it  will  turn  out  an  entire  mistake.  I  advise  all  modern  readers 
not  only  to  believe  that  Cromwell  here  means  what  he  says ; 
but  even  to  try  how  they,  each  for  himself  in  a  new  dialect, 
could  mean  the  like,  or  something  better !  — 

Prince  Rupert  rode  out  of  Bristol  amid  seas  of  angry  human 
faces,  glooming  unutterable  things  upon  him ;  growling  audi- 
bly, in  spite  of  his  escort,  "  Why  not  hang  him  !  "  For  indeed 
the  poor  Prince  had  been  necessitated  to  much  plunder ;  com- 
manding "  the  elixir  of  the  Blackguardism  of  the  Three  King- 

1  "  Head  "  means  Christ ;  "  Body  "  is  True  Church  of  Chritt. 
a  Rushworth,  vi.  85;  Sprigge,  pp.  112-118. 


1645  LETTERS  XXXII.-XXXV.  223 

doms,"  with  very  insufficient  funds  for  most  part !  —  He  begged 
a  thousand  muskets  from  Fairfax  on  this  occasion,  to  assist  his 
escort  in  protecting  him  across  the  country  to  Oxford,  promis- 
ing, on  his  honor,  to  return  them  after  that  service.  Fairfax 
lent  the  muskets  ;  the  Prince  did  honorably  return  them,  wh;it 
he  had  of  them,  —  honorably  apologizing  that  so  many  had 
"  deserted "  on  the  road,  of  whom  neither  man  nor  musket 
were  recoverable  at  present. 


LETTERS  XXXII.-XXXV. 

FROM  Bristol  the  Army  turned  Southward  again,  to  deal 
with  the  yet  remaining  force  of  Royalism  in  that  quarter.  Sir 
Ralph  Hopton,  with  Goring  and  others  under  him,  made  stub- 
l>orn  resistance  ;  but  were  constantly  worsted,  at  Langport,  at 
Torrington,  wheresoever  they  rallied  and  made  a  new  attempt. 
The  Parliament  Army  went  steadily  and  rapidly  on;  storming 
Bridge  water,  storming  all  manner  of  Towns  and  Castles  ;  clear- 
ing the  ground  before  them:  till  Sir  Ralph  was  driven  into 
<  Wi  i  wall ;  and,  without  resource  or  escape,  saw  himself  obliged 
next  spring1  to  surrender,  and  go  beyond  seas.  A  brave  and 
honorable  man  ;  respected  on  both  sides ;  and  of  all  the  King's 
Generals  the  most  deserving  respect.  He  lived  in  retirement 
;il»ro;ul;  taking  no  part  in  Charles  Second's  businesses;  and 
il it'd  in  honorable  poverty  before  the  Restoration. 

The  following  Three  Letters  a  are  what  remain  to  us  con- 
riTiiing  Cromwell's  share  in  that  course  of  victories.  He 
was  present  in  various  general  or  partial  Fights  from  Lang- 
pni-t  t<>  P.ovt-y  Tracey ;  became  especially  renowned  by  his 
i  id  took  many  Strong  Places  besides  those  mentioned 
here. 

1  Truru,  Uth  March,  164 5-6  (Rushworth,  vi.  110). 

2  Appendix,  No. '.»,  contains  Two  more  •  Battle  of  Langport,  and  Summons 
t  •  Winchester  (Note  q/"1857). 


224  PAKT  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  UQct 

LETTER  XXXII. 

\_To  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the 
Parliament's  Army:   These.~j 

[WINCHESTER,  6th  October,  1645.] 

u  SIR,  —  I  came  to  Winchester  on  the  Lord's  day,  the  28th 
of  September ;  with  Colonel  Pickering,  —  commanding  his 
own,  Colonel  Montague's,  and  Sir  Hardress  Waller's  regiments. 
After  some  dispute  with  the  Governor,  we  entered  the  Town. 
I  summoned  the  Castle ;  was  denied ;  whereupon  we  fell  to 
prepare  batteries,  —  which  we  could  not  perfect  (some  of  our 
guns  being  out  of  order)  until  Friday  following.  Our  battery 
was  six  guns  ;  which  being  finished, — after  firing  one  round, 
I  sent  in  a  second  summons  for  a  treaty ;  which  they  refused. 
Whereupon  we  went  on  with  our  work,  and  made  a  breach  in 
the  wall  near  the  Black  Tower ;  which,  after  about  200  shot, 
we  thought  stormable  ;  and  purposed  on  Monday  morning  to 
attempt  it.  On  Sunday  night,  about  ten  of  the  clock,  the 
Governor  beat  a  parley,  desiring  to  treat.  I  agreed  unto  it ; 
and  sent  Colonel  Hammond  and  Major  Harrison  in  to  him, 
who  agreed  upon  these  enclosed  Articles. 

"  Sir,  this  is  the  addition  of  another  mercy.  You  see  God 
is  not  weary  in  doing  you  good :  I  confess,  Sir,  His  favor  to 
you  is  as  visible,  when  He  comes  by  His  power  upon  the  hearts 
of  your  enemies,,  making  them  quit  places  of  strength  to  you, 
as  when  He  gives  courage  to  your  soldiers  to  attempt  hard 
things.  His  goodness  in  this  is  much  to  be  acknowledged :  for 
the  Castle  was  well  manned  with  six  hundred  and  eighty  horse 
and  foot,  there  being  near  two  hundred  gentlemen,  officers,  and 
their  servants ;  well  victualled,  with  fifteen  hundred-weight  of 
cheese,  very  great  store  of  wheat  and  beer ;  near  twenty  bar- 
rels of  powder,  seven  pieces  of  cannon  ;  the  works  were  exceed- 
ing good  and  strong.  It 's  very  likely  it  would  have  cost  much 
blood  to  have  gained  it  by  storm.  We  have  not  lost  twelve 
men :  this  is  repeated  to  you,  that  God  may  have  all  the  praise, 
for  it 's  all  His  due.  Sir,  I  rest,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CKOMWELL."  * 

1  Sprigge,  p,  128;  Newspapers  (ill  Cromwtdliuiia,  p.  25)  ;  Kushworth,  vi.  91, 


16«.  LETTER  XXXIII.    BASINGSTOKE.  225 

"Lieuten ant-General  Cromwell's  Secretary,"  who  brings  this 
Letter,  gets  £50  for  his  good  news.1  By  Sprigge's  account,2 
lie  appears  to  have  been  "  Mr.  Hugh  Peters,"  this  Secretary. 
Peters  there  makes  a  verbal  Narrative  of  the  affair,  to  Mr. 
Speaker  and  the  Commons,  which,  were  not  room  so  scanty, 
we  should  be  glad  to  insert. 

It  was  at  this  surrender  of  Winchester  that  certain  of  the 
captive  enemies  having  complained  of  being  plundered  contrary 
to  Articles,  Cromwell  had  the  accused  parties,  six  of  his  own 
soldiers,  tried :  being  all  found  guilty,  one  of  them  by  lot  was 
hanged,  and  the  other  five  were  marched  off  to  Oxford,  to  be 
there  disposed  of  as  the  Governor  saw  fit.  The  Oxford  Gov- 
ernor politely  returned  the  five  prisoners,  "  with  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  Lieutenant-General's  nobleness." ' 


LETTER  XXXm. 

BASING  House,  Pawlet  Marquis  of  Winchester's  Mansion, 
stood,  as  the  ruined  heaps  still  testify,  at  a  small  distance  from 
Basingstoke  in  Hampshire.  It  had  long  infested  the  Parlia- 
ment in  those  quarters  ;  and  been  especially  a  great  eye-sorrow 
to  the  "Trade  of  London  with  the  Western  Parts."  With 
Dennington  Castle  at  Newbury,  and  this  Basing  House  at 
Basingstoke,  there  was  no  travelling  the  western  roads,  except 
with  escort,  or  on  sufferance.  The  two  places  had  often  been 
attempted ;  but  always  in  vain.  Basing  House  especially  had 
stood  siege  after  siege,  for  four  years ;  ruining  poor  Colonel 
This  and  then  poor  Colonel  That ;  the  jubilant  Royalists  had 
given  it  the  name  of  Basting  House :  there  was,  on  the  Parlia- 
ment side,  a  kind  of  passion  to  have  Basing  House  taken.  The 
Lieutonant-General,  gathering  all  the  artillery  he  can  lay  hold 
of ;  firing  incessantly,  200  or  500  shot  at  some  given  point  till 
he  see  a  hole  made  ;  and  then  storming  like  a  fire-flood  :  —  he 
perhaps  may  manage  it. 

1   Common*  Journalt,  7th  October,  1645. 
•  p.  129.  •  Spriggo,  p.  139. 

TOL.  xvn.  16 


226  PART  11.    FIRST   CIVIL  WAR.  14  Oct. 

"  To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Speaker  of  the  Commons 
House  of  Parliament :  These. 

"  BASINGSTOKE,  14th  October,  1645. 

"  SIR,  —  I  thank  God,  I  can  give  you  a  good  account  of 
Basing.  After  our  batteries  placed,  we  settled  the  several 
posts  for  the  storm :  Colonel  Dalbier  was  to  be  on  the  north 
side  of  the  House  next  the  Grange ;  Colonel  Pickering  on  his 
left  hand,  and  Sir  Hardress  Waller's  and  Colonel  Montague's 
regiments  next  him.  We  stormed,  this  morning,  after  six  of 
the  clock  :  the  signal  for  falling  on  was  the  firing  four  of  our 
cannon ;  which  being  done,  our  men  fell  on  with  great  resolu- 
tion and  cheerfulness.  We  took  the  two  Houses  without  any 
considerable  loss  to  ourselves.  Colonel  Pickering  stormed  the 
New  House,  passed  through,  and  got  the  gate  of  the  Old 
House ;  whereupon  they  summoned  a  parley,  which  our  men 
would  not  hear. 

"  In  the  mean  time  dolonel  Montague's  and  Sir  Hardress 
Waller's  regiments  assaulted  the  strongest  work,  where  the 
Enemy  kept  his  Court  of  Guard ;  —  which,  with  great  resolu- 
tion, they  recovered ;  beating  the  Enemy  from  a  whole  cul- 
verin,  and  from  that  work :  which  having  done,  they  drew 
their  ladders  after  them,  and  got  over  another  work,  and  the 
house-wall,  before  they  could  enter.  In  this  Sir  Hardress 
Waller,  performing  his  duty  with  honor  and  diligence,  was 
shot  in  the  arm,  but  not  dangerously. 

"  We  have  had  little  loss  :  many  of  the  Enemy  are  men  put 
to  the  sword,  and  some  officers  of  quality ;  most  of  the  rest  we 
have  prisoners,  amongst  whom  the  Marquis  [of  Winchester 
himself]  and  Sir  Robert  Peak,  with  divers  other  officers,  whom 
I  have  ordered  to  be  sent  up  to  you.  We  have  taken  about 
ten  pieces  of  ordnance,  with  much  ammunition,  and  our  sol- 
diers a  good  encouragement. 

"  I  humbly  offer  to  you,  to  have  this  place  utterly  slighted, 
for  these  following  reasons  :  It  will  ask  about  eight  hundred 
men  to  manage  it ;  it  is  no  frontier ;  the  country  is  poor  about 
it ;  the  place  exceedingly  ruined  by  our  batteries  and  mortar- 
pieces,  and  by  a  fire  which  fell  upon  the  place  since  our  taking 


1645.  LETTER  XXXIII.    BASINGSTOKE. 

it.  If  you  please  to  take  the  Garrison  at  Farnham,  some  out 
of  Chichester,  ami  a  good  part  of  the  foot  which  were  here 
under  Dalbier,  and  to  make  a  strong  Quarter  at  Newbury  with 
three  or  four  troops  of  horse,  —  I  dare  be  confident  it  would 
not  only  be  a  curb  to  Dennington,  but  a  security  and  a  frontier 
to  all  these  parts ;  inasmuch  as  Newbury  lies  upon  the  River, 
and  will  prevent  any  incursion  from  Dennington,  Wallingford 
or  Farringdon  into  these  parts ;  and  by  lying  there,  will  make 
the  trade  most  secure  between  Bristol  and  London  for  all  car- 
riages. And  I  believe  the  gentlemen  of  Sussex  and  Hampshire 
will  with  more  cheerfulness  contribute  to  maintain  a  garrison 
on  the  frontier  than  in  their  bowels,  which  will  have  less  safety 
in  it. 

"Sir,  I  hope  not  to  delay,  but  to  march  towards  the  West 
to-morrow  ;  and  to  be  as  diligent  as  I  may  in  my  expedition 
thither.  I  must  speak  my  judgment  to  you,  That  if  you  intend 
to  have  your  work  carried  on,  recruits  of  Foot  must  be  had, 
and  a  course  taken  to  pay  your  Army ;  else,  believe  me,  Sir, 
it  may  not  be  able  to  answer  the  work  you  have  for  it  to  do. 

"  I  intrusted  Colonel  Hammond  to  wait  upon  you,  who  was 
taken  by  a  mistake  whilst  we  lay  before  this  Garrison,  whom 
God  safely  delivered  to  us,  to  our  great  joy ;  but  to  his  loss  of 
almost  all  he  had,  which  the  Enemy  took  from  him.  The  Lord 
grant  that  these  mercies  may  be  acknowledged  with  all  thank- 
fulness :  God  exceedingly  abounds  in  His  goodness  to  us,  and 
will  not  be  weary  until  righteousness  and  peace  meet ;  and 
until  He  hath  brought  forth  a  glorious  work  for  the  happiness 
of  this  poor  Kingdom.  Wherein  desires  to  serve  God  and  you, 
with  a  faithful  heart, 

"Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

Colonel  Hammond,  whom  we  shall  by  and  by  see  again, 
brought  this  good  news  to  London,  and  had  his  reward,  of 
£200 ;  *  Mr.  Peters  also,  being  requested  "  to  make  a  relation 

1  Sprigge,  pp.  137-139;  Newspapere  (in  Cramwelliana,  p.   27);  and  Harl. 

787. 
Common*  Jtwmnh  (Iftth  Ort    1645).  iv.  309. 


228  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  UGct. 

to  the  House  of  Commons,  spake  as  follows."  The  reader  will 
like  to  hear  Mr.  Peters  for  once,  a  man  concerning  whom  he 
has  heard  so  many  falsehoods,  and  to  see  an  old  grim  scene 
through  his  eyes.  Mr.  Peters  related  :  — 

"That  he  came  into  Basing  House  some  time  after  the 
storm,"  on  Tuesday,  14th  of  October,  1645 ;  —  "  and  took  a 
view  first  of  the  works ;  which  were  many,  the  circumvallation 
being  above  a  mile  in  compass.  The  Old  House  had  stood  (as 
it  is  reported)  two  or  three  hundred  years,  a  nest  of  Idolatry  ; 
the  New  House  surpassing  that  in  beauty  and  stateliness ;  and 
either  of  them  fit  to  make  an  emperor's  court. 

"The  rooms  before  the  storm  (it  seems),  in  both  Houses, 
were  all  completely  furnished ;  provisions  for  some  years  rather 
than  months  ;  400  quarters  of  wheat ;  bacon  divers  rooms-full, 
containing  hundreds  of  flitches ;  cheese  proportionable ;  with 
oatmeal,  beef,  pork ;  beer  divers  cellars-full,  and  that  very 
good,"  —  Mr.  Peters  having  taken  a  draught  of  the  same. 

"  A  bed  in  one  room,  furnished,  which  cost  £1,300.  Popish 
books  many,  with  copes,  and  such  utensils.  In  truth,  the 
House  stood  in  its  full  pride  j  and  the  Enemy  was  persuaded 
that  it  would  be  the  last  piece  of  ground  that  would  be  taken 
by  the  Parliament,  because  they  had  so  often  foiled  our  forces 
which  had  formerly  appeared  before  it.  In  the  several  rooms 
and  about  the  House,  there  were  slain  seventy-four,  and  only 
one  woman,  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Griffith,  who  by  her  railing," 
poor  lady,  "  provoked  our  soldiers  (then  in  heat)  into  a  farther 
passion.  There  lay  dead  upon  the  ground,  Major  Cuffle ;  —  a 
man  of  great  account  amongst  them,  and  a  notorious  Papist  .- 
slain  by  the  hands  of  Major  Harrison,  that  godly  and  gallant 
gentleman,"  — all  men  know  him. ;  "and  Eobinson  the  Player, 
who,  a  little  before  the  storm,  was  known  to  be  mocking  and 
scorning  the  Parliament  and  our  Army.  Eight  or  nine  gentle- 
women of  rank,  running  forth  together,  were  entertained  by 
the  common  soldiers  somewhat  coarsely  ;  —  yet  not  uncivilly, 
considering  the  action  in  hand. 

"  The  plunder  of  the  soldiers  continued  till  Tuesday  night : 
one  soldier  had  a  Hundred  and  Twenty  Pieces  in  gold  for  his 
share ;  others  plate,  others  jewels ;  —  among  the  rest,  one  got 


1645.  LETTER  XXX III.    BASING   HOUSE.  229 

three  bags  of  silver,  which  (he  being  not  able  to  keep  his  own 
counsel)  grew  to  be  common  pillage  amongst  the  rest,  and  the 
fellow  had  but  one  half-crown  left  for  himself  at  -last.  —  The 
soldiers  sold  the  wheat  to  country -people ;  which  they  held 
up  at  good  rates  awhile ;  but  afterwards  the  market  fell,  and 
there  were  some  abatements  for  haste.  After  that,  they  sold 
the  household  stuff ;  whereof  there  was  good  store,  and  the 
country  loaded  away  many  carts ;  and  they  continued  a  great 
while,  fetching  out  all  manner  of  household  stuff,  till  they  had 
fetched  out  all  the  stools,  chairs,  and  other  lumber,  all  which 
they  sold  to  the  country -people  by  piecemeal. 

"  In  all  these  great  buildings,  there  was  not  one  iron  bar  left 
in  all  the  windows  (save  only  what  were  on  fire),  before  night. 
And  the  last  work  of  all  was  the  lead ;  and  by  Thursday  morn- 
ing, they  had  hardly  left  one  gutter  about  the  House.  And 
what  the  soldiers  left,  the  fire  took  hold  on  ;  which  made  more 
than  ordinary  haste ;  leaving  nothing  but  bare  walls  and  chim- 
neys in  less  than  twenty  hours  ;  —  being  occasioned  by  the 
neglect  of  the  Enemy  in  quenching  a  fire-ball  of  ours  at  first." 

—  What  a  scene  ! 

"  We  know  not  how  to  give  a  just  account  of  the  numbei 
of  persons  that  were  within.  For  we  have  not  quite  three 
hundred  prisoners ;  and  it  may  be,  have  found  a  hundred  slain, 

—  whose  bodies,  some  being  covered  with  rubbish,  came  not 
at  once  to  our  view.     Only,  riding  to  the  House  on  Tuesday 
night,  we  heard  divers  crying  in  vaults  for  quarter ;  but  our 
men  could  neither  come  to  them,  nor  they  to  us.     Amongst 
those  that  we  saw  slain,  one  of  their  officers  lying  on  the 
ground,  seeming  so  exceeding  tall,  was  measured;  and   from 
his  great  too  to  his  crown  was  9  feet  in  length  "  (.<//•). 

"The  Marquis  being  pressed,  by  Mr.  Peters  arguing  with 
him/'  which  was  not  very  chivalrous  in  Mr.  Peters,  "  broke 
out  and  said,  'That  it  tli<-  King  had  no  more  ground  in  Eng- 
land but  Basing  House,  he  would  adventure  as  he  did,  and  so 
maintain  it  to  the  uttermost ; '  —  meaning  with  these  Papists  ; 
comforting  himself  in  this  disaster,  'that  Basing  House  was 
called  Loyalty?  I '.nt  he  was  soon  sileneed  in  the  question 
concerning  the  King  and  Parliament;  and  could  only  hope 


230  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  14  Oct. 

*  that  the  King  might  have  a  day  again.'  —  And  thus  the  Lord 
was  pleased  in  a  few  hours  to  show  us  what  mortal  seed  all 
earthly  glory  grows  upon ;  and  how  just  and  righteous  the 
ways  of  God  are,  who  takes  sinners  in  their  own  snares,  and 
lifteth  up  the  hands  of  His  despised  people. 

"  This  is  now  the  Twentieth  garrison  that  hath  been  taken 
in,  this  Summer,  by  this  Army  ;  —  and,  I  believe  most  of  them 
the  answers  of  the  prayers,  and  trophies  of  the  faith,  of  some 
of  God's  servants.  The  Commander  of  this  Brigade,"  Lieu- 
tenant-General  Cromwell,  "  had  spent  much  time  with  God  in 
prayer  the  night  before  the  storm  ;  —  and  seldom  fights  with- 
out some  Text  of  Scripture  to  support  him.  This  time  he 
rested  upon  that  blessed  word  of  God  written  in  the  Hundred 
and  Fifteenth  Psalm,  eighth  verse,  They  that  make  them  are 
like  unto  them  ;  so  is  every  one  that  tnisteth  in  them.  Which, 
with  some  verses  going  before,  was  now  accomplished."  l 

"  Mr.  Peters  presented  the  Marquis's  own  Colors,  which  he 
brought  from  Basing;  the  Motto  of  which  was,  Donee  pax 
redeat  terris ;  the  very  same  as  King  Charles  gave  upon  his 
Coronation-money,  when  he  came  to  the  Crown."2  —  So  Mr. 
Peters ;  and  then  withdrew,  —  getting  by  and  by  £200  a  year 
settled  on  him.8 

This  Letter  was  read  in  all  Pulpits  next  Sunday,  with 
thanks  rendered  to  Heaven,  by  order  of  Parliament.  Basing 
House  is  to  be  carted  away ;  "  whoever  will  come  for  brick  or 
stone  shall  freely  have  the  same  for  his  pains."  * 

1  "  Not  unto  us,  0  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  Name  give  glory  ;  for 
thy  mercy  and  for  thy  truth's  sake.  Wherefore  should  the  Heathen  say. 
Where  is  now  their  God  ?  Our  God  is  in  the  Heavens  :  he  hath  done  whatso- 
ever he  hath  pleased  !  —  Their  Idols  are  silver  and  gold  ;  the  work  of  men's 
hands.  They  have  mouths,  but  they  speak  not ;  eyes  have  they,  but  they  see 
not :  they  have  ears,  but  they  hear  not ;  noses  have  they,  but  they  smell  not ; 
they  have  hands,  but  they  handle  not ;  feet  have  they,  but  they  walk  not : 
neither  speak  they  through  their  throat !  They  that  make  them  are  like  unto 
them ;  so  is  every  one  that  trusteth  in  them."  —  These  words,  awful  as  the 
words  of  very  God,  were  in  Oliver  Cromwell's  heart  that  night. 

-  Fprigge,  pp.  139-141.  •  Whitlocke. 

*  Commons  Journal*,  iv.  309. 


1646. 


LETTER  XXXIV.    WALLOP.  231 


Among  the  names  of  the  Prisoners  taken  here  one  reads  that 
of  Inigo  Jones,  —  unfortunate  old  Inigo.  Vertue,  on  what  evi- 
dence I  know  not,  asserts  farther  that  Wenceslaus  Hollar, 
with  his  graving  tools  and  unrivalled  graving  talent,  was  taken 
here.1  The  Marquis  of  Winchester  had  been  addicted  to  the 
Arts,  —  to  the  Upholsteries  perhaps  still  more.  A  magnificent 
kind  of  man ;  whose  "  best  bed,"  now  laid  bare  to  general  in- 
spection, excited  the  wonder  of  the  world. 


LETTER  XXXIV. 

FAIRFAX,  with  the  Army,  is  in  Devonshire ;  the  following 
Letter  will  find  him  at  Tiverton ;  Cromwell  marching  that 
way,  having  now  ended  Basing.  It  is  ordered  in  the  Commons 
House  that  Cromwell  be  thanked ;  moreover  that  he  now  at- 
tack Dennington  Castle,  of  which  we  heard  already  at  New- 
bury.  These  messages,  as  I  gather,  reached  him  at  Basing, 
late  "  last  night,"  —  Wednesday,  15th,  the  day  they  were 
written  in  London.'-1  Thursday  morning  early,  he  marched  ; 
has  come  ("  came,"  he  calls  it)  as  far  as  Wallop ;  purposes 
still  to  make  a  forced  march  "  to  Langford  House  to-night " 
(probably  with  horse  only,  and  leave  the  foot  to  follow)  ;  — 
answers  meanwhile  his  messages  here  (see  next  Letter),  and 
furthermore  writes  this :  — 

"  To  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the 
Parliaments  Army :  *  Haste :  These. 

"WALLOP,  16th  October,  1645. 

"SiR, —  In  to-day's  march  I  came  to  Wallop,  twenty  miles 

from  Basing,  towards  you.     Last   night  I  received   this   en- 

•  l  from  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons;   which 

I  thought  fit  to  send  you ;  and  to  which  I  returned  an  Answer, 

a  copy  whereof  I  have  also  sent  enclosed  to  you. 

1  Life  of  Hollar.  *  Common*  Journal*  (iv.  30!>),  15th  Oct.  1645. 

*  Marching  from  Collumpton  to  Ttverton,  while  Cromwell  writes  (Sprigge, 
p.  Mi). 


232  PART  II.    FIRST  CIVIL  WAR.  17  Oct. 

"  1  perceive  that  it 's  their  desire  to  have  the  place 1  taken 
in.  But  truly  I  could  not  do  other  than  let  them  know  what 
the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  West  is,  and  submit  the  busi- 
ness to  them  and  you.  I  shall  be  at  Langford  House  to-night, 
if  God  please.  I  hope  the  work  will  not  be  long.  If  it  should, 
I  will  rather  leave  a  small  part  of  the  Foot  (if  Horse  will  not 
be  sufficient  to  take  it  in),  than  be  detained  from  obeying  such 
commands  as  I  shall  receive.  I  humbly  beseech  you  to  be  con- 
fident that  no  man  hath  a  more  faithful  heart  to  serve  you 
than  myself,  nor  shall  be  more  strict  to  obey  your  commands 
than 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  Sir,  I  beseech  you  to  let  me  know  your  resolution  in  this 
business  with  all  the  possible  speed  that  may  be;  because 
whatsoever  I  be  designed  to,  I  wish  I  may  speedily  endeavor 
it,  time  being  so  precious  for  action  in  this  season." 2 

Langford  House,  whither  Oliver  is  now  bound,  hoping  to 
arrive  to-night,  is  near  Salisbury.  He  did  arrive  accordingly  ; 
drew  out  part  of  his  brigade,  and  summoned  the  place;  —  here 
is  his  own  most  brief  account  of  the  business 


LETTER  XXXV. 

*'  To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  to  the 
Honorable  House  of  Commons :  These. 

"SALISBURY,  17th  October  (12  at  night),  1645. 

"  SIR,  —  I  gave  you  an  account,  the  last  night,  of  my  march- 
ing to  Langford  House.  Whither  I  came  this  day,  and  im- 
mediately sent  them  in  a  Summons.  The  Governor  desired  I 
should  send  two  Officers  to  treat  with  him ;  and  I  accordingly 
appointed  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hewson  and  Major  Kelsey  there- 

J  Dennington  Castle. 

2  Sloane  MSS   1519,  foL  61:  —  only  the  Signature  is  in  Oliver's  hand. 


ir.r  LETTER  XXXV.    SALISBURY.  233 

unto.    The  Treaty  produced  the  Agreement,  which  I  have  here 
enclosed  to  you. 

"The  General,  I  hear,  is  advanced  as  far  West  as  Collumpton, 
and  hath  sent  some  Horse  and  Foot  to  Tiverton.  It  is  ear- 
nestly desired  that  more  Foot  might  march  up  to  him ;  —  it 
being  convenient  that  we  stay  [here]  a  day  for  our  Foot  that 
are  behind  and  coming  up. 

"  I  wait  your  answer  to  my  Letter  last  night  from  Wallop : 
I  shall  desire  that  your  pleasure  may  be  speeded  to  me;  — 
and  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

Basing  is  black  ashes,  then ;  and  Langford  is  ours,  the 
Garrison  "to  march  forth  to-morrow  at  twelve  of  the  clock, 
being  the  18th  instant." a  And  now  the  question  is,  Shall  we 
attack  Denniugton  or  not  ?  — 

Colonel  Dal  bier,  a  man  of  Dutch  birth,  well  known  to 
readers  of  the  old  Books,  is  with  Cromwell  at  present ;  his 
Second  in  command.  It  was  from  Dalbier  that  Cromwell  first 
of  all  learned  the  mechanical  part  of  soldiering ;  he  had  Dal- 
bier to  help  him  in  drilling  his  Ironsides ;  so  says  Heath,  credi- 
ble on  such  a  point.  Dennington  Castle  was  not  besieged  at 
present ;  it  surrendered  next  Spring  to  Dalbier.8  Cromwell 
returned  to  Fairfax ;  served  through  Winter  with  him  in  the 
West,  till  all  ended  there. 

About  a  month  before  the  date  of  this  Letter,  the  King  had 
appeared  again  with  some  remnant  of  force,  got  together  in 
Wales ;  with  intent  to  relieve  Chester,  which  was  his  key  to 
Ireland :  but  this  force  too  he  saw  shattered  to  pieces  on 
Kowton  Heath,  near  that  City.4  Ho  had  also  had  an  eye 
towards  the  great  Moutrose  in  Scotland,  who  in  these  weeks 
was  bla/ing  at  his  highest  there:  but  him  too  David  Lesley 

1  King's  Pamphlet*,  small  4to,  no.  239,  art.  19  (no.  42  of  Th.  Weekly 
Account). 

1  Sprigge,  p.  145.  •  1st  April,  1646  (RnMiworth,  vi.  252). 

*  24th  September,  1645  (RtubworUi,  vi.  117;  Lord  Digby'a  account  of  it, 
Ormvnd  Paper*,  ii.  90). 


234  PART  n.    FIRST    CIVIL    WAR  15  June, 

with  dragoons,  emerging  from  the  mist  of  the  Autumn  morn- 
ing, on  Philipshaugh  near  Selkirk,  had,  in  one  fell  hour, 
trampled  utterly  out.  The  King  had  to  retire  to  Wales  again ; 
to  Oxford  and  obscurity  again. 

On  the  14th  of  next  March,  as  we  said,  Sir  Ralph  Hopton 
surrendered  himself  in  Cornwall.1  On  the  22d  of  the  same 
month,  Sir  Jacob  Astley,  another  distinguished  Royalist  Gen- 
eral, the  last  of  them  all,  —  coming  towards  Oxford  with  some 
small  force  he  had  gathered,  —  was  beaten  and  captured  at 
Stow  among  the  Wolds  of  Gloucestershire : 2  surrendering 
himself,  the  brave  veteran  said,  or  is  reported  to  have  said, 
"  You  have  now  done  your  work,  and  may  go  to  play,  —  unless 
you  will  fall  out  among  yourselves." 

On  Monday  night,  towards  twelve  of  the  clock,  27th  April, 
1646,  the  King  in  disguise  rode  out  of  Oxford,  somewhat 
uncertain  whitherward,  —  at  length  towards  Newark  and  the 
Scots  Army.8  On  the  Wednesday  before,  Oliver  Cromwell 
had  returned  to  his  place  in  Parliament.4  Many  detached 
Castles  and  Towns  still  held  out,  Ragland  Castle  even  tilt 
the  next  August;  scattered  fires  of  an  expiring  conflagration, 
that  need  to  be  extinguished  with  effort  and  in  detail.  Of  all 
which  victorious  sieges,  with  their  elaborate  treaties  and  mov- 
ing accidents,  the  theme  of  every  tongue  during  that  old 
Summer,  let  the  following  one  brief  glimpse,  notable  on  pri- 
vate grounds,  suffice  us  at  present. 

Oxford,  the  Royalist  metropolis,  a  place  full  of  Royalist 
dignitaries,  and  of  almost  inexpugnable  strength,  had  it  not 
been  so  disheartened  from  without,  —  was  besieged  by  Fair- 
fax himself  in  the  first  days  of  May.  There  was  but  little 
fighting,  there  was  much  negotiating,  tedious  consulting  of 
Parliament  and  King;  the  treaty  did  not  end  in  surrender 
till  Saturday,  20th  June.  And  now,  dated  on  the  Monday 
before,  at  Holton,  a  country  Parish  in  those  parts,  there  is 
this  still  legible  in  the  old  Church  Register, — intimately  in- 
teresting to  some  friends  of  ours !  "  HENKY  IBETON,  Com- 

1  Hopton's  own  account  of  it,  Ormond  Papers,  ii.  109-126. 

2  Rushworth,  vi.  139-141. 

3  Ibid.  vi.  267 ;  Iter  Carolinum.  *  Cromwelliana,  p.  81. 


1646.  LETTER  XXXV.    NEW   MEMBERS.  235 

missary-General  to  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  and  BRIDGET,  Daugh- 
ter to  Oliver  Cromwell,  Lieutenant-General  of  the  Horse  to 
the  said  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  —  were  married,  by  Mr.  Dell, 
in  the  Lady  Whorwood  her  House  in  Holton,  15th  June,  1646. 
—  ALBAN  EALES,  Rector." l 

Ireton,  we  are  to  remark,  was  one  of  Fairfax's  Commissioners 
on  the  Treaty  for  surrendering  Oxford,  and  busy  under  the 
walls  there  at  present :  Holton  is  some  five  miles  east  of  the 
City ;  Holton  House  we  guess  by  various  indications  to  have 
been  Fairfax's  own  quarter.  Dell,  already  and  afterwards  well 
known,  was  the  General's  Chaplain  at  this  date.  Of  "  the  Lady 
Whorwood "  I  have  traces,  rather  in  the  Royalist  direction ; 
her  strong  moated  House,  very  useful  to  Fairfax  in  those 
weeks,  still  stands  conspicuous  in  that  region,  though  now 
under  new  figure  and  ownership;  drawbridge  become  fixed, 
deep  ditch  now  dry,  moated  island  changed  into  a  flower- 
garden  ;  —  "  rebuilt  in  1807."  Fairfax's  Lines,  we  observe,  ex- 
ti-nded  "from  Headington  Hill  to  Marstou,"  several  miles  in 
advance  of  Holton  House,  then  "from  Marston  across  the 
<  li'-rwell,  and  over  from  that  to  the  Isis  on  the  North  side 
of  the  City;"  southward  and  elsewhere,  the  besieged,  "by 
a  dam  at  St.  Clement's  Bridge,  had  laid  the  country  all  under 
water:"* — in  such  scene,  with  the  treaty  just  ending  and 
general  Peace  like  to  follow,  did  Iretou  welcome  his  Bride,  — 
a  brave  young  damsel  of  twenty -one;  escorted,  doubtless  by 
her  Father  among  others,  to  the  Lord  General's  house ;  and 
there,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dell,  solemnly  handed  over  to  new 
destinies! 

This  wedding  was  on  Monday,  15th  June ;  on  Saturday  came 
Uu-  final  signing  of  the  treaty  :  and  directly  thereupon,  on 
Monday  next,  Prince  Rupert  and  Prince  Maurice  took  the  road, 
with  their  attendants,  and  their  passes  to  the  sea-coast ;  a  sight 
for  the  curious.  On  Tuesday  "there  went  about  300  persons, 

1  Parish  Register  of  Holton  (copied,   Oct.  1846).     Poor  Noble  (i.   134) 
Menu  to  have  copied  this  same  Register,  and  to  have  misread  his  own  Note: 
L'nini:  in.-ti-;i.|   of   Holton  Nation,  an  imaginary  place;  and  instead  of  Jane 
January,  an  impossible  date.     See  antea,  p.  69  ;  poetca,  Letter  XT, I  p.  247. 

2  Ituxuworth,  vi.  279-285. 


236  PART  IT.    FIRST   CIVIL   WAR.  1646. 

mostly  of  quality ;  "  and  on  Wednesday  all  the  Royalist  force, 
« 3,000  [or  say  2,000]  to  the  Eastward,  500  to  the  North ; " 
with  "drums  beating,  colors  flying,"  for  the  last  time;  all  with 
passes,  with  agitated  thoughts  and  outlooks  :  and  in  sacred 
Oxford,  as  poor  Wood  intimates,1  the  abomination  of  desola- 
tion supervened !  —  Oxford  surrendering  with  the  King's 
sanction  quickened  other  surrenders  ;  Ragland  Castle  itself, 
and  the  obstinate  old  Marquis,  gave  in  before  the  end  of 
'  August :  and  the  First  Civil  War,  to  the  last  ember  of  it,  was 
extinct. 

The  Parliament,  in  these  circumstances,  was  now  getting 
itself  "  recruited,"  —  its  vacancies  filled  up  again.  The  Royal- 
ist Members,  who  had  deserted  three  years  ago,  had  been, 
without  much  difficulty,  successively  "disabled,"  as  their 
crime  came  to  light :  but  to  issue  new  writs  for  new  elections, 
while  the  quarrel  with  the  King  still  lasted,  was  a  matter  of 
more  delicacy ;  this  too,  however,  had  at  length  been  resolved 
upon,  the  Parliament  Cause  now  looking  so  decidedly  pros- 
perous, in  the  Autumn  of  1645.  Gradually,  in  the  following 
months,  the  new  Members  were  elected,  above  two  hundred 
and  thirty  of  them  in  all.  These  new  Members,  "  Recruiters," 
as  Anthony  Wood  and  the  Royalist  world  reproachfully  call 
them,  were,  by  the  very  fact  of  their  standing  candidates  in 
such  circumstances,  decided  Puritans  all,  —  Independents  many 
of  them.  Colonel,  afterwards  Admiral  Blake  (for  Taunton), 
Ludlow,  Ireton  (for  Appleby),  Algernon  Sidney,  Hutchinson 
known  by  his  Wife's  Memoirs,  were  among  these  new  Members. 
Fairfax,  on  his  Father's  death  some  two  years  hence,  likewise 
came  in.2 

1  Fasti,  ii.  58,  sec.  edit. 

2  The  Writ  is  issued  16th March,  1647-8  (Commons  Journals). 


PAKT    III. 

BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WARS, 
1646-1648. 

LETTERS  XXXVI.-XLIL 

THE  conquering  of  the  King  had  been  a  difficult  operation ; 
but  to  make  a  Treaty  with  him  now  when  he  was  conquered, 
proved  an  impossible  one.  The  Scots,  to  whom  he  had  fled, 
entreated  him,  at  last,  "with  tears  "  and  "on  their  knees,"  to 
take  the  Covenant,  and  sanction  the  Presbyterian  worship,  if 
he  could  not  adopt  it ;  on  that  condition  they  would  fight  to 
the  last  man  for  him :  on  no  other  condition  durst  or  would 
a  man  of  them  fight  for  him.  The  English  Presbyterians,  as 
yet  the  dominant  party,  earnestly  entreated  to  the  same 
effect.  In  vain,  both  of  them.  The  King  had  other  schemes : 
the  King,  writing  privately  to  Digby  before  quitting  Oxford, 
when  he  had  some  mind  to  venture  privately  on  London,  as  he 
ultimately  did  on  the  Scotch  Camp,  to  raise  Treaties  and  Cabal- 
lings  there,  had  said,  "  —  endeavoring  to  get  to  London  ;  being 
not  without  hope  that  I  shall  be  able  so  to  draw  either  the 
hyterians  or  the  Independents  to  side  with  me  for  extir- 
pating one  another,  that  I  shall  be  really  King  again."  *  Such 
a  man  is  not  easy  to  make  a  Treaty  with,  —  on  the  word  of  a 
King !  In  fact,  his  Majesty,  though  a  belligerent  party  who 
had  not  now  one  soldier  on  foot,  considered  himself  still  a  tower 
of  strength ;  as  indeed  he  was ;  all  men  having  a  to  us  incon- 
ceivable reverence  for  him,  till  bitter  Necessity  and  he  together 

1  Oxford,  26th  March,  1646;  Carte 'a  Lift  of  Ornumd,  iii.  (London,  1735), 
p.  4JJ. 


238     PART  III.     BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL   WARS.         27  July, 

drove  them  away  from  it.  Equivocations,  spasmodic  obstina- 
cies, and  blindness  to  the  real  state  of  facts,  must  have  an 
end.  - 

The  following  Seven  Letters,  of  little  or  no  significance  for 
illustrating  public  affairs,  are  to  carry  us  over  a  period  of  most 
intricate  negotiation ;  negotiation  with  the  Scots,  managed 
manfully  on  both  sides,  otherwise  it  had  ended  in  quarrel ; 
negotiations  with  the  King ;  infinite  public  and  private  nego- 
tiations ;  —  which  issue  at  last  in  the  Scots  marching  home 
with  £200,000  as  "a  fair  instalment  of  their  arrears,"  in  their 
pocket ;  and  the  King  marching,  under  escort  of  Parliamen- 
tary Commissioners,  to  Holmby  House  in  Northamptonshire, 
to  continue  in  strict  though  very  stately  seclusion,  "on  £50 
a  day," 1  and  await  the  destinies  there. 

LETTER  XXXVI. 

KNYVETT,  of  Ashwellthorpe  in  Norfolk,  is  one  of  the  un- 
fortunate Royalist  Gentlemen  whom  Cromwell  laid  sudden  hold 
of  at  Lowestoff  some  years  ago,  and  lodged  in  the  Castle  of 
Cambridge,  -  suddenly  snuffing  out  their  Royalist  light  in 
that  quarter.  Knyvett,  we  conclude,  paid  his  "  contribution," 
or  due  fine,  for  the  business  ;  got  safe  home  again ;  and  has 
lived  quieter  ever  since.  Of  whom  we  promise  the  reader 
some  transitory  glimpse  once  more.2 

Here  accordingly  is  a  remarkable  Letter  to  him,  now  first 
adjusted  to  its  right  place  in  this  Series.  The  Letter  used  to 
be  in  the  possession  of  the  Lords  Berners,  whose  ancestor  this 
Knyvett  was,  one  of  whose  seats  this  Ashwellthorpe  in  Nor- 
folk still  is.  With  them,  however,  there  remains  nothing  but 
a  Copy  now,  and  that  without  date,  and  otherwise  not  quite 
correct.  Happily  it  had  already  gone  forth  in  print  with  date 
and  address  in  full  ;  —  has  been  found  among  the  lumber  and 
innocent  marine-stories  of  Sylvanus  Urban,  communicated,  in 
an  incidental  way,  by  "  a  Gentleman  at  Shrewsbury,"  who,  in 
1787,  had  got  possession  of  it,  —  honestly,  we  hope;  and  to 
the  comfort  of  readers  here. 

1  WMtlocke,  p.  244.  a  Antea,  p.  134. 


1G4C. 


LETTER  XXXVI.    LONDON.  239 


"  For  my  noble  Friend  Thomas  Knyvett,  Esquire,  at  his  House 
at  AshwelltJiorpe :  These. 

"  LONDON,  27th  July,  1646. 

"  SIR,  —  I  cannot  pretend  any  interest  in  you  for  anything  I 
havo  done,  nor  ask  any  favor  for  any  service  I  may  do  you. 
But  because  I  am  conscious  to  myself  of  a  readiness  to  serve 
any  gentleman  in  all  possible  civilities,  I  am  bold  to  be  before- 
hand with  you  to  ask  your  favor  on  behalf  of  your  honest 
poor  neighbors  of  Hapton,  who,  as  I  am  informed,  are  in  some 
trouble,  and  are  likely  to  be  put  to  more,  by  one  Robert  Browne 
your  Tenant,  who,  not  well  pleased  with  the  way  of  these  men, 
seeks  their  disquiet  all  he  may. 

"Truly  nothing  moves  me  to  desire  this  more  than  the  pity 
I  bear  them  in  respect  of  their  honesties,  and  the  trouble  I 
hear  they  are  likely  to  suffer  for  their  consciences.  And  how- 
ever the  world  interprets  it,  I  am  not  ashamed  to  solicit  for 
siu-h  as  are  anywhere  under  pressure  of  this  kind ;  doing  even 
as  I  would  be  done  by.  Sir,  this  is  a  quarrelsome  age ;  and 
the  anger  seems  to  me  to  be  the  worse,  where  the  ground  is 
difference  of  opinion;  —  which  to  cure,  to  hurt  men  in  their 
n: tines,  persons  or  estates,  will  not  be  found  an  apt  remedy. 
Sir,  it  will  not  repent  you  to  protect  those  poor  men  of  Hapton 
from  injury  and  oppression  :  which  that  you  would  is  the 
effect  of  this  Letter.  Sir,  you  will  not  want  the  grateful 
acknowledgment,  nor  utmost  endeavors  of  requital  from 
"Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

Ilapton  is  a  Parish  and  Hamlot  some  seven  or  eight  miles 
south  of  Norwich,  in  the  Hundred  of  Depwade;  it  is  within  a 
mile  or  two  of  this  Ashwollthorpe  ;  which  was  Knyvett's  resi- 
dence at  that  time.  What  "  Robert  Browne  your  Tenant "  had 
in  hand  or  view  against  these  poor  Parishioners  of  Hapton, 
must,  as  the  adjoining  circumstances  are  all  obliterated,  remain 
somewhat  indistinct  to  us.  We  gather  in  tf*'"*'1'"!  that  the 
rarishioners  of  Hapton  wrro  a  little  given  t<>  Sectarian,  liule- 

1  i;*Hllniuiii'*  Miiyiizine  (1787),  liv.  337. 


240      PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WARS.        siJuly, 

pendent  notions;  which  Browne,  a  respectable  Christian  of 
the  Presbyterian  strain,  could  not  away  with.  The  oppressed 
poor  Tenants  have  contrived  to  make  their  case  credible  to 
Lieutenant-General  Cromwell,  now  in  his  place  in  Parliament 
again ;  —  have  written  to  him ;  perhaps  clubbed  some  poor 
sixpences,  and  sent  up  a  rustic  Deputation  to  him :  and  lu>, 
"however  the  respectable  Presbyterian  world  may  interpret 
it,  is  not  ashamed  to  solicit  for  them : "  with  effect,  either  now 
or  soon. 


LETTEK  XXXVII. 

"  For  his  Excellency  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax, 
General  of  the  Parliament's  Forces  :  *  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  31st  July,  1646. 

"  SIR,  —  I  was  desired  to  write  a  Letter  to  you  by  Adjutant 
Fleming.  The  end  of  it  is,  To  desire  yoiir  Letter  in  his  recom- 
mendation. He  will  acquaint  you  with  the  sum  thereof,  more 
particularly  what  the  business  is.  I  most  humbly  submit  to 
your  better  judgment,  when  you  hear  it  from  him. 

"Craving  pardon  for  my  boldness  in  putting  you  to  this 
trouble,  I  rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  3 

Adjutant  Fleming  is  in  Sprigge's  Army-List.  I  suppose 
him  to  be  the  Fleming  who,  as  Colonel  Fleming,  in  Spring 
1648,  had  rough  service  in  South  Wales  two  years  after- 
wards;  and  was  finally  defeated, — attempting  to  "seize  a 
Pass "  near  Pembroke  Castle,  then  in  revolt  under  Poyer ; 
was  driven  into  a  Church,  and  there  slain,  —  some  say,  slew 
himself.8 

Of  Fleming's  present  "  business "  with  Fairfax,  whether  it 

1  At  Ragland,  or  about  leaving  Bath  for  the  purpose  of  concluding  Rag- 
land  Siege  (Rushworth,  vi.  293). 

2  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  fol.  70. 

5  Rushworth,  vii.  1097,  38  :  —  a  little  "  before  "  27th  March,  1648. 


1C46. 


LETTER  XXXVIII.    LONDON.  241 


were  to  solicit  promotion  here,  or  continued  employment  in 
Ireland,  nothing  can  be  known.  The  War,  which  proved  to 
be  but  the  "  First  War,"  is  now,  as  we  said,  to  all  real  intents, 
ended  :  Ragland  Castle,  the  last  that  held  out  for  Charles,  has 
been  under  siege  for  some  weeks ;  and  Fairfax,  who  had  been 
"  at  the  Bath  for  his  health,"  was  now  come  or  coming  into 
those  parts  for  the  peremptory  reduction  of  it.1  There  have 
begun  now  to  be  discussions  and  speculations  about  sending 
men  to  Ireland  j a  about  sending  Massey  (famed  Governor  of 
Gloucester)  to  Ireland  with  men,  and  then  also  about  dis- 
banding Massey's  men. 

Exactly  a  week  before,  24th  July,  1646,  the  united  Scots 
and  Parliamentary  Commissioners  have  presented  their  "  Propo- 
sitions "  to  his  Majesty  at  Newcastle  :  Yes  or  No,  is  all  the 
answer  they  can  take.  They  are  most  zealous  that  he  should 
say  Yes.  Chancellor  London  implores  and  prophesies  in  a 
very  remarkable  manner :  "  All  England  will  rise  against  you ; 
they,"  these  Sectarian  Parties,  "  will  process  and  depose  you, 
and  set  up  another  Government,"  unless  you  close  with  the 
I'mjjositions.  His  Majesty,  on  the  1st  of  August  (writing  at 
Newcastle,  in  the  same  hours  whilst  Cromwell  writes  this  in 
London),  answers  in  a  haughty  way,  No.* 


LETTER   XXXVIII. 

August  Wth.  The  Parliamentary  commissioners  have  re- 
turned, and  three  of  the  leading  Scots  with  them,  —  to  see 
what  is  now  to  be  done.  The  "  Chancellor  "  who  comes  with 
Argyle  is  London,  the  Scotch  Chancellor,  a  busy  man  in  those 
years,  Fairfax  is  at  Bath  ;  and  "  the  Solicitor,"  St  John  the 
Ship-money  Lawyer,  is  there  with  him. 

1  Ibid.  vi.  293 ;  —  Fairfax's  first  Letter  from  Ragland  is  of  7th  August ; 
14th  August  be  dates  from  Usk;  and  Raglaud  in  surrendered  on  llio  17th. 
9  CrvmweUiana,  April,  164fi,  p.  31. 
8  Rnnlnvorth.  vi.  319-321. 

TO!..    XVII.  W 


242      PART  HI.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL  WARS.     10  August. 

"  For  his  Excellency  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  the  General :  These. 

"LONDON,  10th  August,  1646. 

"SiR, —  Hearing  you  were  returned  from  Ragland  to  the 
Bath.,  I  take  the  boldness  to  make  this  address  to  you. 

"Our  Commissioners  sent  to  the  King  came  this  night  to 
London.1  I  have  spoken  with  two  of  them,  and  can  only  learn 
these  generals,  That  there  appears  a  good  inclination  in  the 
Scots  to  the  rendition  of  our  Towns,  and  to  their  march  out 
of  the  Kingdom.  When  they  bring  in  their  Papers,  we  shall 
know  more.  Argyle,  and  the  Chancellor,  and  Dunfermline 
are  come  up.  Duke  of  Hamilton  is  gone  from  the  King  into 
Scotland.  I  hear  that  Montrose's  men  are  not  disbanded.  The 
King  gave  a  very  general  answer.  Things  are  not  well  in 
Scotland ;  —  would  they  were  in  England !  We  are  full  of 
faction  and  worse. 

"I  hear  for  certain  that  Ormond  has  concluded  a  Peace 
with  the  Rebels.  Sir,  I  beseech  you  command  the  Solicitor 
to  come  away  to  us.  His  help  would  be  welcome.  —  Sir,  I 
hope  you  have  not  cast  me  off.  Truly  I  may  say,  none  more 
affectionately  honors  nor  loves  you.  You  and  yours  are  in 
my  daily  prayers.  You  have  done  enough  to  command  the 
uttermost  of, 

"  Your  faithful  and  most  obedient  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL.* 

"[P.  S.]  I  beseech  you,  my  humble  service  may  be  pre- 
sented to  your  Lady. 

"  [P.S.  2J.]  8  The  money  for  disbanding  Massey's  men  is 
gotten,  and  you  will  speedily  have  directions  about  them  from 
the  Commons  House." 

"  Our  Commissioners "  to  Charles  at  Newcastle,  who  have 
returned  "this  night,"  were:  Earls  Pembroke  and  Suffolk^ 
from  the  Peers ;  from  the  Commons,  Sir  Walter  Earle  (Wey- 

*  Commons  Journals,  11  Aug.  1646.  «  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  fol.  63. 

8  This  second  Postscript  has  been  squeezed  in  above  the  other,  and  is  evi- 
dently written  after  it. 


1(146. 


LETTER  XXXVIIT.    LONDON.  243 


mouth),  Sir  John  Hippesley  (Cockermouth),  Robert  Goodwin 
(East  Grinstead,  Sussex),  Luke  Robinson  (Scarborough).1 

"  Duke  of  Hamilton  : "  the  Parliamentary  Army  found  him 
in  Pendennis  Castle, — no,  in  St.  Michael's  Mount  Castle,  -— 
when  they  took  these  places  in  Cornwall  lately.  The  Par- 
liament has  let  him  loose  again ;  —  he  has  begun  a  course 
of  new  diplomacies,  which  will  end  still  more  tragically  for 
him. 

Onnond  is,  on  application  from  the  Parliament,  ostensibly 
ordered  by  his  Majesty  not  to  make  peace  with  the  outlaw 
Irish  rebels  ;  detestable  to  all  men  :  —  but  he  of  course  follows 
his  own  judgment  of  the  necessities  of  the  case,  being  now 
nearly  over  with  it  himself,  and  the  King  under  restraint 
unable  to  give  any  real  "  orders."  The  truth  was,  Ormond's 
Peace,  odious  to  all  English  Protestants,  had  been  signed  and 
finished  in  March  last ;  with  this  condition  among  others, 
That  an  Army  of  10,000  Irish  were  to  come  over  and  help  his 
Majesty ;  which  truth  is  now  beginning  to  ooze  out.  A  new 
Onnond  Peace  :  —  not  materially  different  I  think  from  the 
late  very  sad  Glamorgan  one ;  which  had  been  made  in  secret 
through  the  Earl  of  Glamorgan,  in  Autumn  last;  and  then, 
when  by  ill  chance  it  came  to  light,  had  needed  to  be  solemnly 
denied  in  Winter  following,  and  the  Earl  of  Glamorgan  to  be 
thrown  into  prison  to  save  appearances  !  On  the  word  of  an 
unfortunate  King ! a  —  It  would  be  a  comfort  to  understand 
farther,  what  the  fact  soon  proves,  that  this  new  Peace  also 
will  not  hold ;  the  Irish  Priests  and  Pope's  Nuncios  disap- 
proving of  it.  Even  while  Oliver  writes,  an  Excommunica- 
tion or  some  such  Document  is  coming  out,  signed  "  Frater 
<>T;irrel,"  "Abbas  O'Teague,"  and  the  like  names:  poor  Or- 
mond  going  to  Kilkenny,  to  join  forces  with  the  Irish  rebels, 
is  treacherously  set  upon,  and  narrowly  escapes  death  by 
them.s 

Concerning  "  the  business  of  Massey's  men,"  there  are  some 

1   Rnshworth,  vi.  309,  where  the  proposals  are  ako  given. 
a  Riuhworth,  vi.  242,   2.39-247  ;    Birvh'H    Inquiry  concerning    Glamorgan  ; 
Carte'*  Onnond;  Ac.     Correct  details  in  liu«l\vin,  ii    102-124. 
•  Rush  worth,  vi.  416  ;  Carte's  Life  of  Onnond. 


244      PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL  WARS.      26  August, 

notices  in  Ludlow.1  The  Commons  had  ordered  Fairfax  to 
disband  them,  and  sent  the  money,  as  we  see  here  ;  whereupon 
the  Lords  ordered  him,  Not.  Fairfax  obeyed  the  Commons ; 
apologized  to  the  Lords,  —  who  had  to  submit,  as  their  habit 
was.  Massey's  Brigade  was  of  no  particular  religion  ;  Massey's 
Miscellany,  —  "  some  of  them  will  require  passes  to  Ethiopia," 
says  ancient  wit.  But  Massey  himself  was  strong  for  Presby- 
terianism,  for  strict  Drill-sergeantcy  and  Anti-heresy  of  every 
kind :  the  Lords  thought  his  Miscellany  and  he  might  have 
been  useful. 


LETTER  XXXIX. 

His  Excellency,  in  the  following  Letter,  is  Fairfax ;  John 
Rushworth,  worthy  John,  we  already  know  !  Fairfax  has 
returned  to  the  Bath,  still  for  his  health;  Ragland  being 
taken,  and  the  War  ended. 

"  For  John  Rushworth,  Esquire,  Secretary  to  his  Excellency,  at 
the  Bath :    These. 

"THE  HOUSE  [OF  COMMONS],  26  Aug.  [1646]. 

"  MR.  RUSHWORTH,  —  I  must  needs  entreat  a  favor  on  the 
behalf  of  Major  Lilburn;  who  has  a  long  time  wanted  em- 
ployment, and  by  reason  good  his  necessities  may  grow  upon 
him. 

"  You  should  do  very  well  to  move  the  General  to  take  him 
into  favorable  thoughts.  I  know  a  reasonable  employment 
will  content  him.  As  for  his  honesty  and  courage,  I  need  not 
speak  much  of  [that],  seeing  he  is  so  well  known  both  to  the 
General  and  yourself. 

"  I  desire  you  answer  my  expectation  herein  so  far  as  you 
may.  You  shall  very  much  oblige,  Sir, 

"  Your  real  friend  and  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  a 

1  Memoirs  of  Edmund  Ludlow  (London,  1722),  ii.  181. 

2  Sloaue  MSS   1519,  fol.  71  .  —  Signature  alone  is  Oliver's. 


1646.  LETTER  XL.    LONDON.  245 

This  is  not  "Freeborn  John,"  the  Sectarian  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  once  in  my  Lord  of  Manchester's  Army ;  the  Lilburn 
whom  Cromwell  spoke  for,  when  Sir  Philip  Warwick  took 
note  of  him ;  the  John  Lilburn  "  who  could  not  live  without  a 
quarrel ;  who  if  he  were  left  alone  in  the  world  would  have 
to  divide  himself  in  two,  and  set  the  John  to  fight  with  Lil- 
burn, and  the  Lilburn  with  John  !  "  Freeborn  John  is  already 
a  Lieutenant-Colonel  by  title  ;  was  not  in  the  New  Model  at 
all ;  is  already  deep  in  quarrels,  —  lying  in  limbo  since  August 
last,  for  abuse  of  his  old  master  Prynne.1  He  has  quarrelled, 
or  is  quarrelling,  with  Cromwell  too ;  calls  the  Assembly  of 
Divines  an  Assembly  of  Dry-vines  ;  —  will  have  little  else  but 
quarrelling  henceforth.  —  This  is  the  Brother  of  Freeborn 
John ;  one  of  his  two  Brothers.  Not  Robert,  who  already  is 
or  soon  becomes  a  Colonel  in  the  New  Model,  and  does  not 
"  want  employment."  This  is  Henry  Lilburn :  appointed, 
probably  in  consequence  of  this  application,  Governor  of  Tyne- 
inouth  Castle  :  revolting  to  the  Royalists,  his  own  Soldiers 
slew  him  there,  in  1G48.  These  Lilburns  were  from  Durham 
County. 


LETTER  XL. 

"DELINQUENTS,"  conquered  Royalists,  are  now  getting  them- 
selves fined,  according  to  rigorous  proportions,  by  a  Parlia- 
ment Committee,  which  sits,  and  will  sit  long,  at  Goldsmiths' 
Hall,  making  that  locality  very  memorable  to  Royalist  gentle- 
ntpn.1 

The  Staffordshire  Committee  have  sent  a  Deputation  up  to 
Town.  They  bring  a  Petition ;  very  anxious  to  have  £2,000 
out  of  tln-ir  StalTonlsliiiv  Delinquents  from  Goldsmiths'  Hall, 
or  even  £4,000,  —  to  pay  off  their  forces,  and  send  them  to 
Ireland ;  which  lie  heavy  on  the  County  at  present. 

1  Wood,  iii.  353. 

"  Tin-  prcx-eiMliiigs  of  it,  all  now  in  very  superior  order,  still  Ho  in  tho 
State-Paper  ()ili<. 


246       PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL   WARS.          60ct 

"For  his  Excellency  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  [General  of  the 
Parliament 's  Army']  :    These. 

"  [LONDON,]  6th  October,  1646. 

"  SIR,  —  I  would  be  loath  to  trouble  you  with  anything ;  but 
indeed  the  Staffordshire  Gentlemen  came  to  me  this  day,  and 
with  more  than  ordinary  importunity  did  press  me  to  give 
their  desires  furtherance  to  you.  Their  Letter  will  show  what 
they  entreat  of  you.  Truly,  Sir,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  give 
them  what  ease  may  well  be  afforded,  and  the  sooner  the 
better,  especially  at  this  time.1 

"  I  have  no  more  at  present,  but  to  let  you  know  the  busi- 
ness of  your  Army  is  like  to  come  on  to-morrow.  You  shall 
have  account  of  that  business  so  soon  as  I  am  able  to  give  it. 
I  humbly  take  leave,  and  rest, 

"  Your  Excellency's  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

The  Commons  cannot  grant  the  prayer  of  this  Petition;8 
Staffordshire  will  have  to  rest  as  it  is  for  some  time.  "  The 
business  of  your  Army  "  did  come  on  "  to-morrow ; "  and  assess- 
ments for  a  new  six  months  were  duly  voted  for  it,  and  other 
proper  arrangements  made.4 


LETTER  XLI. 

COLONEL  IRETON,  now  Commissary-General  Ireton,  was 
wedded,  as  we  saw,  to  Bridget  Cromwell  on  the  15th  of  June 
last.  A  man  "  able  with  his  pen  and  his  sword ; "  a  distin- 
guished man.  Once  B. A.  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  and  Student 

1  "  and  the  sooner,"  &c. :  these  words  are  inserted  above  the  line,  by  way 
of  caret  and  afterthought 

2  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  fol.  72: —  Oliver's  own  hand.  —  Note,  his  Signature 
seems  generally  to  be  Oliver  Cromwell,  not  O.  Cromwell ;  to  which  practice 
we  conform  throughout,  though  there  are  exceptions  to  it. 

8  7th  December,  1646,  Commons  Journals,  v.  3. 
*  7th  October,  1646,  Commons  Journals,  iv,  687. 


1646.  LETTER  XLI.    LONDON.  247 

of  the  Middle  Temple ;  then  a  gentleman  trooper  in  my  Lord 
General  Essex's  Life-guard ;  now  Colonel  of  Horse,  soon  Mem- 
ber of  Parliament ;  rapidly  rising.  A  Nottinghamshire  man ; 
has  known  the  Lieutenant-General  ever  since  the  Eastern- 
Association  times.  Combury  House,  not  now  conspicuous  on 
the  maps,  is  discoverable  in  Oxfordshire,  disguised  as  Bland- 
ford  Lodge, —  not  too  far  from  the  Devizes,  at  which  latter 
Town  Fairfax  and  Ireton  have  just  been,  disbanding  Massey's 
Brigade.  The  following  Letter  will  require  no  commentary. 

"For  my  beloved  Daughter  Bridget  Ireton,  at  Combury , 
General's  Quarters:  These. 

"  LONDON,  25th  October,  1646. 

"  DEAR  DAUGHTER,  —  I  write  not  to  thy  Husband  ;  partly 
to  avoid  trouble,  for  one  line  of  mine  begets  many  of  his, 
which  I  doubt  makes  him  sit  up  too  late;  partly  because  I 
am  myself  indisposed J  at  this  time,  having  some  other  consid- 
erations. 

"  Your  Friends  at  Ely  are  well :  your  Sister  Claypole  is,  I 
trust  in  mercy,  exercised  with  some  perplexed  thoughts.  She 
aces  her  own  vanity  and  carnal  mind;  bewailing  it:  she  seeks 
after  (as  I  hope  also)  what  will  satisfy.  And  thus  to  be  a 
seeker  is  to  be  of  the  best  sect  next  to  a  finder ;  and  such  an 
one  shall  every  faithful  humble  seeker  be  at  the  end.  Happy 
seeker,  happy  finder !  Who  ever  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gra- 
cious, without  some  sense  of  self,  vanity  and  badness  ?  Who 
ever  tasted  that  graciousness  of  His,  and  could  go  less8  in 
!•'•,  —  less  than  pressing  after  full  enjoyment  ?  Dear 
II-  art,  press  on;  let  not  Husband,  let  not  anything  cool  thy 
affections  after  Christ.  I  hope  he8  will  be  an  occasion  to  in- 
llame  them.  That  which  is  best  worthy  of  love  in  thy  Hus- 
band is  that  of  the  image  of  Christ  he  bears.  Look  on  that, 
and  love  it  best,  and  ;ill  the  rest  for  that.  I  pray  for  thee  and 
him ;  do  so  for  me. 

1  not  in  the  ni<xxl  at  this  time,  having  other  matters  in  view. 

8  Itu  in  an  a<l  JLi-ti  vu  ;  to  <jo,  iu  such  case,  aiguiliua  tu  became,  as  "  go  mad,"  &c. 

*  thy  Jliubitiul. 


248        PAET  III,    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WAES.        25Oct 

"My  service  and  dear  affections  to  the  General  and  Gen- 
eraless.  I  hear  she  is  very  kind  to  thee ;  it  adds  to  all  other 
obligations.  I  am 

«  Thy  dear  Father, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

Bridget  Ireton  is  now  Twenty-two.  Her  Sister  Claypole 
(Elizabeth  Cromwell)  is  five  years  younger.  They  were  both 
wedded  last  Spring.  "  Your  Friends  at  Ely "  will  indicate 
that  the  Cromwell  Family  was  still  resident  in  that  City ; 3 
though,  I  think,  they  not  long  afterwards  removed  to  London. 
Their  first  residence  here  was  King  Street,  Westminster;8 
Oliver  for  the  present  lodges  in  Drury  Lane:  fashionable 
quarters  both,  in  those  times. 

General  Fairfax  had  been  in  Town  only  three  days  before, 
attending  poor  Essex's  Funeral :  a  mournful  pageant,  consist- 
ing of  "  both  the  Houses,  Fairfax  and  all  the  Civil  and  Military 
Officers  then  in  Town,  the  Forces  of  the  City,  a  very  great 
number  of  coaches  and  multitudes  of  people ; "  with  Mr.  Vines 
to  preach ;  —  regardless  of  expense,  £5,000  being  allowed 
for  it.4 


LETTER  XLIL 

THE  intricate  Scotch  negotiations  have  at  last  ended.  The 
paying  of  the  Scots  their  first  instalment,  and  getting  them  to 
march  away  in  peace,  and  leave  the  King  "to  our  disposal,  is 
the  great  affair  that  has  occupied  Parliament  ever  since  his 

1  "  A  Copy  of  Oliver  Cromwell's  Letter  to  his  Daughter  Ireton,  exactly- 
taken  from  the  Original."     Harleian  MSS.  no.  6988,  fol.  224  (not  mentioned 
in  Harleian  Catalogue). —  In  another  Copy  sent  me,  which  exactly  corresponds, 
i*  this  Note :  "  Memo :  The  above  Lett'  of  Oliver  Cromwell   Jn°  Caswel 
Merch1  of  London  had  from  his  Mother  Linington,  who  had  it  from  old 
Mrs.  Warner,  who  liv'd  with  Oliver  Cromwell's  Daughter.  —  And  was  Copied 
from  the   Original  Letter,  which  is  in  the  hands  of  John  Warner  Esqr  of 
Swanzey,  by  Cha'  Norris,  25th  Mar:  1749." 

2  See  also  Appendix,  No.  8,  last  Letter  there  (Note  to  Third  Edition). 

3  Cromwelliana,  p.  60.  4  Rushworth,  vi.  239  ;  Whitlocke,  p.  230. 


i«4'.  LETTER  XLII.    LONDON.  249 

Majesty  refused  the  Propositions.  Not  till  Monday,  the  21st 
December,  could  it  be  got  "  perfected,"  or  "  almost  perfected." 
After  a  busy  day  spent  in  the  Commons  House  on  that  affair,1 
Oliver  writes  the  following  Letter  to  Fairfax.  The  "  Major- 
General "  is  Skippon.  Fairfax,  "  since  he  left  Town,"  is  most 
likely  about  Nottingham,  the  head-quarters  of  his  Army,  which 
had  been  drawing  rather  Northward,  ever  since  the  King 
appeared  among  the  Scots.  Fairfax  came  to  Town  12th  No- 
vember, with  great  splendor  of  reception ;  left  it  again  "  18th 
December." 

On  the  morrow  after  that,  19th  December,  1646,  the  Lon- 
doners presented  their  Petition,  not  without  tumult ;  complain- 
ing of  heavy  expenses  and  other  great  grievances  from  the 
Army ;  and  craving  that  the  same  might  be,  so  soon  as  possi- 
ble, disbanded,  and  a  good  Peace  with  his  Majesty  made.8  The 
first  note  of  a  very  loud  controversy  which  arose  between  the 
City  and  the  Army,  between  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Inde- 
pendents, on  that  matter.  Indeed,  the  humor  of  the  City 
seems  to  be  getting  high ;  impatient  for  "  a  just  peace,"  now 
that  the  King  is  reduced.  On  Saturday,  6th  December,  it  was 
ordered  that  the  Lord  Mayor  be  apprised  of  tumultuous  assem- 
blages which  there  are,  "  to  the  disturbance  of  the  peace ; "  and 
be  desired  to  quench  them,  —  if  he  can, 

"  For  his  Excellency  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the 
Parliament's  Armies :  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  21st  December,  1646. 

"Sin,  —  Having  this  opportunity  by  the  Major-General  to 
present  a  few  lines  unto  you,  I  take  the  boldness  to  let  you 
know  how  our  affairs  go  on  since  you  left  Town. 

"  We  have  had  a  very  long  Petition  from  the  City :  how  it 
strikes  at  the  Army,  and  what  other  aims  it  has,  you  will  see 
by  the  contents  of  it ;  as  also  what  is  the  prevailing  temper 
at  this  present,  and  what  is  to  be  expected  from  men.  But 
this  is  our  comfort,  God  is  in  Heaven,  and  He  doth  what 

1   C'ommoni  Juurnalt,  v.  22,  23 

•  King's  Pamphlet*,  small  4to,  no.  290  (cited  by  Godwin,  ii.  269). 


250        PAKT  III.    BETWEEN    THE   CIVIL   WARS.          21  Dec. 

pieaseth  Him ;  His  and  only  His  counsel  shall  stand,  whatso- 
ever the  designs  of  men,  and  the  fury  of  the  people  be. 

"We  have  now,  I  believe,  almost1  perfected  all  our  business 
for  Scotland.  I  believe  Commissioners  will  speedily  be  sent 
down  to  see  agreements  performed :  it 's  intended  that  Major- 
Geueral  Skippon  have  authority  and  instructions  from  your 
Excellency  to  command  the  Northern  Forces,  as  occasion  shall 
be,  and  that  he  have  a  Commission  of  Martial  Law.  Truly  I 
hope  that  the  having  the  Major-General  to  command2  this 
Party  will  appear  to  be  a  good  thing,  every  day  more  and 
more. 

"  Here  has  been  a  design  to  steal  away  the  Duke  of  York 
from  my  Lord  of  Northumberland :  one  of  his  own  servants, 
whom  he  preferred  to  wait  on  the  Duke,  is  guilty  of  it ;  the 
Duke  himself  confessed  so.  I  believe  you  will  suddenly  hear 
more  of  it. 

"  I  have  no  more  to  trouble  you  [with] ;  but  praying  for 
you,  rest, 

"  Your  Excellency's  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 8 

Skippon,  as  is  well  known,  carried  up  the  cash,  £200,000, 
to  Newcastle  successfully,  in  a  proper  number  of  wagons ; 
got  it  all  counted  there,  "bags  of  £100,  chests  of  £1,000" 
(5th-16th  January,  1646-7) ;  after  which  the  Scots  marched 
peaceably  away. 

The  little  Duke  of  York,  entertained  in  a  pet-captive  fash- 
ion at  St.  James's,  did  not  get  away  at  this  time ;  but  managed 
it  by  and  by,  with  help  of  a  certain  diligent  intriguer  and 
turncoat  called  Colonel  Bamfield;4  of  whom  we  may  hear 
farther. 

1  "  almost  "  is  inserted  with  a  caret. 

3  A't  this  point,  the  bottom  of  the  page  being  reached,  Oliver  takes  to  the 
broad  margin,  and  writes  the  remainder  there  lengthwise,  continuing  till  there 
is  barely  room  for  his  signature,  on  the  outmost  verge  of  the  sheet ;  which,  as 
we  remarked  already,  is  a  common  practice  with  him  in  writing  Letters :  —  he 
is  always  loath  to  turn  the  page ;  —  having  no  blotting-paper  at  that  epoch  ;  hav- 
ing only  sand  to  dry  his  ink  with,  and  a  natural  indisposition  to  pause  till  he 
finish  ! 

8  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  fol.  78,  p.  147.  *  Clarendon,  in.  188. 


1646.  LETTERS  XLIII.-XLIV.  2.">1 

On  Thursday,  llth  February,  1646-7,  on  the  road  between 
Mansfield  and  Nottingham,  —  road  between  Newcastle  and 
Jlolinby  House,  —  "Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  went  and  met  the 
King ;  who  stopped  his  horse :  Sir  Thomas  alighted,  and 
kissed  the  King's  hand ;  and  afterwards  mounted,  and  dis- 
coursed with  the  King  as  they  passed  towards  Nottingham."  1 
The  King  had  left  Newcastle  on  the  3d  of  the  month ;  got  to 
Holmby,  or  Hoklenby,  on  the  13th;  —  and  "there,"  says  the 
poor  Iter  Carolinum,  "  during  pleasure."  — 


LETTERS  XLIII.-XLIV. 

BEFORE  reading  these  two  following  Letters,  read  this  Ex- 
tract from  a  work  still  in  Manuscript,  and  not  very  sure  of 
ever  getting  printed  :  — 

"  The  Presbyterian  '  Platform '  of  Church  Government,  as 
recommended  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  or  '  Dry- Vines,'  has 
at  length,  after  unspeakable  debatings,  passings  and  repassings 
through  both  Houses,  and  soul's-travail  not  a  little,  about 
'ruling-ciders,'  'power  of  the  keys,'  and  such  like, — been  got 
firutlly  passed,  though  not  without  some  melancholy  shades  of 
Erastianism,  or  'the  Voluntary  Principle,'  as  the  new  phrase 
runs.  The  Presbyterian  Platform  is  passed  by  Law ;  and  Lon- 
don and  other  places,  busy  'electing  their  ruling-elders,' are 
just  about  ready  to  set  it  actually  on  foot.  And  now  it  is 
lio|T(l  there  will  be  some  'uniformity'  as  to  that  high  matter. 

"  Uniformity  of  free-growing  healthy  forest-trees  is  good  \ 
uniformity  of  clipt  Dutch-dragons  is  not  so  good!  The  ques- 
tion, Which  of  the  two?  is  by  no  means  settled,  —  though  the< 
Assembly  of  Divines,  and  majorities  of  both  Houses,  woul<\ 
f.iin  think  it  so.  The  general  English  mind,  which,  loving 
good  order  in  all  tilings,  loves  regularity  even  at  a  high  price, 
could  be  content  with  this  Presbyterian  scheme,  which  we  call 

1  Whitlocke,  p.  242 ;  her  CanUnum   (in  Somen  Traett,  ri  274) :  Whit- 
•  dote,  tut  Ubiuil,  itt  luexact. 


252     PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL  WARS.       11  March, 

the  Dutch-dragon  one ;  but  a  deeper  portion  of  the  English 
mind  inclines  decisively  to  growing  in  the  forest-tree  way,  — 
and  indeed  will  shoot  out  into  very  singular  excrescences, 
Quakerisms  and  what  not,  in  the  coming  years.  Nay  already 
we  have  Anabaptists,  Brownists,  Sectaries  and  Schismatics 
springing  up  very  rife  :  already  there  is  a  Paul  Best,  brought 
before  the  House  of  Commons  for  Socinianism ;  nay  we  hear 
of  another  distracted  individual  who  seemed  to  maintain,  in 
confidential  argument,  that  '  God  was  mere  Reason.' 1  There 
is  like  to  be  need  of  garden-shears,  at  this  rate  !  The  devout 
House  of  Commons,  viewing  these  things  with  a  horror  incon- 
ceivable in  our  loose  days,  knows  not  well  what  to  do.  Lon- 
don City  cries,  '  Apply  the  shears  ! '  —  the  Army  answers, 
'  Apply  them  gently ;  cut  off  nothing  that  is  sound ! '  The 
question  of  garden-shears,  and  how  far  you  are  to  apply  them, 
is  really  difficult ;  —  the  settling  of  it  will  lead  to  very  un- 
expected results.  London  City  knows  with  pain,  that  there 
are  '  many  persons  in  the  Army  who  have  never  yet  taken  the 
Covenant ; '  the  Army  begins  to  consider  it  unlikely  that  cer- 
tain of  them  will  ever  take  it !  "  — 

These  things  premised,  we  have  only  to  remark  farther,  that 
the  House  of  Commons  meanwhile,  struck  with  devout  horror, 
has,  with  the  world  generally,  spent  Wednesday,  the  10th 
of  March,  1646-7,  as  a  Day  of  Fasting  and  Humiliation  for 
Blasphemies  and  Heresies.2  Cromwell's  Letter,  somewhat 
remarkable  for  the  grieved  mind  it  indicates,  was  written  next 
day.  Fairfax  with  the  Army  is  at  Saffron  Walden  in  Essex  ; 
there  is  an  Order  this  day 8  that  he  is  to  quarter  where  he  sees 
best.  There  are  many  Officers  about  Town ;  soliciting  pay- 
ments, attending  private  businesses :  their  tendency  to  Schism, 
to-  Anabaptistry  and  Heresy,  or  at  least  to  undue  tolerance  for 
all  that,  is  well  known.  This  Fast-day,  it  would  seem,  is 
regarded  as  a  kind  of  covert  rebuke  to  them.  Fast-day  was 
Wednesday ;  this  is  Thursday  evening :  — 

l  Whitlocke.  a  Ibid.  p.  243. 

8  Commons  Journals,  v.  1 10. 


1647  LETTER  XLIII.    LONDON. 


LETTER  XLIH. 

"  For  his  Excellency  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the  Parlia- 
ment?* Army  [at  Saffron  Walden]  :  These. 

[LONDON,  11  March,  1646.] 

"  SIB,  —  Your  Letters  about  your  head-quarters,  directed  to 
the  Houses,1  came  seasonably,  and  were  to  very  good  purpose. 
There  want  not,  in  all  places,  men  who  have  so  much  malice 
against  the  Army  as  besots  them:  the  late  Petition,  which 
suggested  a  dangerous  design  upon  the  Parliament  in  [your] 
coming  to  those  quarters 2  doth  sufficiently  evidence  the  same  : 
but  they  got  nothing  by  it,  for  the  Houses  did  assoil  the  Army 
from  all  suspicion,  and  have  left  you  to  quarter  where  you 
please.* 

"  Never  were  the  spirits  of  men  more  embittered  than  now. 
Surely  the  Devil  hath  but  a  short  time.  Sir,  it's  good  the 
heart  be  fixed  against  all  this.  The  naked  simplicity  of  Christ, 
with  that  wisdom  He  is  pleased  to  give,  and  patience,  will  over- 
come all  this.  That  God  would  keep  your  heart  as  He  has 
done  hitherto,  is  the  prayer  of 

"  Your  Excellency's  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CBOMWELL." 

"  [P.  S.]  *  I  desire  my  most  humble  service  may  be  pre- 
sented to  my  Lady.  —  Adjutant  Allen  desires  Colonel  Baxter, 
some  time  Governor  of  Beading,  may  be  remembered.  I  humbly 
<:  Colonel  Overton  may  not  be  out  of  your  remembrance. 
He  is  a  deserving  man,  and  presents  his  humble  services  to 
you.  —  Upon  the  Fast-day,  divers  soldiers  were  raised  (as  I 
heard),  both  horse  and  foot,  near  200  in  Covent  Garden,  To 

1  <\>mmoni  Journal*,  v.  110,  llth  March,  1646  (Letter  is  dated  Saffron 
Walden,  9th  Marrli). 

*  Saffron  Walden,  in  the  Eastern  A.«w<>oiation :  "  Not  to  qoarter  in  the 
rn  AModatkra,"  had  the  Lord**,  through  .Mam  lirstur  their  Speaker, 
lately  written  ( Common*  Journal*,  infrk)  ;  hut  without  effect. 

'  Common*  Journal*,  v.  110,  llth  March,  1646. 

4  Written  across  on  the  margin,  according  to  custom. 


254         PART  HI.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL   WARS.    17  March, 

prevent  us  soldiers  from  cutting  the  Presbyterians'  throats. 
These  are  fine  tricks  to  mock  God  with." 1 

This  flagrant  insult  to  "  us  soldiers,"  in  Covent  Garden  and 
doubtless  elsewhere,  as  if  the  zealous  Presbyterian  Preacher 
were  not  safe  from  violence  in  bewailing  Schism,  —  is  very 
significant.  The  Lieutenant-General  himself  might  have  seen 
as  well  as  "  heard  "  it,  —  for  he  lived  hard  by,  in  Drury  Lane  I 
think ;  but  was  of  course  at  his  own  Church,  bewailing  Schism 
too,  though  not  in  so  strait-laced  a  manner.  — 

Oliver's  Sister  Anna,  Mrs.  Sewster,  of  Wistow,  Huntingdon- 
shire, had  died  in  these  months,  1st  November,  1646. 2  Among 
her  little  girls  is  one,  Robina,  for  whom  there  is  a  distinguished 
Scotch  Husband  in  store ;  far  off  as  yet,  an  "  Ensign  in  the 
French  Army  "  as  yet,  William  Lockhart  by  name ;  of  whom 
we  may  hear  more. 

This  Letter  lies  contiguous  to  Letter  XXXIV.  in  the  Sloane 
Volume :  Letter  XXXIV.  is  sealed  conspicuously  with  red 
wax ;  this  Letter,  as  is  fit,  with  black.  The  Cromwell  crest, 
"  lion  with  ring  on  his  fore-gainb,"  —  the  same  big  seal,  —  is 
on  both. 


LETTER  XLTV. 

COMMONS  JOURNALS,  17th  March,  1646 :  "  Ordered,  That  the 
Committee  of  the  Army  do  write  unto  the  General,  and  ac- 
quaint him  that  this  House  takes  notice  of  his  care  in  order- 
ing that  none  of  the  Forces  under  his  Command  should  quarter 
nearer  than  Five-and-twenty  Miles  of  this  City :  That  notwith- 
standing his  care  and  directions  therein,  the  House  is  informed 
that  some  of  his  Forces  are  quartered  much  nearer  than  that  j 
and  To  desire  him  to  take  course  that  his  former  Orders, 
touching  the  quartering  of  his  Forces  no  nearer  than  Twenty- 
five  Miles,  may  be  observed." 

1  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  fol.  62. 

a  See  antea,  p.  21 ;  and  Noble,  i.  89. 


l<*47.  LETTER  XLIV.    LONDON.  255 

u  To  his  Excellency  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the  Parlia- 
ment's Army :  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  19th  March,  1646. 

"SiR, —  This  enclosed  Order  I  received;  but,  I  suppose, 
Letters  from  the  Committee  of  the  Army  to  the  effect  of  this 
are  come  to  your  hands  before  this  time.  I  think  it  were  very 
good  that  the  distance  of  Twenty-five  Miles  be  very  strictly 
observed ;  and  they  are  to  blame  that  have  exceeded  the  dis- 
tance, contrary  to  your  former  appointment.  This  Letter  I 
received  this  evening  from  Sir  William  Massam,1  a  Member  of 
the  House  of  Commons ;  which  I  thought  fit  to  send  you ;  his 
House  being  much  within  that  distance  of  Twenty-five  Miles 
of  London.  I  have  sent  the  Officers  down,  as  many  as  I  could 
well  light  of. 

"Not  having  more  at  present,  I  rest, 

"  Your  Excellency's  most  humble  servant, 

" OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

The  troubles  of  the  Parliament  and  Army  are  just  begin* 
ning.  The  order  for  quartering  beyond  twenty-five  miles  from 
London,  and  many  other  "  orders,"  were  sadly  violated  in  the 
course  of  this  season.  "Sir  W.  Massam's  House,"  "Otes  in 
Essex,"  is  a  place  known  to  us  since  the  beginning  of  these 
Letters. 

The  Officers  ought  really  to  go  down  to  their  quarters  in  the 
Eastern  Counties ;  Oliver  has  sent  them  off,  as  many  of  them 
as  lie  "  could  well  light  of." 

The  Presbyterian  System  is  now  fast  getting  into  action :  on 
the  20th  May,  1647,  the  Synod  of  London,  with  due  Prolocutor 
or  Moderator,  met  in  St  Paul's.8  In  Lancashire  too  the  Sys- 
tem is  fairly  on  foot;  but  I  think  in  other  English  Counties  it 
was  somewhat  lazy  to  move,  and  never  came  rightly  into  ac- 
tion, owing  to  impedimenta. — Poor  old  Laud  is  condemned 
of  treason,  and  beheaded,  years  ago;  the  Scots,  after  Marston 

»  Masham.  '  Sloane  MRS.  1519,  fol.  74. 

•  R«ah  worth,  YI.  489;  Whitlooke  (p.  249}  tlat*»s  wrong. 


256         PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL  WARS.       10  June, 

Fight,  pressing  heavy  on  him;  Prynne  too  being  very  un- 
grateful. That  "  performance  "  of  the  Service  to  the  Hyper- 
borean populations  in  so  exquisite  a  way  has  cost  the  Artist 
dear !  He  died  very  gently ;  his  last  scene  much  the  best,  for 
himself  and  for  us.  The  two  Hothams  also,  and  other  traitors, 
have  died. 


ARMY  MANIFESTO. 

OUR  next  entirely  authentic  Letter  is  at  six  months'  distance : 
a  hiatus  not  unfrequent  in  this  Series ;  but  here  most  especially 
to  be  regretted ;  such  a  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  Oliver  and  of 
England  transacting  itself  in  the  interim.  The  Quarrel  between 
City  and  Army,  which  we  here  see  begun ;  the  split  of  the  Par- 
liament into  two  clearly  hostile  Parties  of  Presbyterians  and 
Independents,  represented  by  City  and  Army ;  the  deadly  wres- 
tle of  these  two  Parties,  with  victory  to  the  latter,  and  the 
former  flung  on  its  back,  and  its  "  Eleven  Members  "  sent  be- 
yond Seas :  all  this  transacts  itself  in  the  interim,  without 
autograph  note  or  indisputably  authentic  utterance  of  Oliver's 
to  elucidate  it  for  us.  We  part  with  him  laboring  to  get  the 
Officers  sent  down  to  Saffron  Walden ;  sorrowful  on  the  Spring 
Fast-day  in  Coveut  Garden :  we  find  him  again  at  Putney  in 
Autumn ;  the  insulted  Party  now  dominant,  and  he  the  most 
important  man  in  it.  One  Paper  which  I  find  among  the  many 
published  on  that  occasion,  and  judge  pretty  confidently,  by 
internal  evidence,  to  be  of  his  writing,  is  here  introduced ;  and 
there  is  no  other  that  I  know  of. 

How  this  Quarrel  between  City  and  Army,  no  agreement  with 
the  King  being  for  the  present  possible,  went  on  waxing ;  devel- 
oping itself  more  and  more  visibly  into  a  Quarrel  between  Pres- 
byterianism  and  Independency;  attracting  to  the  respective 
sides  of  it  the  two  great  Parties  in  Parliament  and  in  England 
generally :  all  this  the  reader  must  endeavor  to  imagine  for 
himself,  —  very  dimly,  as  matters  yet  stand.  In  books,  in 
Narratives  old  or  new,  he  will  find  little  satisfaction  in  regard 


1G47.  ARMY   MANIFESTO.  257 

to  it.  The  old  Narratives,  written  all  by  baffled  enemies  of 
Cromwell,1  are  full  of  mere  blind  rage,  distraction  and  dark- 
ness ;  the  new  Narratives,  believing  only  in  "  Machiavelism," 
&c.  disfigure  the  matter  still  more.  Common  History,  old  and 
new,  represents  Cromwell  as  having  underhand,  —  in  a  most 
skilful  and  indeed  prophetic  manner,  —  fomented  or  originated 
all  this  commotion  of  the  elements  ;  steered  his  way  through 
it  by  "  hypocrisy,"  by  "  master-strokes  of  duplicity,"  and  such 
like.  As  is  the  habit  hitherto  of  History. 

"  The  fact  is,"  says  a  Manuscript  already  cited  from,  "  poor 
History,  contemporaneous  and  subsequent,  has  treated  this 
matter  in  a  very  sad  way.  Mistakes,  misdates  ;  exaggerations, 
unveracities,  distractions  ;  all  manner  of  misseeings  and  mis- 
notings  in  regard  to  it,  abound.  How  many  grave  historical 
statements  still  circulate  in  the  world,  accredited  by  Bishop 
Buruet  and  the  like,  which  on  examination  you  will  find  melt 
away  into  after-dinner  rumors,  —  gathered  from  ancient  red- 
nosed  Presbyterian  gentlemen,  Harbottle  Grimston  and  Com- 
pany, sitting  over  claret  under  a  Blessed  Restoration,  and 
talking  to  the  loosely  recipient  Bishop  in  a  very  loose  way  ! 
Statements  generally  with  some  grain  of  harmless  truth,  mis- 
interpreted by  those  red-nosed  honorable  persons  ;  frothed 
up  into  huge  bulk  by  the  loquacious  Bishop  above  mentioned, 
and  so  set  floating  on  Time's  Stream.  Not  very  lovely  to  us, 
they,  nor  the  red-noses  they  proceeded  from  !  I  do  not  cite 
them  here  ;  I  have  examined  most  of  them  ;  found  not  one  of 
them  fairly  believable  ;  wondered  to  see  how  already  in  one 
generation,  earnest  Puritanism  being  hung  on  the  gallows  or 
thrown  out  in  St.  Margaret's  Churchyard,  the  whole  History  of 
it  had  grown  mythical,  and  men  were  ready  to  swallow  all  man- 
ner of  nonsense  concerning  it.  Ask  for  dates,  ask  for  proofs  : 
Who  saw  it,  heard  it  ;  when  was  it,  where  ?  A  misdate,  of 
itself,  will  do  much.  So  accurate  a  man  as  Mr.  Godwin,  gen- 
erally very  accurate  in  such  matters,  makes  'a  master-stroke 
of  duplicity  '  merely  by  mistake  of  dating  :  *  the  thing  when 


.mnirx;  W;ill«;r'n  VinilictitiuH  of  hit  Character,-  Cleineut  Walk- 
er*f»  Flittory  of  Imtcfiendenry  ;  Su-.  &c. 

*  Godwin,  ii   300,  —  citing  Walker,  p.  31  (should  be  p.  33). 
VOL.  \VH.  17 


258        PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL   WARS.       10  June, 

Oliver  did  say  it,  was  a  credible  truth,  and  no  master-stroke  or 
stroke  of  any  kind ! 

"'Master-strokes  of  duplicity;'  'false  protestations;'  'fo- 
menting of  the  Army  discontents : '  alas,  alas !  It  was  not 
Cromwell  that  raised  these  discontents ;  not  he,  but  the  ele- 
mental Powers  !  Neither  was  it,  I  think,  '  by  master-strokes 
of  duplicity'  that  Cromwell  steered  himself  victoriously 
across  such  a  devouring  chaos ;  no,  but  by  continuances  of 
noble  manful  simplicity,  I  rather  think,  —  by  meaning  one 
thing  before  God,  and  meaning  the  same  before  men,  not  as 
a  weak  but  as  a  strong  man  does.  By  conscientious  resolu- 
tion ;  by  sagacity,  and  silent  wariness  and  promptitude ;  by 
religious  valor  and  veracity,  —  which,  however  it  may  fare 
with  foxes,  are  really,  after  all,  the  grand  source  of  clearness 
for  a  man  in  this  world !  "  —  We  here  close  our  Manuscript. 

Modern  readers  ought  to  believe  that  there  was  a  real  im- 
pulse of  heavenly  Faith  at  work  in  this  Controversy  ;  that  on 
both  sides,  more  especially  on  the  Army's  side,  here  lay  the 
central  element  of  all ;  modifying  all  other  elements  and  pas- 
sions ;  —  that  this  Controversy  was,  in  several  respects,  very 
different  from  the  common  wrestling  of  Greek  with  Greek  for 
what  are  called  "Political  objects"!  —  Modern  readers,  mind- 
ful of  the  French  Revolution,  will  perhaps  compare  these  Pres- 
byterians and  Independents  to  the  Gironde  and  the  Mountain. 
And  there  is  an  analogy ;  yet  with  differences.  With  a  great 
difference  in  the  situations ;  with  the  difference,  too,  between 
Englishmen  and  Frenchmen,  which  is  always  considerable ;  and 
then  with  the  difference  between  believers  in  Jesus  Christ  and 
believers  in  Jean  Jacques,  which  is  still  more  considerable ! 

A  few  dates,  and  chief  summits  of  events,  are  all  that  can 
be  indicated  here,  to  make  our  "  Manifesto  "  legible. 

From  the  beginnings  of  this  year  1647  and  earlier,  there  had 
often  been  question  as  to  what  should  be  done  with  the  Army. 
The  expense  of  such  an  Army,  between  twenty  and  thirty 
thousand  men,  was  great ;  the  need  of  it,  Eoyalism  being  now 
subdued,  seemed  small ;  besides,  it  was  known  that  there  were 
many  in  it  who  "  had  never  taken  the  Covenant,"  and  were 


1*47.  ARMY  MANIFESTO.  269 

never  likely  to  take  it.  This  latter  point,  at  a  time  when 
Heresy  seemed  rising  like  a  hydra,1  and  the  Spiritualism  of 
England  was  developing  itself  in  really  strange  ways,  became 
very  important  too,  — became  gradually  most  of  all  important, 
and  the  soul  of  the  whole  Controversy. 

Early  in  March,  after  much  debating,  it  had  been  got  settled 
that  there  should  be  twelve  thousand  men  employed  in  Ireland,9 
which  was  now  in  sad  need  of  soldiers.  The  rest  were,  in  some 
good  way,  to  be  disbanded.  The  "  way,"  however,  and  whether 
it  might  really  be  a  good  way,  gave  rise  to  considerations.  — 
Without  entering  into  a  sea  of  troubles,  we  may  state  here  in 
general  that  the  things  this  Army  demanded  were  strictly  their 
just  right :  Arrears  of  pay,  "  three-and-forty  weeks  "  of  hard- 
oanu'd  pay ;  indemnity  for  acts  done  in  War ;  and  clear  dis- 
charge according  to  contract,  not  service  in  Ireland  except 
under  known  Commanders  and  conditions,  —  "our  old  Com- 
manders," for  example.  It  is  also  apparent  that  the  Presby- 
terian party  in  Parliament,  the  leaders  of  whom  were,  several 
of  them,  Colonels  of  the  Old  Model,  did  not  love  this  victorious 
Army  ;  that  indeed  they  disliked  and  grew  to  hate  it,  useful  as 
it  had  been  to  them.  Denzil  Holies,  Sir  William  Waller,  Har- 
ley,  Stapleton,  these  men,  all  strong  for  Presbyteriaiiism,  were 
old  unsuccessful  Colonels  or  Generals  under  Essex;  and  for 
very  obvious  reasons  looked  askance  on  this  Army,  and  wished 
to  be,  so  soon  as  possible,  rid  of  it.  The  first  rumor  of  a  demur 
or  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Army,  rumor  of  some  Petition  to 
Fairfax  by  his  Officers  as  to  the  "  way  "  of  their  disbanding, 
was  by  these  Old-Military  Parliament-men  very  angrily  re 
-<id ;  nay,  in  a  moment  of  fervor,  they  proceeded  to  decree 
th;it  whoever  had,  or  might  have,  a  hand  in  promoting  such 
I't-tition  in  the  Army  was  an  "Enemy  to  the  State,  and  a  Dis- 
tiirlx>r  of  the  Public  Peace,"  —  and  sent  forth  the  same  in  a 
"Declaration  of  the  30th  of  Murrh,"  which  became  very  cele- 
brated afterwards.  This  unlucky  "  Declaration,"  Waller  says, 
was  due  to  Holies,  who  smuggled  it  one  evening  through  a  thin 
House.  "  Enemies  to  the  State,  Disturbers  of  the  Peace  : "  it 

1  8«e  Edward*'*  finnynrna  (London,  1016),  for  many  furious  details  of  it. 
*  6th  March,  C'vmmoM  Jottrnuli.  r.  107. 


260       PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WARS.      10  June. 

was  a  severe  and  too  proud  rebuke ;  felt  to  be  unjust,  and 
looked  upon  as  "  a  blot  of  ignominy ; "  not  to  be  forgotten,  nor 
easily  forgiven,  by  the  parties  it  was  addressed  to.  So  stood 
matters  at  the  end  of  March. 

At  the  end  of  April  they  stand  somewhat  thus.  Two  Parlia- 
ment Deputations,  Sir  William  Waller  at  the  head  of  them, 
have  been  at  Saffron  Walden,  producing  no  agreement : 1  five 
dignitaries  of  the  Army,  "  Lieutenant-General  Hammond,  Colo- 
nel Hammond,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Pride,"  and  two  others, 
have  been  summoned  to  the  bar  ; 2  some  subalterns  given  into 
custody  ;  Ireton  himself  "  ordered  to  be  examined  ;  "  —  and  no 
"  satisfaction  to  the  just  desires  of  the  Army  ; "  on  the  con- 
trary, the  "  blot  of  ignominy  "  fixed  deeper  on  it  than  before. 
We  can  conceive  a  universal  sorrow  and  anger,  and  all  manner 
of  dim  schemes  and  consultations  going  on  at  Saffron  Walden 
and  the  other  Army-quarters,  in  those  days.  Here  is  a  scene 
from  Whitlocke,  worth  looking  at,  which  takes  place  in  the 
Honorable  House  itself ;  date  30th  April,  1647 : 8  — 

"  Debate  upon  the  Petition  and  Vindication  of  the  Army. 
Major-General  Skippon,  in  the  House,  produced  a  Letter  pre- 
sented to  him  the  day  before  by  some  Troopers,  in  behalf  of 
Eight  Regiments  of  the  Army  of  Horse.  Wherein  they  ex- 
pressed some  reasons,  Why  they  could  not  engage  in  the  ser- 
vice of  Ireland  under  the  present  Conduct,"  under  the  proposed 
Commander  ship,  by  Skippon  and  Massey ;  "  and  complained, 
Of  the  many  scandals  and  false  suggestions  which  were  of  late 
raised  against  the  Army  and  their  proceedings  ;  That  they 
were  taken  as  enemies  ;  That  they  saw  designs  upon  them, 
and  upon  many  of  the  Godly  Party  in  the  Kingdom ;  That 
they  could  not  engage  for  Ireland  till  they  were  satisfied 
in  .their  expectations,  and  their  just  desires  granted.  —  Three 
Troopers,  Edward  Sexby,  William  Allen,  Thomas  Sheppard, 
who  brought  this  Letter,  were  examined  in  the  House,  touch- 

1  Waller,  pp.  42-85. 

2  Commons  Journals,  v.  129  (29th  March,  1647). 

8  Whitlocke,  p.  249 ;  Commons  Journals,  in  die ;  and  a  fuller  account  in 
Itushworth,  vi.  474.  The  "  Letter,"  immediately  referred  to,  is  in  Gary's 
Memorials  (Selections  from  the  Tanner  MSS. ;  London,  1842),  i.  201. 


1047.  ARMY  MANIFESTO.  261 

ing  the  drawing  and  subscribing  of  it;  and,  Whether  their 
Officers  were  engaged  in  it  or  not  ?  They  affirmed,  That  it 
was  drawn  up  at  a  Rendezvous  of  several  of  those  Eight  Regi- 
ments ;  and  afterwards  at  several  meetings  by  Agents  or 
Agitators,  for  each  Regiment ;  and  that  few  of  their  Officers 
knew  or  took  notice  of  it. 

"  Those  Troopers  being  demanded,  Whether  they  had  not 
been  Cavaliers  ?  —  it  was  attested  by  Skippon,  that  they  had 
constantly  served  the  Parliament,  and  some  of  them  from  the 
beginning  of  the  War.  Being  asked  concerning  the  meaning  of 
some  expressions  in  the  Petition,"  especially  concerning  tf  cer- 
tain men  aiming  at  a  Sovereignty"  —  "they  answered,  That 
the  Letter  being  a  joint  act  of  those  Regiments,  they  could 
not  give  a  punctual  answer,  being  only  Agents ;  but  if  they 
might  have  the  queries  in  writing,  they  would  send  or  carry 
them  to  those  Regiments,  and  return  their  own  and  their 
answers.  —  They  were  ordered  to  attend  the  House  upon 
summons." 

Three  sturdy  fellows,  fit  for  management  of  business ;  let 
the  reader  note  them.  They  are  "  Agents  "  to  the  Army  :  a 
class  of  functionaries  called  likewise  "  Adjutators "  and  mis- 
spelt "  Agitators  ;  "  elected  by  the  common  men  of  the  Army, 
to  keep  the  ranks  in  unison  with  the  Officers  in  the  present 
crisis  of  their  affairs.  This  is  their  first  distinct  appearance 
in  the  eye  of  History  ;  in  which,  during  these  months,  they 
play  a  great  part.  Evidently  the  settlement  with  the  Army 
will  be  a  harder  task  than  was  supposed. 

During  these  same  months  some  languid  negotiation  with 
the  King  is  going  on ;  Scots  Commissioners  come  up  to  help 
in  treating  with  him ;  but  as  he  will  not  hear  of  Covenant  or 
Presbytery,  there  can  no  result  follow.  It  was  an  ugly  aggra- 
vation of  the  blot  of  ignominy  which  the  Army  smarts  under, 
—  the  report  raised  against  it,  That  some  of  the  Leaders  had 
,  "  If  the  King  would  come  to  thr.m,  they  would  put  the 
crown  on  his  head  again."  —  Cromwell,  from  his  place  in  Par- 
liament, earnestly  watches  these  occurrences ;  waits  what  the 
f,rn-:it  "birth  of  Providence"  in  them  may  l>e;  —  "carries  him- 
self with  much  wariness  ; "  is  more  and  more  looked  up  to  by 


262          PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WARS.    10  June, 

the  Independent  Party,  for  his  interest  with  the  Soldiers. 
One  day,  noticing  the  "  high  carriages  "  of  Holies  and  Com- 
pany, he  whispers  Edmund  Ludlow  who  sat  by  him,  "  These 
men  will  never  leave  till  the  Army  pull  them  out  by  the 
ears ! " 1  Holies  and  Company,  who  at  present  rule  in  Par- 
liament, pass  a  New  Militia  Ordinance  for  London ;  put  the 
Armed  Force  of  London  into  hands  more  strictly  Presbyterian.2 
There  have  been  two  London  Petitions  against  the  Army,  and 
two  London  Petitions  covertly  in  favor  of  it ;  the  Managers  of 
the  latter,  we  observe,  have  been  put  in  prison. 

May  Sth.  A  new  and  more  promising  Deputation,  Cromwell 
at  the  head  of  it.  "  Cromwell,  Ireton,  Fleetwood,  Skippon," 
proceed  again  to  Saffron  Walden ;  investigate  the  claims  and 
grievances  of  the  Army  ; 8  engage,  as  they  had  authority  to  do, 
that  real  justice  shall  be  done  them  ;  and  in  a  fortnight  return 
with  what  seems  an  agreement  and  settlement ;  for  which  Lieu- 
tenant-General Cromwell  receives  the  thanks  of  the  House.4 
The  House  votes  what  it  conceives  to  be  justice,  "  eight  weeks 
of  pay"  in  ready  money,  bonds  for  the  rest, — and  so  forth. 
Congratulations  hereupon ;  a  Committee  of  Lords  and  Com- 
mons are  ordered  to  go  down  to  Saffron  Walden,  to  see  the 
Army  disbanded. 

May  2Stk.  On  arriving  at  Saffron  Walden,  they  find  that 
their  notions  of  what  is  justice,  and  the  Army's  notions,  differ 
widely.  "  Eight  weeks  of  pay,"  say  the  Army ;  "  we  want 
nearer  eight  times  eight ! "  Disturbances  in  several  of  the 
quarters  :  —  at  Oxford  the  men  seize  the  disbanding-money  as 
part  of  payment,  and  will  not  disband  till  they  get  the  whole. 
A  meeting  of  Adjutators,  by  authority  of  Fairfax,  convenes  at 
Bury  St.  Edmund's,  —  a  regular  Parliament  of  soldiers,  "  each 
common  man  paying  fourpence  to  meet  the  expense : "  it  is 
agreed  that  the  Army's  quarters  shall  be  "  contracted,"  brought 
closer  together ;  that  on  Friday  next,  4th  of  June,  there  shall 

1  Ludlow,  i.  189;  see  Whitlocke,  p.  252. 

2  4th  May,  1647,  Commons  Journals,  v.  160:  —  "  Thirty-one  Persona,"  their 
names  given. 

8  Letters  from  them,  in  Appendix,  No.  10. 
4  May  21st,  Commons  Journals,  v.  181. 


1647.  ARMY  MANIFESTO.  263 

be  a  Rendezvous,  or  General  Assembly  of  all  the  Soldiers,  there 
to  decide  on  what  they  will  do.1 

June  kth  and  5th.  The  Newmarket  Rendezvous,  "  on  Kent- 
ford  Heath,"  a  little  east  of  Newmarket,  is  held ;  a  kind  of 
Covenant  is  entered  into,  and  other  important  things  are  done : 
—  but  elsewhere  in  the  interim  a  thing  still  more  important 
had  been  done.  On  Wednesday,  June  2d,  Cornet  Joyce,  — 
once  a  London  tailor  they  say,  evidently  a  very  handy  active 
in.ni, — he  and  five  hundred  common  troopers,  a  volunteer 
Party,  not  expressly  commanded  by  anybody,  but  doing  what 
they  know  the  whole  Army  wishes  to  be  done,  sally  out  of 
Oxford,  where  things  are  still  somewhat  disturbed ;  proceed 
to  Holmby  House ;  and,  after  two  days  of  talking,  bring  "  the 
King's  Person"  off  with  them.  To  the  horror  and  despair  of 
tin  Parliament  Commissioners  in  attendance  there ;  but  clearly 
to  the  satisfaction  of  his  Majesty,  —  who  hopes,  in  this  new 
shuttie-and-deal,  some  good  card  will  turn  up  for  him ;  hopes, 
with  some  ground,  "the  Presbyterians  and  Independents  may 
now  be  got  to  extirpate  one  another."  His  Majesty  rides  will- 
ingly ;  the  Parliament  Commissioners  accompany,  wringing 
their  hands  :  —  to  Hinchinbrook,  that  same  Friday  night ; 
where  Colonel  Montague  receives  them  with  all  hospitality, 
entertains  them  for  two  days.  Colonel  Whalley  with  a  strong 
party,  deputed  by  Fairfax,  had  met  his  Majesty ;  offered  to 
deliver  him  from  Joyce,  back  to  Holmby  and  the  Parliament ; 
but  his  Majesty  positively  declined.  —  Captain  Titus,  quasi 
Tighthose,  very  well  known  afterwards,  arrives  at  St.  Stephen's 
with  the  news ;  has  £50  voted  him  "  to  buy  a  horse,"  for  his 
•_:n';it  service;  and  fills  all  men  with  terror  and  amazement. 
Honorable  Houses  agree  to  "sit  on  the  Lord's  day;" 
Stephen  Marshall  to  pray  for  them  ;  never  were  in  such 
a  plight  before.  The  Controversy,  at  this  point,  has  risen  from 
Economical  into  Political :  Army  Parliament  in  the  Easti  rn 
Counties  against  Civil  Parliament  in  Westminster;  and,  "How 
the  Nation  shall  be  settled  "  between  them ;  whether  its  growth 
shall  be  in  the  forest-tree  fashion,  or  in  the  dipt  Dutch-dragon 
fashion  ?  — 

4W-610. 


264          PAKT  III.    BETWEEN    THE   CIVIL  WAKS.     10  June, 

Monday,  June  7th.  All  Officers  in  the  House  are  ordered 
forthwith  to  go  down  to  their  regiments.  Cromwell,  without 
order,  not  without  danger  of  detention,  say  some,  has  already 
gone:  this  same  day,  "General  Fairfax,  Lieutenant-General 
Cromwell,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  Army,"  have  an  interview 
with  the  King,  "at  Childerley  House,  between  Huntingdon 
and  Cambridge : "  his  Majesty  will  not  go  back  to  Holinby  ; 
much  prefers  "  the  air "  of  these  parts,  the  air  of  Newmarket 
for  instance ;  and  will  continue  with  the  Army.1  Parliament 
Commissioners,  with  new  Votes  of  Parliament,  are  coming 
down ;  the  Army  must  have  a  new  Rendezvous,  to  meet  them. 
New  Rendezvous  at  Royston,  more  properly  on  Triploe  Heath 
near  Cambridge,  is  appointed  for  Thursday ;  and  in  the  interim 
a  "  Day  of  Fasting  and  Humiliation  "  is  held  by  all  the  soldiers, 
—  a  real  Day  of  Prayer  (very  inconceivable  in  these  days),  For 
God's  enlightenment  as  to  what  should  now  be  done. 

Here  is  Whitlocke's  account  of  the  celebrated  Rendezvous 
itself,  —  somewhat  abridged  from  Rushworth,  and  dim  enough ; 
wherein,  however,  by  good  eyes  a  strange  old  Historical  Scene 
may  be  discerned.  The  new  Votes  of  Parliament  do  not  appear 
still  to  meet  "  the  just  desires  "  of  the  Army ;  meanwhile  let 
all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order. 

"The  General  had  ordered  a  Rendezvous  at  Royston;" 
properly  on  Triploe  Heath,  as  we  said ;  on  Thursday,  10th 
June,  1647 :  the  Force  assembled  was  about  twenty-one  thou- 
sand men,  the  remarkablest  Army  that  ever  wore  steel  in  this 
world.  "The  General  and  the  Commissioners  rode  to  each 
Regiment.  They  first  acquainted  the  General's  Regiment 
with  the  Votes  of  the  Parliament ;  and  Skippon,"  one  of  the 
Commissioners,  "  spake  to  them  to  persuade  a  compliance.  An 
Officer  of  the  Regiment  made  answer,  That  the  Regiment  did 
desire  that  their  answer  might  be  returned  after  perusal 
of  the  Votes  by  some  select  Officers  and  Agitators,  whom  the 
Regiment  had  chosen ;  and  said,  This  was  the  motion  of  the 
Regiment. 

"He  desired  the  General  and  Commissioners  to  give  him 
leave  to  ask  the  whole  Regiment  if  this  was  their  answer. 

1  Ruehworth,  vi.  549. 


1647.  ARMY   MANIFESTO.  265 

Leave  being  given,  they  cried  '  All.'  Then  he  put  the  ques- 
tion, If  any  man  were  of  a  contrary  opinion  he  should  say, 
No ;  —  and  not  one  man  gave  his  '  No.'  —  The  Agitators,  in 
behalf  of  the  soldiers,  pressed  to  have  the  question  put  at  once, 
Whether  the  Regiment  did  acquiesce  and  were  satisfied  with 
the  Votes  ?  "  The  Agitators  knew  well  what  the  answer  would 
have  been  !  —  "  But  in  regard  the  other  way  was  more  orderly, 
and  they  might  after  perusal  proceed  more  deliberately,  that 
question  was  laid  aside. 

"  The  like  was  done  in  the  other  Regiments ;  and  all  were 
very  unanimous ;  and  always  after  the  Commissioners  had 
done  reading  the  Votes,  and  speaking  to  each  Regiment,  and 
had  received  their  answer,  all  of  them  cried  out,  '  Justice,  Jus- 
tice ! ' "  —  not  a  very  musical  sound  to  the  Commissioners. 

"  A  Petition  was  delivered  in  the  field  to  the  General,  in  the 
name  of  '  many  well-affected  people  in  Essex  ; '  desiring,  That 
the  Army  might  not  be  disbanded ;  in  regard  the  Common- 
wealth had  many  enemies,  who  watched  for  such  an  occasion 
to  destroy  the  good  people."  l 

Such,  and  still  dimmer,  is  the  jotting  of  dull  authentic 
Bulstrode,  —  drowning  in  official  oil,  and  somnolent  natural 
pedantry  and  fat,  one  of  the  remarkablest  scenes  our  History 
ever  had :  An  Armed  Parliament,  extra-official,  yet  not  with- 
out a  kind  of  sacredness,  and  an  Oliver  Cromwell  at  the  head 
of  it;  demanding  with  one  voice,  as  deep  as  ever  spake  in 
England,  "  Justice,  Justice  ! "  under  the  vault  of  Heaven. 

That  same  afternoon,  the  Army  moved  on  to  St.  Albans, 
nearer  to  London ;  and  from  the  Rendezvous  itself,  a  joint 
Letter  was  despatched  to  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  which 
the  reader  is  now  at  last  to  see.  I  judge  it,  pretty  confidently, 
by  evidence  of  style  alone,  to  be  of  Cromwell's  own  writing. 
It  differs  totally  in  this  respect  from  any  other  of  those  mul- 
titudinous Army-Papers ;  which  were  understood,  says  Whit- 
locke,  to  be  drawn  up  mostly  by  Ireton,  "  who  had  a  subtle 
working  brain  ;  "  or  by  Lambert,  who  also  had  got  some  tinc^ 
ture  of  Law  and  other  learning,  and  did  not  want  for  brain, 
are  very  able  Papers,  though  now  very  dull  ones.  This 

»  Wl.itlocke,  p.  255. 


266          PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL   WARS.      lOJune, 

is  in  a  far  different  style  ;  in  Oliver's  worst  style ;  his  style 
when  lie  writes  in  haste,  —  and  not  in  haste  of  the  pen  merely, 
for  that  seems  always  to  have  been  a  most  rapid  business  with 
him ;  but  in  haste  before  the  matter  had  matured  itself  for 
him,  and  the  real  kernels  of  it  got  parted  from  the  husks.  A 
style  of  composition  like  the  structure  of  a  block  of  oak-root,  — 
as  tortuous,  unwedgeable,  and  as  strong  !  Read  attentively, 
this  Letter  can  be  understood,  can  be  believed :  the  tone  of  it, 
the  "  voice  "  of  it,  reminds  us  of  what  Sir  Philip  Warwick 
heard  j  the  voice  of  a  man  risen  justly  into  a  kind  of  chant,  — 
very  dangerous  for  the  City  of  London  at  present. 

"  To  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Com- 
mon Council  of  the  City  of  London  :   These. 

"RorSTON,  10th  June,  1647. 

"  RIGHT  HONORABLE  AND  WORTHY  FRIENDS,  —  Having,  by 
our  Letters  and  other  Addresses  presented  by  our  General  to 
the  Honorable  House  of  Commons,  endeavored  to  give  satisfac- 
tion of  the  clearness  of  our  just  Demands  ;  and  [having]  also, 
in  Papers  published  by  us,  remonstrated  the  grounds  of  our 
proceedings  in  prosecution  thereof  ;  —  all  of  which  being  pub- 
lished in  print,  we  are  confident  [they]  have  come  to  your 
hands,  and  received  at  least  a  charitable  construction  from  you. 

"  The  sum  of  all  these  our  Desires  as  Soldiers  is  no  other 
than  this  :  Satisfaction  to  our  undoubted  Claims  as  Soldiers  ; 
and  reparation  upon  those  who  have,  to  the  utmost,  improved 
all  opportunities  and  advantages,  by  false  suggestions,  misrep- 
resentations and  otherwise,  for  the  destruction  of  this  Army 
with  a  perpetual  blot  of  ignominy  upon  it.  Which  [injury] 
we  should  not  value,  if  it  singly  concerned  our  own  particular 
[persons]  ;  being  ready  to  deny  ourselves  in  this,  as  we  have 
done  in  other  cases,  for  the  Kingdom's  good :  but  under  this 
pretence,  we  find,  no  less  is  involved  than  the  overthrow  of 
the  privileges  both  of  Parliament  and  People;  —  and  that 
rather  than  they  *  shall  fail  in  their  designs,  or  we  receive 
what  in  the  eyes  of  all  good  men  is  [our]  just  right,  the  King- 

1  The  Presbyterian  leaders  hi  Parliament,  Holies,  Stapleton.  Barley, 
Waller,  &c. 


1647.  ARMY  MANIFESTO.  267 

dom  is  endeavored  to  be  engaged  in  a  new  War.  [In  a  new 
War,]  and  this  singly  by  those  who,  when  the  truth  of  these 
things  shall  be  made  to  appear,  will  be  found  to  bo  the  authors 
of  those  [said]  evils  that  are  feared ;  —  and  who  have  no  other 
way  to  protect  themselves  from  question  and  punishment  but 
by  putting  tin;  Kingdom  into  blood,  under  the  pretence  of  their 
honor  of  and  their  love  to  the  Parliament.  As  if  that  were 
dearer  to  them  than  to  us ;  or  as  if  they  had  given  greater 
proof  of  their  faithfulness  to  it  than  we. 

"  But  we  perceive  that,  under  these  veils  and  pretences,  they 
seek  to  interest  in  their  design  the  City  of  London :  —  as  if 
that  City  ought  to  make  good  their  miscarriages,  and  should 
prefer  a  few  self-seeking  men  before  the  welfare  of  the  Public. 
And  indeed  we  have  found  these  men  so  active  to  accomplish* 
their  designs,  and  to  have  such  apt  instruments  for  their  turn 
in  that  City,  that  we  have  cause  to  suspect  they  may  engage 
many  therein  upon  mistakes,  —  which  are  easily  swallowed,  in 
times  of  such  prejudice  against  them  *  that  have  given  (we  may 
speak  it  without  vanity)  the  most  public  testimony  of  their 
good  affections  to  the  Public,  and  to  that  City  in  particular. 

"[As]  for  the  thing  we  insist  upon  as  Englishmen,  —  and 
surely  our  being  Soldiers  hath  not  stript  us  of  that  interest, 
although  our  malicious  enemies  would  have  it  so,  —  we  desire 
a  Settlement  of  the  Peace  of  the  Kingdom  and  of  the  Liberties 
of  the  Subject,  according  to  the  Votes  and  Declarations  of  I'.ir- 
liament,  which,  before  we  took  arms,  were,  by  the  Parliament, 
used  as  arguments  and  inducements  to  invite  us  and  divers  of 
our  dear  friends  out ;  some  of  whom  have  lost  their  lives  in  this 
War.  Which  Ix'ing  now,  by  God's  blessing,  finished,  —  we 
think  we  have  as  much  right  to  demand,  and  desire  to  see,  a 
happy  Settlement,  as  we  have  to  our  money  and  [to]  the  other 
< '>imnon  interest  of  Soldiers  which  we  have  insisted  upon.  We 
linil  also  the  ingenuous  and  honest  People,  in  almost  all  parts 
of  the  Kingdom  where  we  come,  full  of  the  sense  of  ruin  and 
y  if  the  Army  should  be  disbanded  before  the  Peace  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  those  other  things  before  mentioned,  have  a  full 
and  perfect  Settlement. 

i  Oblique  for  "  u*." 


268         PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL  WARS,      lojune, 

"  We  have  said  before,  and  profess  it  now,  We  desire  no 
alteration  of  the  Civil  Government.  As  little  do  we  desire  to 
interrupt,  or  in  the  least  to  intermeddle  with,  the  settling  of 
the  Presbyterial  Government.  Nor  did  we  seek  to  open  a 
way  for  licentious  liberty,  under  pretence  of  obtaining  ease 
for  tender  consciences.  We  profess,  as  ever  in  these  things, 
When  once  the  State  has  made  a  Settlement,  we  have  nothing 
to  say  but  to  submit  or  suffer.  Only  we  could  wish  that  every 
good  citizen,  and  every  man  who  walks  peaceably  in  a  blame- 
less conversation,  and  is  beneficial  to  the  Commonwealth, 
might  have  liberty  and  encouragement ;  this  being  according 
to  the  true  policy  of  all  States,  and  even  to  justice  itself. 

"  These  in  brief  are  our  Desires,  and  the  things  for  which  we 
stand ;  beyond  which  we  shall  not  go.  And  for  the  obtaining 
of  these  things,  we  are  drawing  near  your  City  1  —  professing 
sincerely  from  our  hearts,  [That]  we  intend  not  evil  towards 
you  ;  declaring,  with  all  confidence  and  assurance,  That  if  you 
appear  not  against  us  in  these  our  just  desires,  to  assist  that 
wicked  Party  which  would  embroil  us  and  the  Kingdom, 
neither  we  nor  our  Soldiers  shall  give  you  the  least  offence. 
We  come  not  to  do  any  act  to  prejudice  the  being  of  Parlia- 
ments, or  to  the  hurt  of  this  [Parliament]  in  order  to  the 
present  Settlement  of  the  Kingdom.  We  seek  the  good  of  all. 
And  we  shall  wait  here,  or  remove  to  a  farther  distance  to 
abide  there,  if  once  we  be  assured  that  a  speedy  Settlement 
of  things  is  in  hand,  —  until  it  be  accomplished.  Which 
done,  we  shall  be  most  ready,  either  all  of  us,  or  so  many 
of  the  Army  as  the  Parliament  shall  think  fit,  —  to  disband, 
or  to  go  for  Ireland. 

""And  although  you  may  suppose  that  a  rich  City  may  seen; 
an  enticing  bait  to  poor  hungry  Soldiers  to  venture  far  to  gain 
the  wealth  thereof,  —  yet,  if  not  provoked  by  you,  we  do  pro- 
fess, Rather  than  any  such  evil  should  fall  out,  the  soldiers 
shall  make  their  way  through  our  blood  to  effect  it.  And  we 
can  say  this  for  most  of  them,  for  your  better  assurance, 
That  they  so  little  value  their  pay,  in  comparison  of  higher 

1  That  is  the  remarkable  point. 


1647.  ARMY    MANIFESTO.  269 

concernments  to  a  Public  Good,  that  rather  than  they  will  be 
unrighted  in  the  matter  of  their  honesty  and  integrity  (which 
hath  suffered  by  the  Men  they  aim  at  and  desire  justice  upon), 
or  want  the  settlement  of  the  Kingdom's  Peace,  and  their 
[own]  and  their  fellow-subjects'  Liberties,  —  they  will  lose 
all.  Which  may  be  a  strong  assurance  to  you  that  it 's  not 
your  wealth  they  seek,  but  the  things  tending  in  common  to 
your  and  their  welfare.  That  they  may  attain  [these],  you 
shall  do  like  Fellow-Subjects  and  Brethren  if  you  solicit  the 
Parliament  for  them,  on  their  behalf. 

"  If  after  all  this,  you,  or  a  considerable  part  of  you  be 
seduced  to  take  up  arms  in  opposition  to,  or  hindrance  of, 
vhese  our  just  undertakings,  —  we  hope  we  have,  by  this 
brotherly  premonition,  to  the  sincerity  of  which  we  call  God 
to  witness,  freed  ourselves  from  all  that  ruin  which  may  be- 
fall that  great  and  populous  City  ;  having  thereby  washed  our 
hands  thereof.  We  rest, 

"  Your  affectionate  Friends  to  serve  you, 
"THOMAS  FAIRFAX.  HENRY  IRETON. 

OLIVER  CROMWELL.         ROBERT  LILBURN. 

ROBERT  HAMMOND.        JOHN  DESBOROW. 

THOMAS  HAMMOND.        THOMAS  RAINSBOROW. 

HARDRESS  WALLER.        JOHN  LAMBERT. 

NATHANIEL  RICH.  THOMAS  HARRISON."  l 

THOMAS  PRIDE. 

This  Letter  was  read  next  day  in  the  Commons  House,8  — 
not  without  emotion.  Most  respectful  answer  went  from 
the  Guildhall,  "in  three  coaches  with  the  due  number  of 
outriders." 

On  June  16th,  the  Army,  still  at  St.  Albans,  accuses  of  trea- 
son Eleven  Members  of  the  Commons  House  by  name,  as  chief 
authors  of  all  these  troubles ;  whom  the  Honorable  House  is 
respectfully  required  to  put  upon  their  Trial,  and  prevent 
from  voting  in  the  interim.  These  are  the  famed  Eleven 
'xjrs;  Holies,  Waller,  Stapleton,  Massey  are  known  to 
us ;  the  whole  List,  for  benefit  of  historical  readers,  we  sub- 
1  Uiwhworth,  vi.  5*4.  »  Common*  Journal*,  v.  808. 


270        PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WARS.       26  July, 

join  in  a  Note.1  They  demurred  ;  withdrew ;  again  returned ; 
in  fine,  had  to  "ask  leave  to  retire  for  six  months,"  on  account 
of  their  health,  we  suppose.  They  retired  swiftly  in  the  end ; 
to  France ;  to  deep  concealment,  —  to  the  Tower  otherwise. 

The  history  of  these  six  weeks,  till  they  did  retire  and  the 
Army  had  its  way,  we  must  request  the  reader  to  imagine  for 
himself.  Long  able  Papers,  drawn  by  men  of  subtle  brain 
and  strong  sincere  heart :  the  Army  retiring  always  to  a  safe 
distance  when  their  Demands  are  agreed  to ;  straightway  ad- 
vancing if  otherwise,  —  which  rapidly  produces  an  agreement. 
A  most  remarkable  Negotiation ;  conducted  with  a  method, 
a  gravity  and  decorous  regularity  beyond  example  in  such 
cases.  The  "  shops  "  of  London  were  more  than  once  "  shut ;  " 
tremor  occupying  all  hearts :  —  but  no  harm  was  done.  The 
Parliament  regularly  paid  the  Army ;  the  Army  lay  coiled 
round  London  and  the  Parliament,  now  advancing,  now  reced- 
ing ;  saying  in  the  most  respectful  emblematic  way,  "  Settle- 
ment with  us  and  the  Godly  People,  or ! "  —  The  King, 

still  with  the  Army,  and  treated  like  a  King,  endeavored  to 
play  his  game,  "  in  meetings  at  Woburn  "  and  elsewhere  ;  but 
the  two  Parties  could  not  be  brought  to  extirpate  one  another 
for  his  benefit. 

Towards  the  end  of  July,  matters  seemed  as  good  as  settled : 
the  Holies  "  Declaration,"  that  "  blot  of  ignominy,"  being  now 
expunged  from  the  Journals ; a  the  Eleven  being  out ;  and  now 
at  last,  the  New  Militia  Ordinance  for  London  (Presbyterian 
Ordinance  brought  in  by  Holies  on  the  4th  of  May)  being 
revoked,  and  matters  in  that  quarter  set  on  their  old  footing 
again.  The  two  Parties  in  Parliament  seem  pretty  equal  in 
numbers ;  the  Presbyterian  Party,  shorn  of  its  Eleven,  is 

1  Denzil  Holies  (Member  for  Dorchester),  Sir  Philip  Stapleton  (Borough- 
bridge),  Sir  William  Waller  (Andover),  Sir  William  Lewis    (Petersfield), 
Sir  John  Clotworthy  (Maiden),  Recorder Glynn  (Westminster),  Mr.  Anthony 
Nichols  (Bodmin)  ;  these  Seven  are  old  Members,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Parliament; — the  other  Four  are  "  recruiters,"  elected  since  1645:  Major- 
General  Massey  (Wootton-Basset),  Colonel  Walter  Long  (Ludgershall),  Colo- 
nel Edward  Harley  (Herefordshire),  Sir  John  Maynard  (Lostwithiel). 

2  Asterisks  still  in  the  place  of  it,  Commons  Journals,  29th  March,  1647. 


1647. 


ARMY  MANIFESTO.  271 


cowed  down  to  the  due  pitch ;  and  there  is  now  prospect  of 
fair  treatment  for  all  the  Godly  Interest,  and  such  a  Settle- 
mpnt  with  his  Majesty  as  may  be  the  best  for  that.  Towards 
the  end  of  July,  however,  London  City,  torn  by  factions,  but 
Presbyterian  by  the  great  majority,  rallies  again  in  a  very 
extraordinary  way.  Take  these  glimpses  from  contempora- 
neous Whitlocke ;  and  rouse  them  from  their  fat  somnolency 
a  little. 

July  26th.  Many  young  men  and  Apprentices  of  London 
came  to  the  House  in  a  most  rude  and  tumultuous  manner ; 
and  presented  some  particular  Desires.  Desires,  That  the 
Eleven  may  come  back;  that  the  Presbyterian  Militia  Ordi- 
nance be  not  revoked,  —  that  the  Revocation  of  it  be  revoked. 
Desire,  in  short,  That  there  be  no  peace  made  with  Sectaries, 
but  that  the  London  Militia  may  have  a  fair  chance  to  fight 
them  !  —  Drowsy  Whitlocke  continues  ;  almost  as  if  he  were 
in  Paris  in  the  eighteenth  century :  "  The  Apprentices,  and 
many  other  rude  boys  and  mean  fellows  among  them,  came 
into  the  House  of  Commons ;  and  kept  the  Door  open  and 
their  hats  on ;  and  called  out  as  they  stood,  '  Vote,  Vote ! ' 
rnul  in  this  arrogant  posture  stood  till  the  votes  passed  in  that 
way,  To  repeal  the  Ordinance  for  change  of  the  Militia,  to  " 
&c.  "  Tn  the  evening  about  seven  o'clock,  some  of  the  Com- 
mon Council  came  down  to  the  House :  "  but  finding  the  Par- 
liiinit-nt  and  Speaker  already  had  been  forced,  they,  astute 
Common-Council  men,  ordered  their  Apprentices  to  go  home 
again,  the  work  they  had  set  them  upon  being  now  finislu-d.1 
This  disastrous  scene  fell  out  on  Monday,  26th  July,  1647  :  the 
I!  .-s.  on  the  morrow  morning,  without  farther  sitting,  ad 
journcd  till  Friday  next. 

On  Friday  next,  —  behold,  the  Two  Speakers,  "with  tin- 
Mace,"  and  many  Members  of  both  Houses,  have  withdrawn  ; 
an«l  the  Army,  lately  at  1 '•'•<! ford,  is  on  quick  march  towards 
I/mdon  !  Alarming  pause.  "About  noon,"  however,  the  Re- 
mainders of  the  Two  Houses,  reinforced  by  the  Eleven  who 
rt':i].|..  ir  for  the  last  time,  proceed  to  elect  new  Speakers,  "get 
the  City  Mace;"  order,  above  all,  that  there  be  a  vigorous 

1  Whillocke,  p.  S63. 


272         PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WARS.        3  Aug. 

enlistment  of  forces  under  General  Massey,  General  Poyntz, 
and  others.  "  St.  James's  Fields  "  were  most  busy  all  Satur- 
day, all  Monday ;  shops  all  shut ;  drums  beating  in  all  quar- 
ters ;  a  most  vigorous  enlistment  going  on.  Presbyterianism 
will  die  with  harness  on  its  back.  Alas,  news  come  that  the 
Army  is  at  Colnebrook,  advancing  towards  Hounslow  ;  news 
come  that  they  have  rendezvoused  at  Hounslow,  and  received 
the  Speakers  and  fugitive  Lords  and  Commons  with  shouts. 
Tuesday,  3d  August,  1647,  was  such  a  day  as  London  and  the 
Guildhall  never  saw  before  or  since  !  Southwark  declares  that 
it  will  not  fight ;  sends  to  Fairfax  for  Peace  and  a  "  sweet 
composure  ;  "  conies  to  the  Guildhall  in  great  crowds  peti- 
tioning for  Peace  ;  —  at  which  sight,  General  Poyntz,  pressing 
through  for  orders  about  his  enlistments,  loses  his  last  drop 
of  human  patience ;  "  draws  his  sword  "  on  the  whining  multi- 
tudes, "  slashes  several  persons,  whereof  some  die."  The  game 
is  nearly  up.  Look  into  the  old  Guildhall  on  that  old  Tuesday 
night ;  the  palpitation,  tremulous  expectation ;  wooden  Gog 
and  Magog  themselves  almost  sweating  cold  with  terror  :  — 

"  General  Massey  sent  out  scouts  to  Brentford :  but  ten 
men  of  the  Army  beat  thirty  of  his  ;  and  took  a  flag  from  a 
Party  of  the  City.  The  City  Militia  and  Common  Council  sat 
late  ;  and  a  great  number  of  people  attended  at  Guildhall. 
.When  a  scout  came  in  and  brought  news,  That  the  Army  made 
a  halt ;  or  other  good  intelligence,  —  they  cry,  '  One  and  all ! ' 
But  if  the  scouts  reported  that  the  Army  was  advancing  nearer 
them,  then  they  would  cry  as  loud,  '  Treat,  treat,  treat ! '  So 
they  spent  most  part  of  the  night.  At  last  they  resolved  to 
send  the  General  an  humble  Letter,  beseeching  him  that  there 
might  be  a  way  of  composure."  l 

On  Friday  morning  was  "a  meeting  at  the  Earl  of  Holland's 
House  in  Kensington  "  (the  Holland  House  that  yet  stands), 
and  prostrate  submission  by  the  Civic  Authorities  and  Parlia- 
mentary Remainders ;  after  which  the  Army  marched  "three 
deep  by  Hyde  Park  "  into  the  heart  of  the  City,  "  with  boughs 
of  laurel  in  their  hats ; "  —  and  it  was  all  ended.  Fair  treat- 
ment for  all  the  Honest  Party  :  and  the  Spiritualism  of  Eng- 

i  Whitlocke,  p.  265. 


1H47. 


LETTERS  XLV.-LVIII.  273 


land  shall  not  be  forced  to  grow  in  the  Presbyterian  fashion, 
however  it  may  grow.  Here  is  another  entry  from  somnolent 
Bulstrode.  The  Army  soon  changes  its  head-quarters  to  Put- 
ney ; l  one  of  its  outer  posts  is  Hampton  Court,  where  his 
Majesty,  obstinate  still,  but  somewhat  despondent  now  of 
getting  the  tv/o  Parties  to  extirpate  one  another,  is  lodged. 

Saturday,  "  September  18th.  After  a  Sermon  in  Putney 
Church,  the  General,  many  great  Officers,  Field-Officers,  infe- 
rior Officers  and  Adjutators,  met  in  the  Church ;  debated  the 
Proposals  of  the  Army"  towards  a  Settlement  of  this  bleeding 
Nation  ;  "  altered  some  things  in  them ;  —  and  were  very  full 
of  the  Sermon,  which  had  been  preached  by  Mr.  Peters."  * 


LETTERS  XLV.-LVIIL 

THESE  Fourteen  Letters,  touching  slightly  on  public  affairs, 
with  one  or  two  glimpses  into  private,  must  carry  us,  without 
commentary,  in  a  very  dim  way,  across  to  the  next  stage  in 
Oliver's  History  and  England's  :  the  Flight  of  the  King  from 
Hampton  Court  and  the  Army,  soon  followed  by  the  actual 
breaking  out  of  the  Second  Civil  War. 

LETTER  XLV. 

WILLIAMS,  Archbishop  of  York,  "hasty  hot  Welsh  Wil- 
liams,"—  whom  we  once  saw,  seven  years  ago,  as  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  getting  jostled  in  Palace-yard,  protesting  thereupon, 
:ind  straightway  getting  lodged  in  the  Tower,1  —  is  to  concern 
us  again  for  one  moment.  A  man  once  very  radiant  to  men,  as 
obscure  as  he  has  now  grown  :  a  most  high-riding  far-shining 
Solar  Luminary  in  that  epoch  ;  obscure  to  no  man  in  England 
for  thirty  years  last  past !  A  man  of  restless  mercurial  vivaci- 
ty, of  endless  superficial  dexterity  and  ingenuity,  of  next  to  no 
real  wisdom; — very  fit  to  have  swift  promotions  and  sudden 

1  28th  August,  Ruahworth,  vii.  791.  «  Whitlocke,  p.  S7& 

*  Aatoa,  p.  118. 

VOL.    XVII.  1» 


274        PART  III.    BETWEEN  THE  CIVIL  WARS.    September, 

eclipses  iu  a  Stuart  Court ;  not  worthy  of  much  memory 
otherwise.  Of  his  rapid  rises,  culminations,  miraculous  facul- 
ties and  destinies,  to  us  all  useless,  indifferent  and  extinct,  let 
there  be  silence  here,  —  reference  to  Bishop  Racket  and  the 
Futile  Ingenuities.1 

Archbishop  Williams  —  for  he  got  delivered  from  the  Tower 
at  that  time,  and  recovered  favor,  and  was  "  enthroned  Arch- 
bishop at  York"  while  his  Majesty  was  raising  his  War- 
standard  there  —  found,  after  a  while,  that  there  was  little 
good  to  be  got  of  his  Archbishophood ;  that  his  best  weapon 
would  be,  not  the  crosier,  but  the  linstock  and  cannon-rammer, 
at  present :  he  went  to  his  Welsh  estate  of  Aberconway,  and 
"procuring  a  Commission  from  his  Majesty,"  fortified  Couway 
Castle  "  at  his  own  expense,"  and  invited  the  neighboring 
gentry  to  lodge  their  plate  and  valuables  there,  as  in  a  place 
of  security.  Good;  —  for  the  space  of  a  year  or  two.  But 
now,  some  time  ago,  in  the  death-throes  of  the  late  War,  while 
North  Wales  was  bestirring  itself  as  in  last-agony  for  his 
Majesty's  behoof, — there  came  a  certain  Colonel  Sir  John 
Owen,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  again:  he,  this  Owen,  came 
before  Castle  Conway  with  large  tumultuary  force  ;  demanded 
the  same  in  his  Majesty's  name,  to  be  governed  by  him  Sir 
John  Owen,  as  essential  for  his  Majesty's  occasions  at  that 
time.  High-sniffing,  indignant  refusal  on  the  part  of  Williams  : 
impetuous  capture  and  forcible  possession  on  the  part  of  Owen. 
Hot  Williams,  blown  all  to  flame  hereby,  applied  to  Colonel 
Mitton,  the  Parliamentary  Colonel  of  those  parts ;  said  to  him, 
"Expel  me  this  intolerable  Owen;  Owen  out,  I  will  hold  this 
Castle  for  the  Parliament  and  you,  — his  Majesty  seems  nearly 
done  with  fighting  now."  A  thing  difficult  to  explain  com- 
pletely to  the  Royalist  mind :  Bishop  Hacket  has  his  own  ados 
with  it ;  and  in  stupid  Saunderson  2  and  others  it  is  one  loud 
howl,  "  Son  of  the  morning,  how  art  thou  fallen  ! "  — 

Explained  or  not,  "  my  Lord  of  York "  does  hold  Conway 
Castle,  on  those  terms,  at  this  date ;  is  taking  a  certain  charge 

1  Hacket's   Life  of  Archbishop    Williams  (a  considerable  Folio,   London, 
1712)  ;  Philips's   Life  of  Williams  (an  Octavo  Abridgment  of  that) ;  &c- 
8  History  of  Charles  I. 


1647.  LETTER  XLV.    PUTNEY.  275 

of  North  Wales  in  his  busy  way ;  and  has  eren  been,  corre- 
sponding with  Cromwell,  on  the  subject  They  had  known 
one  another  in  old  years :  Buckden,  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln's 
House,  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  Huntingdon ;  where  Crom- 
well, it  is  understood,  used  occasionally  to  wait  upon  him; 
pleading  for  oppressed  Lecturers  and  the  like,  —  the  Bishop 
having,  from  political  or  other  biases,  a  kind  of  lenity  for 
Puritans. 

Cromwell  is  very  brief  with  him  here ;  courteous  as  to  an 
old  neighbor  rather  in  eclipse  ;  but  evidently  wishing  to  have 
no  unnecessary  business  with  the  Governor  of  Conway.  We 
see  he  could  on  occasion  jocosely  claim  "  kindred  "  with  him, 
as  himself  a  "  Williams :  "  and  that  perhaps  is  the  chief 
interest  of  this  small  Document,  which  the  reader  will  now 
abundantly  understand. 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  my  Lord  of  York :  These. 

"  [PCTNEY,]  1st  September,  1647. 

"MY  LORD, — Your  Advices  will  be  seriously  considered 
by  us.  We  shall  endeavor,  to  our  uttermost,  so  to  settle  the 
affairs  of  North  Wales  as,  to  the  best  of  our  understandings, 
does  most  conduce  to  the  public  good  thereof  and  of  the  whole. 
And  that  without  private  respect,  or  to  the  satisfaction  of  any 
humor,  —  which  has  been  too  much  practised  on  the  occasion 
of  our  Troubles. 

"The  Drover  you  mentioned  will  be  secured,  as  far  as  we 
are  able,  in  his  affairs,  if  he  come  to  ask  it.     Your  Kinsman 
shall  be  very  welcome:  I  shall  study  to  serve  him  for  Kin- 
dred's sake ;  among  whom  let  not  be  forgotten,  my  Lord, 
"  Your  cousin  and  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

My  Lord  of  York  still  lived  some  year  or  two  in  Conway 
Castle ;  saw  his  enemy  Sir  John  Owon  in  trouble  enough ;  but 
ili'-<l  before  long,  —  chiefly  of  broken  heart  for  the  fate  of  his 
Majesty,  thinks  Bishop  Haoket     A  long  farewell  to  him. 
1  G*Ultma*'»  Maya;ine  (1780),  lix.  877. 


276         PART  III.    BETWEEN  THE  CIVIL   WARS.    September, 


LETTER  XL VI. 

THE  Marquis  of  Ormond,  a  man  of  distinguished  integrity, 
patience,  activity  and  talent,  had  done  his  utmost  for  the  King 
in  Ireland,  so  long  as  there  remained  any  shadow  of  hope  there. 
His  last  service,  as  we  saw,  was  to  venture  secretly  on  a  Peace 
with  the  Irish  Catholics,  —  Papists,  men  of  the  Massacre  of 
1641,  men  of  many  other  massacres,  falsities,  mad  blusterings 
and  confusions,  —  whom  all  parties  considered  as  sanguinary 
Rebels,  and  regarded  with  abhorrence.  Which  Peace,  we  saw 
farther,  Abbas  O'Teague  and  others  threatening  to  produce 
excommunication  on  it,  the  "Council  of  Kilkenny"  broke 
away  from,  —  not  in  the  handsomest  manner.  Ormond,  in  this 
Spring  of  1647,  finding  himself  reduced  to  "seven  barrels  of 
gunpowder  "  and  other  extremities,  without  prospect  of  help  or 
trustworthy  bargain  on  the  Irish  side,  —  agreed  to  surrender 
Dublin,  and  what  else  he  had  left,  rather  to  the  Parliament 
than  to  the  Rebels ;  his  Majesty,  from  England,  secretly  and 
publicly  advising  that  course.  The  Treaty  was  completed : 
"  Colonel  Michael  Jones,"  lately  Governor  of  Chester,  arrived 
with  some  Parliamentary  Regiments,  with  certain  Parlia- 
mentary Commissioners,  on  the  7th  of  June : 1  the  surrender 
was  duly  effected,  and  Ormond  withdrew  to  England. 

A  great  English  force  had  been  anticipated ;  but  the  late 
quarrel  with  the  Army  had  rendered  that  impossible.  Jones, 
with  such  inadequate  force  as  he  had,  made  head  against  the 
Rebels ;  gained  "  a  great  victory "  over  them  on  the  8th  of 
August,  at  a  place  called  Dungan  Hill,  not  far  from  Trim : a 
"  the  most  signal  victory  we  had  yet  gained ; "  for  which  there 
was  thankfulness  enough.  —  Four  days  before  that  Sermon 
by  Hugh  Peters,  followed  by  the  military  conclave  in  Putney 
Church,  Cromwell  had  addressed  this  small  Letter  of  Con- 
gratulation to  Jones,  whom,  by  the  tone  of  it,  he  does  not 
eeem  to  have  as  yet  personally  known :  — 

1  Carte's  Ormond,  i.  603. 

2  Rush  worth,  vii.  779;  Carte,  ii.  5. 


1«47.  LETTER  XLVI.    PUTNEY.  277 

"For  the  Honorable  Colonel  Jones,  Governor  of  Dublin,  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  all  the  Forces  in  Leinster :  These. 

"  [PUTNEY,]  14th  September,  1647. 

"  SIR,  —  The  mutual  interest  and  agreement  we  have  in  the 
same  Cause  *  give  me  occasion,  as  to  congratulate,  so  [likewise] 
abundantly  to  rejoice  in  God's  gracious  Dispensation  unto  you 
and  by  you.  We  have,  both  in  England  and  Ireland,  found 
the  immediate  presence  and  assistance  of  God,  in  guiding 
and  succeeding  our  endeavors  hitherto;  and  therefore  ought, 
as  I  doubt  not  both  you  and  we  desire,  to  ascribe  the  glories 
of  all  to  Him,  and  to  improve  all  we  receive  from  Him  unto 
Him  alone. 

"  Though,  it  may  be,  for  the  present  a  cloud  may  lie  over 
our  actions  to  those  who  are  not  acquainted  with  the  grounds 
of  them  ;  yet  we  doubt  not  but  God  will  clear  our  integrity, 
and  innocency  from  any  other  ends  we  aim  at  but  His  glory 
and  the  Public  Good.  And  as  you  are  an  instrument  herein, 
BO  we  shall,  as  becometh  us,  \ipon  all  occasions,  give  you  your 
due  honor.  For  my  own  particular, — wherein  I  may  have 
your  commands  to  serve  you,  you  shall  find  none  more  ready 
than  he  that  sincerely  desires  to  approve  himself, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

Michael  Jones  is  the  name  of  this  Colonel;  there  are 
several  Colonel  Joneses;  difficult  to  distinguish.  One  of 
tli.  in,  Cnlnnrl  John  Jones,  Member  for  Merionethshire,  and 
known  too  in  Ireland,  became  afterwards  the  Brother-in-law 
of  Cromwell ;  and  ended  tragically  as  a  Regicide  in  1661. 
Colonel  Michael  gained  other  signal  successes  in  Ireland ; 
welconi<Ml  Oliver  into  it  in  1649;  and  died  there  soon  after 
of  a  fever. 

1  Word  uncertain  to  the  Copyist ;  nonse  no(  donbtfnl. 

«  MS.  Volume  of  letters  iu  Trinity-College  Library,  Dublin  (marked: 
F.  3.  18),  f"l  62.  Autograph ;  docketed  by  Jones  bimaelf,  of  whom  the 
Volume  contain*  other  niein»ri.il- 


278          PART  ITT.   BETWEEN  THE  CIVIL   WARS.       13  Oct. 

One  of  the  remarkablest  circumstances  of  this  new  Irish 
Campaign  is,  that  Colonel  Monk,  George  Monk,  is  again  in  it. 
He  was  taken  prisoner,  fresh  from  Ireland,  at  Nantwich,  three 
years  ago.  After  lying  three  years  in  the  Tower,  seeing  his 
Majesty's  affairs  now  desperate,  he  has  consented  to  take  thff 
Covenant,  embark  with  the  Parliament;  and  is  now  doing 
good  service  in  Ulster. 


LETTER  XLVII. 

"For  his  Excellency  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax:   These. 

"  PUTNEY,  13th  October,  1647. 

"  SIR, — The  case  concerning  Captain  Middleton  hears  *  ill; 
inasmuch  as  it  is  delayed,  upon  pretences,  from  coming  to  a 
trial.  It  is  not,  I  humbly  conceive,  fit  that  it  should  stay  any 
longer.  The  Soldiers  complain  thereof,  and  their  witnesses 
have  been  examined.  Captain  Middleton,  and  some  others  for 
him,  have  made  stay  thereof  hitherto. 

"  I  beseech  your  Excellency  to  give  order  it  may  be  tried 
on  Friday,  or  Saturday  at  farthest,  if  you  please  ;  and  that  so 
much  may  be  signified  to  the  Advocate. 

"  Sir,  I  pray  excuse  my  not-attendance  upon  you.  I  feared 
[to]  miss  the  House  a  day,  where  it 's  very  necessary  for  me 
to  be.  I  hope  your  Excellency  will  be  at  the  Head-quarter 
to-morrow,  where,  if  God  be  pleased,  I  shall  wait  upon  you. 
I  rest, 

"  Your  Excellency's  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  a 

Captain  Middleton  and  his  case  have  vanished  completely 
out  of  the  records ;  whether  it  was  tried  on  Saturday,  and  how 
decided,  will  never  now  be  known.  Doubtless  Fairfax  "  sig- 
nified "  somewhat  to  the  Advocate  about  it,  but  let  us  not  ask 

1  sounds  2  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  fol.  80. 


1847.  LETTER  XLVII.    PUTNEY.  279 

what.  "  The  Advocate  "  is  called  "  John  Mills,  Esquire,  Judge- 
Advocate  ; "  1  whose  military  Law-labors  have  mostly  become 
silent  now.  The  former  Advocate  was  Dr.  Dorislaus ;  of  whom 
also  a  word.  Dr.  Dorislaus,  by  birth  Dutch ;  appointed  Judge- 
Advocate  at  the  beginning  of  Essex's  campaignings ;  known 
afterwards  on  the  King's  Trial ;  and  finally,  for  that  latter 
service,  assassinated  at  the  Hague,  one  evening,  by  certain 
high-flying  Royalist  cut-throats,  Scotch  several  of  them.  The 
Portraits  represent  him  as  a  mail  of  heavy,  deep-wrinkled, 
elephantine  countenance,  pressed  down  with  the  labors  of  life 
and  law  ;  the  good  ugly  man  here  found  his  quietus. 

The  business  in  the  House,  "  where  it 's  necessary  for  me  to 
be  "  without  miss  of  a  sitting,  is  really  important,  or  at  least 
critical,  in  these  October  days :  Settlement  of  Army  arrears, 
duties  and  arrangements ;  Tonnage  and  Poundage ;  business 
of  the  London  Violence  upon  the  Parliament  (pardoned  for 
the  most  part)  ;  business  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Lilburn, 
now  growing  very  noisy; — above  all  things,  final  Settlement 
with  the  King,  if  that  by  any  method  could  be  possible.  The 
Army-Parliament  too  still  sits ;  "  Council  of  War "  with  its 
Adjutators  meeting  frequently  at  Putney.2  In  the  House, 
and  out  of  the  House,  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell  is  busy 
enough. 

This  very  day,  "  Wednesday,  13th  October,  1647,"  we  find 
him  deep  in  debate  "  On  the  further  establishment  of  the 
Presby terial  Government "  (for  the  law  is  still  loose,  the  Plat- 
form, except  in  London,  never  fairly  on  foot) ;  and  Teller  on 
no  fewer  than  three  divisions.  First,  Shall  the  Presbyterian 
Government  be  limited  to  three  years  ?  Cromwell  answers 
in  a  House  of  73 ;  is  beaten  by  a  majority  of  3.  Second, 
Shall  there  be  a  limit  of  time  to  it  ?  Cromwell  again  answers 
Yea;  beats,  this  time,  by  a  majority  of  14,  in  a  House  now  of 
74  (some  individual  having  dropt  in).  Third,  Shall  the  limit 
be  seven  years  ?  Cromwell  answers  Yea ;  and  in  a  House 
still  of  74  is  Ix-ati'ii  by  8.  It  is  finally  got  settled  that  the 
limit  of  time  shall  be  "to  the  end  of  the  next  Session  of  I'.ir 
liament  after  tin-  end  of  this  present  Session,"  —  a  very  vague 

-  '-MJ-  *  Rtuhworth,  vii.  849,  &c. 


280        PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WARS.        22  Oct. 

Period,  "this  present  session"  having  itself  already  proved 
rather  long !  Note,  too,  this  is  not  yet  a  Law ;  it  is  only  a  Pro- 
posal to  be  made  to  the  King,  if  his  Majesty  will  concur, 
which  seems  doubtful.  Debating  enough !  —  Saturday  last  there 
was  a  call  of  the  House,  and  great  quantities  of  absent  Mem- 
bers ;  " cegrotantes"  fallen  ill,  a  good  many  of  them,  —  sick- 
ness being  somewhat  prevalent  in  those  days  of  waiting  upon 
Providence.1 


LETTER   XLVHI. 

[For  his  Excellency  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the 
Parliaments  Army:   These."] 

"PUTNEY,  22d  October,  1647. 

"  SIR,  —  Hearing  the  Garrison  of  Hull  is  most  distracted  in 
the  present  government,  and  that  the  most  faithful  and  honest 
Officers  have  no  disposition  to  serve  there  any  longer  under 
the  present  Governor ;  and  that  it  is  their  earnest  desires,  with 
all  the  trusty  and  faithful  inhabitants  of  the  Town,  to  have 
Colonel  Overton  sent  to  them  to  be  your  Excellency's  Deputy 
over  them,  —  I  do  humbly  offer  to  your  Excellency,  Whether 
it  might  not  be  convenient  that  Colonel  Overton  be  speedily 
sent  down  ;  that  so  that  Garrison  may  be  settled  in  safe  hands. 
And  that  your  Excellency  would  be  pleased  to  send  for  Colonel 
Overton,  and  confer  with  him  about  it.  That  either  the  Regi- 
ment [now]  in  the  Town  may  be  so  regulated  as  your  Excel- 
lency may  be  confident  that  the  Garrison  may  be  secured  by 
them ;  or  otherwise  it  may  be  drawn  out,  and  his  own  Regi- 
ment in  the  Army  be  sent  down  thither  with  him.  —  But  I 
conceive,  if  the  Regiment  in  Hull  can  be  made  serviceable  to 
your  Excellency,  and  included  in  the  Establishment,  it  will 
be  better  to  continue  it  there,  than  to  bury  a  Regiment  of  your 
Army  in  the  Garrison. 

"  Sir,  the  expedient  will  be  very  necessary,  in  regard  of  the 

1  Cowmqns  Journals,  v.  329 ;  ib.  332. 


1647.  LETTEIi  XLVIII.    PUTNEY.  281 

present  distractions  here.  This  I  thought  fit  to  offer  to  your 
Excellency's  consideration.  I  shall  humbly  take  leave  to  sub- 
scribe myself,  your  Excellency's 

"  Humble  [and  faithful  servant, 

OLIVER  CROMWELL]."  * 

After  Hotham's  defection  and  execution,  the  Lord  Ferdi- 
nando  Fairfax,  who  had  valiantly  defended  the  place,  was 
appointed  Governor  of  Hull ;  which  office  had  subsequently 
been  conferred  on  the  Generalissimo  Sir  Thomas,  his  Sonj 
and  was  continued  to  him,  on  the  readjustment  of  all  Garrisons 
in  the  Spring  of  this  same  year.8  Sir  Thomas  therefore  was 
express  Governor  of  Hull  at  this  time.  Who  the  Substitute 
or  Deputy  under  him  was,  I  do  not  know.  Some  Presbyterian 
man  ;  unfit  for  the  stringent  times  that  had  arrived,  when  no 
algebraic  formula,  but  only  direct  vision  of  the  relations  of 
things  would  suffice  a  man. 

Colonel  Overton  was  actually  appointed  Governor  of  Hull : 
there  is  a  long  Letter  from  the  Hull  people  about  Colonel 
Overton's  laying  free  billet  upon  them,  a  Complaint  to  Fairfax 
on  the  subject,  next  year.8  He  continued  long  in  that  capacity ; 
zealously  loyal  to  Cromwell  and  his  cause,4  till  the  Protector- 
ship came  on.  His  troubles  afterwards,  and  confused  destinies, 
may  again  concern  us  a  little. 

This  Letter  is  written  only  three  weeks  before  the  King 
took  his  flight  from  Hampton  Court.  One  spark  illuminating 
(very  faintly)  that  huge  dark  world,  big  with  such  results,  in 
the  Army's  quarters  about  Putney,  and  elsewhere  ! 

1  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  fol.  82  :  — Signature,  and  all  after  "humble"  is  torn 
off.  The  Letter  is  not  an  autograph ;  it  has  been  dictated,  apparently  ia 
great  haste. 

1  13th  March,  1646-7  (Commons  Journalt,  v.  111). 

•  4th  M:in  h,  1647-8  (Rnshworth,  vii.  1020). 

4  Sir  Jiunes  Turner'H  Memoir*.  Afilton  State-Paper*  (London,  1743),  pp.  10. 
84,  161,  —  where  the  Kditur  calls  him  Colonel  Richard  Overton  ;  his  name 
wan  Robert:  "  Kich.-ird  Overtoil"  ia  a  "Leveller,"  unconnected  with  him; 
"  Colonel  Richard  Overtoil  "  in  a  uou-exiateuce. 


282       PAKT  111.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL   WARS.     November, 


LETTER  XLIX. 

THE  immeasurable  Negotiations  with  the  King,  "  Proposals 
of  the  Army,"  "  Proposals  of  the  Adjutators  of  the  Army," 
still  occupying  tons  of  printed  paper,  the  subject  of  intense  de- 
batings  and  considerations  in  Westminster,  in  Putney  Church, 
and  in  every  house  and  hut  of  England,  for  many  months 
past,  —  suddenly  contract  themselves  for  us,  like  a  iiniverse  of 
gaseous  vapor,  into  one  small  point :  the  issue  of  them  all  is 
failure.  The  Army  Council,  the  Army  Adjutators,  and  serious 
England  at  large,  were  in  earnest  about  one  thing;  the  King 
was  not  in  earnest,  except  about  another  thing :  there  could  be 
no  bargain  with  the  King. 

Cromwell  and  the  Chief  Officers  have  for  some  time  past 
ceased  frequenting  his  Majesty  or  Hampton  Court ;  such  visits 
being  looked  upon  askance  by  a  party  in  the  Army  :  they 
have  left  the  matter  to  Parliament ;  only  Colonel  Whalley, 
with  due  guard,  and  Parliament  Commissioners,  keep  watch 
"  for  the  security  of  his  Majesty."  In  the  Army,  his  Majesty's 
real  purpose  becoming  now  apparent,  there  has  arisen  a  very 
terrible  "  Levelling  Party  ; "  a  class  of  men  demanding  punish- 
ment not  only  of  Delinquents,  and  Deceptive  Persons  who 
have  involved  this  Nation  in  blood,  but  of  the  "  Chief  Delin- 
quent :  "  minor  Delinquents  getting  punished,  how  should  the 
Chief  Delinquent  go  free  ?  A  class  of  men  dreadfully  in  earn- 
est ;  —  to  whom  a  King's  Cloak  is  no  impenetrable  screen ; 
who  within  the  King's  Cloak  discern  that  there  is  a  Man,  ac- 
countable to  a  God !  The  Chief  Officers,  except  when  officially 
called,  keep  distant :  hints  have  fallen  that  his  Majesty  is 
not  out  of  danger. — In  the  Commons  Journals  this  is  what 
we  read :  — 

"  Friday,  12th  November,  1647.  A  Letter  from  Lieutenant- 
General  Cromwell,  of  llth  November,  twelve  at  night,  was 
read;  signifying  the  escape  of  the  King;  who  went  away 
about  9  o'clock  yesterday "  evening.1 

Cromwell,  we  suppose,  lodging  in  head-quarters  about  Put- 

1   Commons  Journals,  v.  356. 


1647.  LETTER  XLIX.    HAMPTON  COURT.  283 

ney,  had  been  roused  on  Thursday  night  by  express  That  the 
King  was  gone  ;  had  hastened  off  to  Hampton  Court  ;  and 
there  about  "  twelve  at  night "  despatched  a  Letter  to  Speaker 
Lenthall.  The  Letter,  which  I  have  some  confused  recollec- 
tion of  having,  somewhere  in  the  Parnphletary  Chaos,  seen  in 
full,  refuses  to  disclose  itself  at  present  except  as  a  Frag- 
ment :  — 

[For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons:  These.] 

[HAMPTON  COURT,  Twelve  at  night, 
llth  November,  1647.] 

"  [SiR,]  .  .  .  Majesty  .  .  .  withdrawn  himself  ...  at  nine 
o'clock. 

"  The  manner  is  variously  reported ;  and  we  will  say  little 
of  it  at  present,  but  That  his  Majesty  was  expected  at  supper, 
when  the  Commissioners  and  Colonel  Whalley  missed  him  ; 
upon  which  they  entered  the  Room  :  —  they  found  his  Majesty 
had  left  his  cloak  behind  him  in  the  Gallery  in  the  Private 
Way.  He  passed,  by  the  back  stairs  and  vault,  towards  the 
Water-side. 

"  He  left  some  Letters  upon  the  table  in  his  withdrawing 
room,  of  his  own  handwriting ;  whereof  one  was  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  Parliament  attending  him,  to  be  communicated 
to  both  Houses  [and  is  here  enclosed].  .  .  . 

[OLIVER  CROMWELL.]  " l 

We  do  not  give  his  Majesty's  Letter  "  here  enclosed  :  "  it  is 
that  well-known  one  where  he  speaks,  in  very  royal  style,  still 
every  inch  a  King,  Of  the  restraints  and  slights  put  upon  him, 
—  men's  obedience  to  their  King  seeming  much  abated  of  late. 
[I  return  to  a  just  temper,  "  I  shall  instantly  break 
Mi  rough  this  cloud  of  retirement,  and  show  myself  ready  to  be 
Pater  Patrice"  —  as  I  have  hitherto  done. 

»  Rash  worth,  rii.  871. 


PAKT  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL   WARS      November, 


LETTER  L. 

THE  Ports  are  all  ordered  to  be  shut ;  embargo  laid  on  ships. 
Head  in  the  Commons  Journals  again  :  "  Saturday,  1.3th  Nov. 
Colonel  Whalley  was  called  in ;  and  made  a  particular  Rela- 
tion of  all  the  circumstances  concerning  the  King's  going  away 
from  Hampton  Court.  He  did  likewise  deliver  in  a  Letter 
directed  unto  him  from  Lieutenant-Geueral  Cromwell,  concern- 
ing some  rumors  and  reports  of  some  design  of  danger  to  the 
person  and  life  of  the  King :  The  which  was  read.  Ordered, 
That  Colonel  Whalley  do  put  in  writing  the  said  Relation,  and 
set  his  hand  to  it ;  and  That  he  do  leave  a  Copy  of  the  said 
Letter  from  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell."  1 

Colonel  Whalley' s  Relation  exists ;  and  a  much  fuller  Re- 
lation and  pair  of  Relations  concerning  this  Flight  and  what 
preceded  and  followed  it,  as  viewed  from  the  Royalist  side,  by 
two  parties  to  the  business,  exist : 2  none  of  which  shall  con- 
cern us  here.  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell's  Letter  to  Whal- 
ley also  exists ;  a  short  insignificant  Note  :  here  it  is,  fished 
from  the  Dust-Abysses,  which  refuse  to  disclose  the  other. 
Whalley  is  "  Cousin  Whalley,"  as  we  may  remember ;  Aunt 
Frances's  and  the  Squire  of  Kerton's  Son,  —  a  Nottingham- 
shire man.' 

[ For  my  beloved  Cousin,  Colonel  Whalley,  at  Hampton  Court : 

These.] 

[PUTNEY,  November,  1647.] 

"  DEAR  Cos.  WHALLEY,  —  There  are  rumors  abroad  of  some 
intended  attempt  on  his  Majesty's  person.  Therefore  I  pray 
have  a  care  of  your  guards.  If  any  such  thing  should  be  done, 
it  would  be  accounted  a  most  horrid  act.  .  .  . 

"  Yours, 

"OLIVER  CKOMWELL."* 

1  Commons  Journals,  v.  358. 

2  Berkley's   Memoirs  (priuted,  London,   1699) ;    Ashburnham's  Narrative 
(printed,  London,  1830)  ;  —  which  require  to  be  sifted,  and  contrasted  with 
each  other  and  with  third  parties,  by  whoever  is  still  curious  on  this  matter  ; 
each  of  these  Narratives  being  properly  a  Pleading,  intended  to  clear  the 
Writer  of  all  blame,  in  the  first  place. 

8  See  autea,  p.  27,  note.      4  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  337,  §  15,  p.  7. 


1<W7.  LETTER  LI.    WINDSOR.  285 

See,  among  the  Old  Pamphlets,  Letters  to  the  like  effect 
from  Royalist  Parties  :  also  a  Letter  of  thanks  from  the  King 
to  Whalley ;  —  ending  with  a  desire,  "  to  send  the  black-gray 
bitch  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond,"  on  the  part  of  his  Majesty  : 
Letters  from  &c.,  Letters  to  &c.,  hi  great  quantities.1  For  us 
here  this  brief  notice  of  one  Letter  shall  suffice :  — 

"  Monday,  15th  November,  1647.  Letter  from  Colonel  Robert 
Hammond,  Governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  Cowes,  13°  Novem- 
bris,  signifying  that  the  King  is  come  into  the  Isle  of  Wight." a 
The  King,  after  a  night  and  a  day  of  riding,  saw  not  well 
whither  else  to  go.  He  delivered  himself  to  Robert  Ham- 
mond ; 8  came  into  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Robert  Hammond  is 
ordered  to  keep  him  strictly  within  Carisbrook  Castle  and  the 
adjoining  grounds,  in  a  vigilant  though  altogether  respectful 
manner. 

This  same  "  Monday  "  when  Hammond's  Letter  arrives  in 
London  is  the  day  of  the  mutinous  Rendezvous  "  in  Corkbush 
Field,  between  Hertford  and  Ware;"4  where  Cromwell  and 
the  General  Officers  had  to  front  the  Levelling  Principle,  in  a 
most  dangerous  manner,  and  trample  it  out  or  be  trampled  out 
by  it  on  the  spot.  Eleven  Mutineers  are  ordered  from  the 
ranks ;  tried  by  Court-Martial  on  the  Field ;  three  of  them, 
condemned  to  be  shot ;  —  throw  dice  for  their  life,  and  one  is 
shot,  there  and  then.  The  name  of  him  is  Arnald;  long 
memorable  among  the  Levellers.  A  very  dangerous  Review 
service  !  —  Head-quarters  now  changed  to  Windsor. 


LETTER  LI. 

A  SMALL  charitable  act,  for  one  who  proved  not  very  worthy. 
Friends  of  a  young  gentleman  in  trouble,  Mr.  Dudley  Wyatt 
by  name,  have  drawn  this  word  from  the  Lieutenant-General, 
who  on  many  grounds  is  powerful  at  Cambridge. 

1  Part,  f/itt.  xvi.  :m-330.  •  Common*  Journals,  in  die  (v.  359). 

*  Berkley's  ami  Anlilmruhaui's  JNarrativa. 

*  Kutthwurtli,  vii.  B75. 


286       PART  III.    BETWEEN  THE  CIVIL  WARS.  23  Dec.  1647. 

\_To  Dr.  Thomas  Hill,  Master  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.] 

"WINDSOR,  23d  December,  1647. 

"SiR, — As  I  am  informed,  this  Gentleman  the  Bearer 
hereof,  in  the  year  1641,  had  leave  of  his  College  to  travel  into 
Ireland  for  seven  years  ;  and  in  his  absence,  he  (being  then 
actually  employed  against  the  Rebels  in  that  Kingdom)  was 
ejected  out  of  his  College  by  a  mistake,  —  the  College  Regis- 
try being  not  looked  into,  to  inquire  the  cause  of  his  non- 
residence. 

"  I  cannot  therefore  but  think  it  a  just  and  reasonable  re- 
quest, That  he  be  readmitted  to  all  the  benefits,  rights  and 
privileges  which  he  enjoyed  before  that  ejection ;  and  therefore 
desire  you  would  please  to  effect  it  accordingly.  Wherein  you 
shall  do  a  favor  will  be  owned  by 

"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

Dudley  Wyatt,  Scholar  of  Trinity  College,  25th  April,  1628; 
B.A.,  1631;  Fellow,  4th  October,  1633;  vanishes  from  the 
Bursar's  Books  in  1645 :  no  notice  of  him  farther,  or  of  any 
effect  produced  by  the  Lieutenant-General's  Letter  on  his  be- 
half, is  found  in  the  College  records.  Indeed,  directly  after 
this  Letter,  the  young  gentleman,  of  a  roving  turn  at  any  rate, 
appears  to  have  discovered  that  there  was  new  war  and  mis- 
chief in  the  wind,  and  better  hope  at  Court  than  at  College  for 
a  youth  of  spirit.  He  went  to  France  to  the  Queen  (as  we 
may  gather)  ;  went  and  came ;  developed  himself  into  a  busy 
spy  and  intriguer ;  —  attained  to  Knighthood,  to  be  the  "  Sir 
Dudley  Wyatt "  of  Clarendon's  History ;  2  whom,  and  not  us, 
he  shall  henceforth  concern. 

1  "Muniment  Room,  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  (Collection  entitled 
Papers  relating  to  Trinity  Coll.,  vol.  3) :  a  Transcript,  Original  now  not  forth- 
coming,—  docketed  in  the  hand  of  one  Porter,  Clerk  to  Thomas  Parne, 
about  1724,  L.  P.  Cromwell's  Letter  concerning  Sir  Dudley  Wyatt."  (Communi- 
cated by  the  Rev.  J.  Edleston,  Fellow  of  Trinity,  March,  1849.)  —  Hart.  MSS. 
no.  7053,  f.  153  b. :  printed,  from  the  latter,  in  Hartshorne's  Book  Rarities  in 
the  University  of  Cambridge  (London,  1829),  p.  277.  The  Hari.  MSS.  copy 
adds :  "  N.  B.  Upon  this  Letter  Sir  Dudley  Wyatt  was  readmitted,"  —  but 
did  not  stay,  as  would  appear. 

«  ii.  959,  iii.  22,  &&, 


1648.  LETTER  LIT.    LONDON.  287 


LETTER  LII. 

ROBERT  HAMMOND,  Governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  who  has 
for  the  present  become  so  important  to  England,  is  a  young 
man  "of  good  parts  and  principles : "  a  Colonel  of  Foot ;  served 
formerly  as  Captain  under  Massey  in  Gloucester ;  —  where,  in 
October,  1644,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  kill  a  brother  Officer, 
one  Major  Gray,  in  sudden  duel,  "  for  giving  him  the  lie  ; "  he 
was  tried,  but  acquitted,  the  provocation  being  great.  He  has 
since  risen  to  be  Colonel,  and  become  well  known.  Originally 
of  Chertsey,  Surrey ;  his  Grandfather,  and  perhaps  his  Father, 
a  Physician  there.  His  Uncle,  Thomas  Hammond,  is  now 
Lieutenant-General  of  the  Ordnance  ;  a  man  whom,  with  this 
Robert,  we  saw  busy  in  the  Army  Troubles  last  year.  The 
Lieutenant-General,  Thomas  Hammond,  persists  in  his  demo- 
cratic course;  patron  at  this  time  of  the  Adjutator  specula- 
tions ;  sits  afterwards  as  a  King's- Judge. 

In  strong  contrast  with  whom  is  another  Uncle,  Dr.  Henry 
Hammond,  a  pattern-flower  of  loyalty,  one  of  his  Majesty's 
favorite  Chaplains.  It  was  Uncle  Thomas  that  first  got  this 
young  Robert  a  Commission  in  the  Army :  but  Uncle  Henry 
h:nl,  in  late  mouths,  introduced  him  to  his  Majesty  at  Hamp- 
ton Court,  as  an  ingenuous  youth,  repentant,  or  at  least  sym- 
pathetic and  not  without  loyalty.  Which  circumstance,  it  is 
supposed,  had  turned  the  King's  thoughts  in  that  bewildered 
Flight  of  his,  towards  Colonel  Robert  and  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

Colonel  Robert,  it  would  seem,  had  rather  disliked  the  higli 
course  things  were  sometimes  threatening  to  take,  in  the  Put- 
ney Council  of  War ;  and  had  been  glad  to  get  out  of  it  for  a 
<|ui<-t  Governorship  at  a  distance.  But  it  now  turns  out,  he 
has  got  into  still  deeper  difficulties  thereby.  His  "tempta- 
tion "  when  the  King  announced  himself  as  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, liail  \n-t-\\  ;_rri-:it:  Shall  he  obey  the  King  in  this  crisis; 
roinhiet  the  King  whitherward  his  Majesty  wishes?  Or  be 
to  his  trust  and  the  Parliament?  lie  "grew  suddenly 
pale ;  "  —  he  decided  as  we  saw. 

The  Isl«  of  Wight,  holding  so  important  a  deposit,  is  put 


288          PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL   WARS.         3  Jan. 

under  the  Derby -House  Committee,  old  "  Committee  of  Both 
Kingdoms,"  some  additions  being  made  thereto,  and  some 
exclusions.  Oliver  is  of  it,  and  Philip  Lord  Wharton,  among 
others.  Lord  Wharton,  a  conspicuous  Puritan  and  intimate  of 
Oliver's ;  of  whom  we  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  say 
somewhat. 

This  Committee  of  Derby  House  was,  of  course,  in  continual 
communication  with  Robert  Hammond.  Certain  of  their  Let- 
ters to  him  had,  after  various  fortune,  come  into  the  hands  of 
the  Honorable  Mr.  Yorke  (Lord  Hardwicke)  ;  and  were  lying 
in  his  house,  when  it  and  they  were,  in  1752,  accidentally 
burnt.  A  Dr.  Joseph  Litherland  had,  by  good  luck,  taken 
copies  ;  Thomas  Birch,  lest  fire  should  again  intervene,  printed 
the  Collection,  —  a  very  thin  Octavo,  London,  1764.  He  has 
given  some  introductory  account  of  Robert  Hammond ;  copy- 
ing, as  we  do  mainly  here,  from  Wood's  Athence ;  *  and  has 
committed — as  who  does  not?  —  several  errors.  His  Anno- 
tations -are  sedulous  but  ineffectual.  What  of  the  Letters  are 
from  Oliver  we  extract  with  thanks. 

"  Our  brethren  "  in  the  following  Letter  are  the  Scots,  now 
all  excluded  from  Derby-House  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms. 
"  The  Recorder  "  is  Glyn,  one  of  the  vanished  Eleven,  Staple- 
ton  being  another ;  for  both  of  whom  it  has  been  necessary  to 
appoint  substitutes  in  the  said  Committee. 

"  For  Colonel  Robert  Hammond,  Governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight : 
These,  for  the  Service  of  the  Kingdom.     Haste  :  Post  Haste. 

"[LONDON,]  3d  January,  1647. 
(My  Lord  Wharton's,  near  Ten  at  night.) 

"  DEAR  ROBIN,  —  Now,  blessed  be  God,  I  can  write  and  thou 
receive  freely.  I  never  in  my  life  saw  more  deep  sense,  and 
less  will  to  show  it  unchristianly,  than  in  that  which  thou 
didst  write  to  us  when  we  were  at  Windsor,  and  thou  in  the 
midst  of  thy  temptation,  —  which  indeed,  by  what  we  under- 
stand of  it,  was  a  great  one,  and  occasioned 2  the  greater  by  the 
Letter  the  G-eneral  sent  thee  ;  of  which  thou  wast  not  mistaken 
when  thou  didst  challenge  me  to  be  the  penner.8 

1  iii.  500.  2  rendered.  3  See  antea,  p.  266. 


1648.  LETTER  LIT.    LONDON.  289 

"  How  good  has  God  been  to  dispose  all  to  mercy  !  And 
although  it  was  trouble  for  the  present,  yet  glory  has  come 
out  of  it ;  for  which  we  praise  the  Lord  with  thee  and  for 
thee.  And  truly  thy  carriage  has  been  such  as  occasions 
much  honor  to  the  name  of  God  and  to  religion.  Go  on  in  the 
strength  of  the  Lord ;  and  the  Lord  be  still  with  thee 

"  But,  dear  Robin,  this  business  hath  been,  I  trust,  a  mighty 
providence  to  this  poor  Kingdom  and  to  us  all.  The  House  of 
Commons  is  very  sensible  of  the  King's  dealings,  and  of  our 
brethren's,1  in  this  late  transaction.  You  should  do  well,  if 
you  have  anything  that  may  discover  juggling,  to  search  it  out, 
and  let  us  know  it.  It  may  be  of  admirable  use  at  this  time ; 
because  we  shall,  I  hope,  instantly  go  upon  business  in  rela- 
tion to  them,1  tending  to  prevent  danger. 

"  The  House  of  Commons  has  this  day  voted  as  follows : 
1st,  They  will  make  no  more  Addresses  to  the  King;  2nd, 
None  shall  apply  to  him  without  leave  of  the  Two  Houses, 
upon  pain  of  being  guilty  of  high  treason;  3rd,  They  will 
receive  nothing  from  the  King,  nor  shall  any  other  bring 
anything  to  them  from  him,  nor  receive  anything  from  the 
King;  lastly,  the  Members  of  both  Houses  who  were  of  the 
Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms  are  established  in  all  that 
power  in  themselves,  for  England  and  Ireland,  which  they 
[formerly]  had  to  act  with  England  and  Scotland;  and  Sir 
John  Evelyn  of  Wilts  is  added  in  the  room  of  Mr.  Kecorder, 
and  Nathaniel  Fiennes  in  the  room  of  Sir  Philip  Stapleton, 
and  my  Lord  of  Kent  in  the  room  of  the  Earl  of  Essex.* 
I  think  it  good  you  take  notice  of  this ;  the  sooner  the 
better. 

"  Let  us  know  how  it  is  with  you  in  point  of  strength, 
and  what  you  need  from  us.  Some  of  us  think  the  Kini,r 
well  with  you,  and  that  it  concerns  us  to  keep  that  Ishind 
in  great  security,  because  of  the  French,  &c. :  and  if  so,' 

1  the  Scots. 

1  Eaoez  u  dead ;  Stapleton,  one  of  the  Eleven  who  went  to  France,  is  dead  ; 
Recorder  Glyn,  another  of  them,  is  in  the  Tower.  For  the  "  Votes,"  see 
Comment  Journal*,  v.  415  (3(i  January,  1647-8). 

•  if  we  do  Mcnre  and  fortify  it. 

XVII  19 


290         PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL  WARS.       25  Feb. 

where  can  the  King  be  better  ?  If  you  have  more  force 
[sent],  you  will  be  sure  of  full  provision  for  them.  The  Lord 
bless  thee.  Pray  for 

"  Thy  dear  friend  and  servant, 

"OLIVEB  CROMWELL."  l 

In  these  same  days  noisy  Lilburn  has  accused  Cromwell 
of  meaning  or  having  meant  to  make  his  own  bargain  with 
the  King,  and  be  Earl  of  Essex  and  a  great  man.  Noisy  John 
thinks  all  great  men,  especially  all  Lords,  ought  to  be  brought 
low.  The  Commons  have  him  at  their  bar  in  this  month.8 


LETTER  LIII. 

HERE,  by  will  of  the  Destinies  preserving  certain  bits  of 
paper  and  destroying  others,  there  introduces  itself  a  little 
piece  of  Domesticity;  a  small  family-transaction,  curiously 
enough  peering  through  by  its  own  peculiar  rent,  amid  these 
great  world-transactions :  Marriage-treaty  for  Richard  Crom- 
well, the  Lieutenant-General's  eldest  Son. 

What  Richard  has  been  doing  hitherto  no  Biographer  knows. 
In  spite  of  Noble,  I  incline  to  think  he  too  had  been  in  the 
Army ;  in  October  last  there  are  two  Sons  mentioned  expressly 
as  being  officers  there:  "One  of  his  Sons,  Captain  of  the 
General's  Life-guard;  his  other  Son,  Captain  of  a  troop  in 
Colonel  Harrison's  Regiment,"  —  so  greedy  is  he  of  the  Public 
Money  to  his  own  family  ! 8  Richard  is  now  heir-apparent ; 
our  poor  Boy  Oliver  therefore,  "  Cornet  Oliver,"  we  know  not 
in  the  least  where,  must  have  died.  "It  went  to  my  heart 
like  a  dagger ;  indeed  it  did ! "  The  phrase  of  the  Pamphlet 
itself,  we  observe,  is  "his  other  Son,"  not  "one  of  his  other 
Sons,"  as  if  there  were  now  but  two  left.  If  Richard  was 

1  Birch's  Hammond  Letters,  p.  23.     Given  also  in  Harris,  p.  497. 

2  19th  January,  Commons  Journals,  v.  437. 

*  5th  October,  1647  (Royalist  Newspaper,  citing  a  Pamphlet  of  Lilburn 's), 
CrvmwelHana,  p.  36. 


1648.  LETTER  LIII     LONDON.  291 

ever  in  the  Army,  which  these  probabilities  may  dimly  inti- 
mate, the  Life-guard,  a  place  for  persons  of  consequence,  was 
the  likeliest  for  him.  The  Captain  in  Harrison's  Regiment 
will  in  that  case  be  Henry.  —  The  Cromwell  family,  as  we 
laboriously  guess  and  gather,  has  about  this  time  removed  to 
London.  Richard,  if  ever  in  the  Life-guard,  has  now  quitted 
it  :  an  idle  fellow,  who  could  never  relish  soldiering  in  such 
an  Army;  he  now  wishes  to  retire  to  Arcadian  felicity  and 
wedded  life  in  the  country. 

The  "Mr.  M."  of  this  Letter  is  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire, 
of  Hursley,  Hants,1  the  young  lady's  father.  Hursley,  not 
far  from  Winchester,  is  still  a  manor-house,  but  no  repre- 
sentative of  Richard  Mayor's  has  now  place  there  or  else- 
where. The  treaty,  after  difficulties,  did  take  effect.  Mayor, 
written  also  Major  and  Maijor,  a  pious  prudent  man,  becomes 
better  known  to  Oliver,  to  the  world  and  to  us  in  the  sequel. 
Richard  Norton,  Member  for  Hants  since  1645,  is  his  neighbor  ; 
an  old  fellow-soldier  under  Manchester,  fellow-colonel  in  the 
Eastern  Association,  seemingly  very  familiar  with  Oliver,  he 
is  applied  to  on  this  delicate  occasion. 

"  For  my  nolle  Friend  Colonel  Richard  Norton  :  These. 


W,]  25th  February,  1647. 

"  DKAR  NORTON,  —  I  have  sent  my  Son  over  to  thee,  being 
willing  to  answer  Providence;  and  although  I  had  an  offer 
of  a  very  great  proposition,  from  a  father,  of  his  daughter, 
yet  truly  I  rather  incline  to  this  in  my  thoughts;  because, 
though  the  other  l>e  very  far  greater,  yet  I  see  difficulties, 
and  not  that  assurance  of  godliness,  —  though  indeed  of  fair- 
ness. I  confess  that  which  is  told  me  concerning  the  estate 
of  Mr.  M.  is  more  than  I  can  look  for,  as  things  now 
stand. 

"  If  God  please  to  bring  it  about,  the  consideration  of  piety 
in  the  I'an-nts,  and  such  hopes  of  the  Gentlewoman  in  that 
respect,  make  tin-  business  to  me  a  great  mercy  ;  concerning 
which  I  desire  to  wait  ujxm  God. 

1  Noble,  ii.  436-442. 


292        PART    TTT.    BETWEEN    THE   CIVIL   WARS.       25  Feb. 

"lam  confident  of  thy  love;  and  desire  things  may  be 
carried  with  privacy.  The  Lord  do  His  will :  that 's  best ;  — 
to  which  submitting,  I  rest, 

"Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

What  other  Father  it  was  that  made  "  the  offer  of  a  very 
great  proposition  "  to  Oliver,  in  the  shape  of  his  Daughter  as 
Wife  to  Oliver's  Son,  must  remain  totally  uncertain  for  the 
present ;  perhaps  some  glimpse  of  it  may  turn  up  by  and  by. 
There  were  "difficulties"  which  Oliver  did  not  entirely  see 
through ;  there  was  not  that  assurance  of  "  godliness  "  in  the 
house,  though  there  was  of  "  fairness  "  and  natural  integrity ; 
in  short,  Oliver  will  prefer  Mayor,  at  least  will  try  him,  — and 
wishes  it  carried  with  privacy. 

The  Commons,  now  dealing  with  Delinquents,  do  not  forget 
to  reward  good  Servants,  to  "conciliate  the  Grandees,"  as 
splenetic  Walker  calls  it.  For  above  two  years  past,  ever 
since  the  War  ended,  there  has  been  talk  and  debate  about 
settling  £2,500  a  year  on  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell ;  but 
difficulties  have  arisen.  First  they  tried  Basing-House  Lauds, 
the  Marquis  of  Winchester's,  whom  Cromwell  had  demolished  ; 
but  the  Marquis's  affairs  were  in  disorder;  it  was  gradually 
found  the  Marquis  had  for  most  part  only  a  Life-rent  there :  — 
only  "  Abbotston  and  Itchin  "  in  that  quarter  could  be  realized. 
Order  thereupon  to  settle  "  Lands  of  Papists  and  Delinquents  " 
to  the  requisite  amount,  wheresoever  convenient.  To  settle 
especially  what  Lands  the  Marquis  of  Worcester  had  in  that 
"County  of  Southampton;"  which  was  done,  —  though  still 
with  insufficient  result.2  Then  came  the  Army  Quarrels,  and 

1  Harris,  p.  501 .     Copy  of  this,  and  of  the  next  Two  Letters  to  Norton, 
by  Birch,  in  Ayscough  MSS.  41G2,  f.  56,  &c. 

2  Commons   Journals   (iv.   416),   23d    January,    1645-6  :    the    Marquis   of 
Worcester's  Hampshire  Lands.     Ib.  426,  a  week  afterwards  :  "  Abberston  and 
Itchc//,"  meaning  Abbotston  and  Itchin,  Marquis  of   Winchester's  there.     See 
also  Letter  of  Oliver  St.  John  to  Cromwell,  in  Thurloe,  i.   75.  —  Commons 
Journals  (v.  36)  alnmt  a  year  afterwards,  7th  January,  1646-7  :  "  remainder  of 
the  £2,500"  from  Marquis  of  Winchester's  Lands  in  general ;  which  in  a  fort- 


J648.  LETTER  LIII.    LONDON.  293 

an  end  of  such  business.  But  now  in  the  Commons  Journals, 
7th  March,  the  very  day  of  Oliver's  next  Letter,  this  is  what 
we  read  :  *  "  An  Ordinance  for  passing  unto  Oliver  Cromwell, 
Esquire,  Lieutenant-General,  certain  Lands  and  Manors  in  the 
Counties  of  Gloucester,  Monmouth  and  Glamorgan,  late  the  Earl 
of  Worcester's,  was  this  day  read  the  third  time  and,  upon  the 
question,  passed  ;  and  ordered  to  be  sent  unto  the  Lords  for 
their  concurrence."  Oliver  himself,  as  we  shall  find,  has  been 
dangerously  sick.  This  is  what  Clement  Walker,  the  splenetic 
Presbyterian,  "  an  elderly  gentleman  of  low  stature,  in  a  gray 
suit,  with  a  little  stick  in  his  hand,"  reports  upon  the  matter 
of  the  Grant:  — 

"The  7th  of  March,  an  Ordinance  to  settle  £2,500  a  year 
of  Land,  out  of  the  Marquis  of  Worcester's  Estate,"  —  old 
Marquis  of  Worcester  at  Ragland,  father  of  my  Lord  Gla- 
morgan, who  in  his  turn  became  Marquis  of  Worcester  and 
wrote  the  Century  of  Inventions,  —  £2,500  a  year  out  of  this 
old  Marquis's  Estate  "upon  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell!  I 
have  heard  some  gentlemen  that  know  the  Manor  of  Chepstow 
and  the  other  Lands  affirm"  that  in  reality  they  are  worth 
<>0  or  even  £6,000  a  year;  —  which  is  far  from  the  fact, 
my  little  elderly  friend  !  "  You  see,"  continues  he,  "  though 
they  have  not  made  King  Charles  'a  Glorious  King,'"  as  they 
sometimes  undertook,  "they  have  -settled  a  Crown-Revenue 
upon  Oliver,  and  have  made  him  as  glorious  a  King  as  ever 
John  of  Leyden  was  !  "  *  —  A  very  splenetic  old  gentleman  in 
gray  ;  —  verging  towards  Pride's  Purge,  and  lodgment  in  the 
Tower,  T  think  !  He  is  from  the  West  ;  known  long  since  in 
•  iloucester  Siege;  Member  now  for  Wells;  but  terminates 
in  the  Tower,  with  ink,  and  abundant  gall  in  it,  to  write  the 
History  of  Independency  there. 


more  is  found  to  be  impomihle  :  whereupon  "  Lands  of  Delinquents  and 
s,"  n#  in  the  Text.     None  of  these  Iliiinpsliire  I«iuds,  except  Abhot- 
Hton  and    IN  hin,   are   named.      Nuble  says,  "  Fawley   Park  "    iu    the    samo 
County  ;  which  is  potwible  enough. 
1  T.  482. 
*  History  of  Independency  (London,  1G48),  part  i.  83  and  55. 


204      PART  III.    BETWEEN  THE  CIVIL  WARS.       7  March, 

LETTER  LIV. 

"For  his  Excellency  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  General  of  the  Par- 
liament's Armies  [at  Windsor] :  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  7th  March,  1647. 

"SiR, —  It  hath  pleased  God  to  raise  me  out  of  a  dan- 
gerous sickness;  and  I  do  most  willingly  acknowledge  that 
the  Lord  hath,  in  this  visitation,  exercised  the  bowels  of  a 
Father  towards  me.  I  received  in  myself  the  sentence  of 
death,  that  I  might  learn  to  trust  in  Him  that  raiseth  from 
the  dead,  and  have  no  confidence  in  the  flesh.  It 's  a  blessed 
thing  to  die  daily.  For  what  is  there  in  this  world  to  be 
accounted  of!  The  best  men  according  to  the  flesh,  and 
things,  are  lighter  than  vanity.  I  find  this  only  good,  To 
love  the  Lord  and  His  poor  despised  people,  to  do  for  them, 
and  to  be  ready  to  suffer  with  them :  —  and  he  that  is  found 
worthy  of  this  hath  obtained  great  favor  from  the  Lord ;  and 
he  that  is  established  in  this  shall  (being  confirmed  to  Christ 
and  the  rest  of  the  Body  *)  participate  in  the  glory  of  a  Resur- 
rection which  will  answer  all.2 

"  Sir,  I  must  thankfully  confess  your  favor  in  your  last  Let- 
ter. I  see  I  am  not  forgotten ;  and  truly,  to  be  kept  in  your 
remembrance  is  very  grejat  satisfaction  to  me ;  for  I  can  say 
in  the  simplicity  of  my  heart,  I  put  a  high  and  true  value 
upon  your  love,  —  which  when  I  forget,  I  shall  cease  to  be 
a  grateful  and  an  honest  man. 

"  I  most  humbly  beg  my  service  may  be  presented  to  your 
Lady,  to  whom  I  wish  all  happiness,  and  establishment  in 
the  truth.  Sir,  my  prayers  are  for  you,  as  becomes  your 
Excellency's 

"  Most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"[P.S.]  Sir,  Mr.  Rushworth  will  write  to  you  about  the 
Quartering,  and  the  Letter  lately  sent;  and  therefore  I  for- 
bear." 8 

1  Christ's  Body,  his  Church. 

8  Turns  now  to  the  margin  of  the  sheet,  lengthwise. 

8  SloaneMSS.  1519,  fol.  79. 


l«U8.  FREE   OFFER.  -'J.3 

FREE  OFFER. 

FROM  the  Committee  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  sitting  at 
Derby  House,  Sir  John  Evelyn  reports  a  certain  Offer  from 
Lieutenant-General  Cromwell;  which  is  read  in  the  words 
following :  — 

T  To  the  Honorable  the  Committee  of  Lords  and  Commons  for  the 
Affairs  of  Ireland,  sitting  at  Derbij  House  :  The  Offer  of 
LieutenantrGeneral  Cromwell  for  the  Service  of  Ireland.] 

"  21°  MA.RTII,  1647. 

"THE  two  Houses  of  Parliament  having  lately  bestowed 
£1,080  per  annum  upon  me  and  my  heirs,  out  of  the  Earl  of 
Worcester's  Estate ;  the  necessity  of  affairs  requiring  assist- 
ance, I  do  hereby  offer  One  Thousand  Pounds  annually  to  be 
paid  out  of  the  rents  of  the  said  lands ;  that  is  to  say,  £500 
out  of  the  next  Michaelmas  rent,  and  so  on,  by  the  half  year, 
for  the  space  of  five  years,  if  the  War  in  Ireland  shall  so  long 
continue,  or  that  I  live  so  long :  to  be  employed  for  the  ser- 
vice of  Ireland,  as  the  Parliament  shall  please  to  appoint-, 
provided  the  said  yearly  rent  of  £1,680  become  not  to  be 
suspended  by  war  or  other  accident. 

"  And  whereas  there  is  an  arrear  of  Pay  due  unto  me  whilst 
I  was  Lieutenant-General  unto  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  of 
about  £1,500,  audited  and  stated;  as  also  a  great  arrear 
due  for  about  Two  Years  being  Governor  of  the  Isle  of  Ely : 
I  do  hereby  discharge  the  State  from  all  or  any  claim  to  be 

made  by  me  thereunto. 

"OLIVES  CROMWEXJUWI 

"  Ordered,  That  the  House  doth  accept  the  Free  Offer  of 
I.icutenant-General  Cromwell,  testifying  his  zeal  and  good 
affection."  My  splenetic  little  gentleman  in  gray,  with  the 
little  stick  in  his  hand,  takes  no  notice  of  this;  which  modifies 
materially  what  the  Chepstow  Connoisseurs  and  their  "  five  or 
six  thousand  a  year  "  reported  lately ! 

1  Common*  Journal*,  T.  513. 


296         PAKT  III.    BETWEEN    THE  CIVIL  WARS.  28 March, 

LETTER  LV. 

HEBE  is  Norton  and  the  Marriage  again.  Here  are  news 
out  of  Scotland  that  the  Malignant  Party,  the  Duke  of  Hamil- 
ton's Faction,  are  taking  the  lead  there  ;  and  about  getting  up 
an  Army  to  attack  us,  and  deliver  the  King  from  Sectaries : 1 
Reverend  Stephen  Marshall  reports  the  news.  Let  us  read : 

"  For  my  noble  Friend  Colonel  Richard  Norton :  These. 

"FABNHAM,  28th  March,  1648. 

"  DEAR  DICK,  —  It  had  been  a  favor  indeed  to  have  met 
you  here  at  Farnham.  But  I  hear  you  are  a  man  of  great 
business ;  therefore  I  say  no  more :  —  if  it  be  a  favor  to  the 
House  of  Commons  to  enjoy  you,  what  is  it  to  me !  But,  in  good 
earnest,  when  will  you  and  your  Brother  Russel  be  a  little 
honest,  and  attend  your  charge  there  ?  Surely  some  expect 
it ;  especially  the  good  fellows  who  chose  you  !  — 

"  I  have  met  with  Mr.  Mayor ;  we  spent  two  or  three  hours 
together  last  night.  I  perceive  the  gentleman  is  very  wise 
and  honest}  and  indeed  much  to  be  valued.  Some  things  of 
common  fame  2  did  a  little  stick  :  I  gladly  heard  his  doubts, 
and  gave  such  answer  as  was  next  at  hand,  —  I  believe,  to 
some  satisfaction.  Nevertheless  I  exceedingly  liked  the  gen- 
tleman's plainness  and  free  dealing  with  me.  I  know  God 
lias  been  above  all  ill  reports,  and  will  in  His  own  time  vindi- 
cate me ;  I  have  no  cause  to  complain.  I  see  nothing  but  this 
particular  business  between  him  and  me  may  go  on.  The 
Lord's  will  be  done. 

"  For  news  out  of  the  North  there  is  little ;  only  the  Malig- 
nant Party  is  prevailing  in  the  Parliament  of  Scotland.  They 
are  earnest  for  a  war ;  the  Ministers 8  oppose  as  yet.  Mr. 
Marshall  is  returned,  who  says  so.  And  so  do  many  of  our 
Letters.  Their  great  Committee  of  Danger  have  two  Malig- 
nants  for  one  right.  It 's  said  they  have  voted  an  Army  of 

1  Rnshworth,  vii.  1040,  &c. 

2  Against  myself ;  —  "  favor  for  Sectaries,"  and  so  forth. 
8  Clergy. 


1C48.  LETTER   LVI.    LONDON.  297 

40,000  in  Parliament;  so  say  some  of  Yesterday's  Letters. 
But  I  account  my  news  ill  bestowed,  because  upon  an  idle 
person. 

"  I  shall  take  speedy  course  in  the  business  concerning  my 
Tenants  ;  for  which,  thanks.  My  service  to  your  Lady.  I  am 
really, 

"  Your  affectionate  servant, 

"  OLIVKK  CROMWELL."  * 

Had  Cromwell  come  out  to  Farnham  on  military  business  ? 
Kent  is  in  a  ticklish  state  ;  it  broke  out  some  weeks  hence  in 
open  insurrection,2  —  as  did  many  other  places,  when  once  the 
"  Scotch  Army  of  40,000  "  became  a  certainty. 

'•The  business  concerning  my  Tenants"  will  indicate  that 
in  Hampshire,  within  ken  of  Norton,  in  Fawley  Park,  in  Itchin, 
Abbotstou,  or  elsewhere,  "  my  Tenants  "  are  felling  wood,  cut- 
ting copses,  or  otherwise  not  behaving  to  perfection :  but  they 
sluill  be  looked  to. 

For  the  rest,  Norton  really  ought  to  attend  his  duties  in 
Parliament !  In  earnest  "  an  idle  fellow,"  as  Oliver  in  sport 
calls  him.  Given  to  Presbyterian  notions ;  was  purged  out 
by  Pride ;  came  back ;  dwindled  ultimately  into  Koyalism. 
"  Brother  Russel "  means  only,  brother  Member.  He  is  the 
Frank  Russel  of  the  Letter  on  Marston  Moor.  Now  Sir 
Francis;  and  sits  for  Cambridgeshire.  A  comrade  of  Nor- 
ton's ;  seemingly  now  in  his  neighborhood,  possibly  on  a  visit 
to  him. 

The  attendance  on  the  House  in  these  months  is  extremely 
thin  ;  the  divisions  range  from  200  to  as  low  as  70.  Nothing 
going  on  but  Delinquents'  fines,  and  abstruse  negotiations  with 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  languid  Members  prefer  the  country  till 
some  result  arrive. 


LETTER  LVI. 

HKRE  is  a  new  phasis  of  the  Wedding-treaty;   which,  as 
seems,  "  doth  now  a  little  stick."     Prudent  Mr.  Mayor  insists 

1    H:irriH,  p.  502. 

*  24lh  or  25th  May,  1648  (Rush worth,  rii.  1128). 


298         PART  III.    BETWEEN    THE    CIVIL    WARS.       3  April, 

on  his  advantages ;  nor  is  the  Lieutenant-General  behindhand. 
What  "  lands "  all  these  of  Oliver's  are,  in  Cambridgeshire, 
Norfolk,  Hampshire,  no  Biographer  now  knows.  Portions  of 
the  Parliamentary  Grants  above  alluded  to;  perhaps  "Pur- 
chases by  Debentures,"  some  of  them.  Soldiers  could  seldom 
get  their  Pay  in  money  ;  with  their  "  Debentures,"  they  had 
to  purchase  Forfeited  Lands ;  —  a  somewhat  uncertain  invest- 
ment of  an  uncertain  currency. 

The  Mr.  Robinson  mentioned  in  this  Letter  is  a  pious 
Preacher  at  Southampton.1  "My  two  little  Wenches"  are 
Mary  and  Frances :  Mary  aged  now  near  twelve ,  Frances 
ten.3 

[For  my  noble  Friend  Colonel  Richard  Norton ;   These.'] 

"  [LONDON,]  3d  April,  1648. 

"  DEAR  NORTON,  —  I  could  not  in  my  last  give  you  a  perfect 
account  of  what  passed  between  me  and  Mr.  Mayor;  because 
we  were  to  have  a  conclusion  of  our  speed  that  morning  after 
I  wrote  my  Letter  to  you,8  Which  we  had;  and  having 
had  a  full  view  of  one  another's  minds,  we  parted  with  this  : 
That  both  would  consider  with  our  relations,  and  according 
to  satisfactions  given  there,  acquaint  one  another  with  our 
minds. 

"  I  cannot  tell  better  how  to  do,  [in  order]  to  give  or  receive 
satisfaction,  than  by  you ;  who,  as  I  remember,  in  your  last, 
said  That,  if  things  did  stick  between  us,  you  would  use  your 
endeavor  towards  a  close. 

"  The  things  insisted  upon  were  these,  as  I  take  it :  Mr.  Mayor 
desired  £400  per  annum  of  Inheritance,  lying  in  Cambridge- 
shire and  Norfolk,  to  be  presently  settled,4  and  to  be  for  main- 
tenance ;  wherein  I  desired  to  be  advised  by  my  Wife.  I  offered 
the  Land  in  Hampshire  for  present  maintenance  ;  which  I  dare 
say.  with  copses  and  ordinary  fells,5  will  be  communibus  annis, 
£500  per  annum:  and  besides  fthis]  £500  per  annum  in 
Tenants'  hands  holding  but  for  one  life  ;  and  about  £300  per 
annum,  some  for  two  lives,  some  for  three  lives.  —  But  as  to 

1  Harris,  p.  504.  2  See  antea,  p.  70.  3  Letter  LV. 

4  on  the  Future  Pair.  6  fellings. 


1648. 


LETTER  LVI.    LONDON.  299 


this,  if  the  latter  offer  be  not  liked  of,  I  shall  be  willing  a 
farther  conference  be  held  in  [regard  to]  the  first. 

"  In  point  of  jointure  I  shall  give  satisfaction.  And  as  to  the 
settlement  of  lands  given  ine  by  the  Parliament,  satisfaction 
to  be  given  in  like  manner,  according  as  we  discoursed.  [And] 
in  what  else  was  demanded  of  me,  I  am  willing,  so  far  as  I  re- 
member any  demand  was,  to  give  satisfaction.  Only,  I  having 
been  informed  by  Mr.  Robinson  that  Mr.  Mayor  did,  upon  a 
former  match,  offer  to  settle  the  Manor  wherein  he  lived,  and 
to  give  £2,000  in  money,  I  did  insist  upon  that ;  and  do  desire 
it  may  not  be  with  difficulty.  The  money  I  shall  need  for  my 
two  little  Wenches ;  and  thereby  I  shall  free  my  Son  from 
being  charged  with  them.  Mr.  Mayor  parts  with  nothing  at 
present  but  that  money ;  except  the  board  [of  the  young  Pair] 
which  I  should  not  be  unwilling  to  give  them,  to  enjoy  the 
comfort  of  their  society ;  —  which  it 's  reason  he  smart  for,  if 
he  will  rob  me  altogether  of  them. 

"  Truly  the  land  to  be  settled,  —  both  what  the  Parliament 
gives  me,  and  my  own,  —  is  very  little  less  than  £3,000  per 
annum,  all  things  considered,  if  I  be  rightly  informed.  And 
a  Lawyer  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  having  searched  all  the  Marquis  of 
Worcester's  writings,  which  were  taken  at  Ragland  and  sent 
for  by  the  Parliament,  and  this  Gentleman  appointed  by  the 
Committee  to  search  the  said  writings,  —  assures  me  there  is 
no  scruple  concerning  the  title.  And  it  so  fell  out  that  this 
Gentleman  who  searched  was  my  own  Lawyer,  a  very  godly 
able  man,  and  my  dear  friend  ;  which  I  reckon  no  small  mercy. 
He  is  also  possessed  of  the  writings  for  me.1 

"  I  thought  fit  to  give  you  this  account ;  desiring  you  to 
make  such  use  of  it  as  God  shall  direct  you  :  and  I  doubt  not 
'•at  you  will  do  the  part  of  a  friend  between  two  friends.  I 
account  myself  one ;  and  I  have  heard  you  say  Mr.  Mayor  was 
entirely  so  to  you.  Wliat  the  good  pleasure  of  God  is,  I  shall 
wait ;  there  alone  is  rest  Present  my  service  to  your  Lady, 
to  Mr.  Mayor,  &c.  I  rest, 

"  Your  affectionate  servant, 

"OLIVKB  CROMWTSLI. 
1  hold*  ihtwe  liaglaud  I>»nuuente  oo  my  behalf. 


300        PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL   WARS.        6  April, 

"[P.S.]  I  desire  you  to  carry  this  business  with  all  privacy. 
I  beseech  you  to  do  so,  as  you  love  me.  Let  me  entreat  you 
not  to  lose  a  day  herein,  that  I  may  know  Mr.  Mayor's  mind ; 
for  I  think  I  may  be  at  leisure  for  a  week  to  attend  this  busi- 
ness, to  give  and  take  satisfaction ;  from  which  perhaps  I  may 
be  shut  up  afterwards  by  employment.1  I  know  thou  art  an 
idle  fellow :  but  prithee  neglect  me  not  now ;  delay  may  be 
very  inconvenient  to  me  :  I  much  rely  upon  you.  Let  me  hear 
from  you  in  two  or  three  days.  I  confess  the  principal  con- 
sideration as  to  me,  is  the  absolute  settlement  [by  Mr.  Mayor] 
of  the  Manor  where  he  lives  ;  which  he  would  not  do  but  con- 
ditionally, in  case  they  have  a  son,  and  but  £3,000  in  case 
they  have  no  son.  But  as  to  this,  I  hope  farther  reason  may 
Work  him  to  more."  2 

Of  "  my  two  little  Wenches,"  Mary,  we  may  repeat,  became 
Lady  Fauconberg ;  Frances  was  wedded  to  the  Honorable  Mr. 
Kich,  then  to  Sir  John  Kussell.  Elizabeth  and  Bridget  are 
already  Mrs.  Claypole  and  Mrs.  Ireton.  Elizabeth,  the  younger, 
was  first  married.  They  were  all  married  very  young ;  Eliza- 
beth, at  her  wedding,  was  little  turned  of  sixteen. 


LETTER  LVII. 

"  For  Colonel  Robert  Hammond. 

"  [LONDON,]  6th  April,  1648. 

"  DEAR  ROBIN,  —  Your  business  is  done  in  the  House :  your 
£10  by  the  week  is  made  £20,  £1,000  given  you;  and  Order 
to  Mr.  Lisle  to  draw  up  an  Ordinance  for  £500  per  annum 
to  be  settled  upon  you  and  your  heirs.  This  was  done  with 
smoothness  ;  your  friends  were  not  wanting  to  you.  I  know 
thy  burden ;  this  is  an  addition  to  it :  the  Lord  direct  and 
sustain  thee. 

"Intelligence  came  to  the  hands  of  a  very  considerable 

1  Went  to  Wales  in  May  2  Harris,  p.  502. 


1648.  LETTER  LVII.    LONDON. 

Person,  That  the  King  attempted  to  get  out  of  his  window ; 
and  that  he  had  a  cord  of  silk  with  him  whereby  to  slip  down, 
but  his  breast  was  so  big  the  bar  would  not  give  him  passage. 
This  was  done  in  one  of  the  dark  nights  about  a  fortnight  ago. 
A  Gentleman  with  you  led  him  the  way,  and  slipped  down. 
The  Guard,  that  night,  had  some  quantity  of  wine  with  them. 
The  same  party  assures  that  there  is  aquafortis  gone  down 
from  London,  to  remove  that  obstacle  which  hindered;  and 
that  the  same  design  is  to  be  put  in  execution  in  the  next 
dark  nights.  He  saith  that  Captain  Titus,  and  some  others 
about  the  King  are  not  to  be  trusted.  He  is  a  very  consider- 
able Person  of  the  Parliament  who  gave  this  intelligence,  and 
desired  it  should  be  speeded  to  you. 

"  The  Gentleman  that  came  out  of  the  window  was  Master 
Firebrace  ;  the  Gentlemen  doubted  are  Cresset,  Burrowes,  and 
Titus  ;  the  time  when  this  attempt  of  escape  was,  the  20th  of 
March. 

"  Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  1 

Henry  Firebrace  is  known  to  Birch,  and  his  Narrative  is 
known.  "  He  became  Clerk  of  the  Kitchen  to  Charles  IL" — 
The  old  Books  are  full  of  King's  Plots  for  escape,  by  aquafortis 
and  otherwise.8  His  Majesty  could  make  no  agreement  with 
th«  Parliament,  and  began  now  to  smell  War  in  the  wind.  His 
presence  in  this  or  the  other  locality  might  have  been  of  clear 
advantage.  But  Hammond  was  too  watchful.  Titus,  with 
or  without  his  new  horse,  attends  upon  his  Majesty ;  James 
Harrington  also  (afterwards  author  of  Oceana) ;  and  "the 
Honorable  Thomas  Herbert,"  who  has  left  a  pleasing  Narra- 
•  oncerning  that  affair.  These,  though  appointed  by  the 
Parliament,  are  all  somewhat  in  favor  with  the  King.  Ham- 
mond's Uncle  the  Chaplain,  as  too  favorable,  was  ordered  out 
of  the  Island  about  Christinas  last. 

1  Birch,  p.  41.     The  Original  in  cipher. 

•  Lilly's  Life;  Wood,  $  Hammond;  4c.  Ac. 


302          PAKT  ill.    BETWEEN  THE   CIVIL   WAKS.     18  April, 

LETTER  LVIII. 

"THE  Gentleman  I  mentioned  to  you,"  who  is  now  travel- 
ling towards  Dover  with  this  hopeful  Note  in  his  pocket,  must 
remain  forever  anonymous.  Of  Kenrick  I  have  incidentally 
heard,  at  Worcester  Fight  or  elsewhere  ;  but  of  "  the  Gentle- 
man "  nowhere  ever.  A  Shadow,  sunk  deep,  with  all  his  busi- 
ness, in  the  Land  of  Shadows ;  yet  still  indisputably  visible 
there :  that  is  the  miracle  of  him  ! 

"  To  Colonel  Kenrick  [Lieutenant  of  Dover  Castle :  These']. 

"  [LONDON,]  18th  April,  1648. 

"  SIB,  —  This  is  the  Gentleman  I  mentioned  to  you.  I  aia 
persuaded  you  may  be  confident  of  his  fidelity  to  you  in  the 
things  you  will  employ  him  in. 

"  I  conceive  he  is  fit  for  any  Civil  employment ;  having  been 
bred  towards  the  Law,  and  having  besides  very  good  parts. 
He  hath  been  a  Captain-Lieutenant :  and  therefore  I  hope 
you  will  put  such  a  value  on  him,  in  [the]  Civil  way,  as  one 
that  hath  borne  such  a  place  shall  be  thought  by  you  worthy 
of.  Whereby  you  will  much  oblige, 

"  Your  affectionate  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  [P.S.]  I  expect  to  hear  from  you  about  your  defects  in 
the  Castle,  that  so  you  may  be  timely  supplied."  * 

"  Defects  in  the  Castle,"  and  in  all  Castles,  were  good  to  be 
amended  speedily,  —  in  such  predicaments  as  we  are  now  again 
on  the  eve  of. 


PRAYEK-MEETINO. 

THE  Scotch  Army  of  Forty  Thousand,  "  to  deliver  the  King 
from  Sectaries,"  is  not  a  fable  but  a  fact.     Scotland  is  dis- 

1  Gentleman's  Magazine  (1791),  Lxi.  520;  without  comment  or  indication  of 
an/ kind. 


1648.  PRAYER-MEETING.  303 

tracted  by  dim  disastrous  factions,  very  uncertain  what  it  will 
do  with  the  King  when  he  is  delivered ;  but  in  the  mean  while 
Hamilton  has  got  a  majority  in  the  Scotch  Parliament ;  and 
drums  are  beating  in  that  country  :  the  "  Army  of  Forty  Thou- 
sand, certainly  coming,"  hangs  over  England  like  a  flaming 
comet,  England  itself  being  all  very  combustible  too.  In  few 
weeks  hence,  discontented  Wales,  the  Presbyterian  Colonels 
'I'-elaring  now  for  Royalism,  will  be  in  a  blaze;  large  sections 
of  England,  all  England  very  ready  to  follow,  will  shortly  after 
be  in  a  blaze. 

The  small  Governing  Party  in  England,  during  those  early 
months  of  1648,  are  in  a  position  which  might  fill  the  bravest 
mind  with  misgivings.  Elements  of  destruction  everywhere 
under  and  around  them  ;  their  lot  either  to  conquer,  or  igno- 
miniously  to  die.  A  King  not  to  be  bargained  with  ;  kept  in 
Carisbrook,  the  centre  of  all  factious  hopes,  of  world-wide  in 
trigues  :  that  is  one  element.  A  great  Royalist  Party,  subdued 
with  difficulty,  and  ready  at  all  moments  to  rise  again  :  that  is 
another.  A  great  Presbyterian  Party,  at  the  head  of  which  is 
London  City,  "  the  Purse-bearer  of  the  Cause,"  highly  dissat- 
isfied at  the  course  things  had  taken,  and  looking  desperately 
round  for  new  combinations  and  a  new  struggle  :  reckon  that 
for  a  third  element.  Add  lastly  a  headlong  Mutineer,  Repub- 
lican, or  Levelling  Party :  and  consider  that  there  is  a  working 
House  of  Commons  which  counts  about  Seventy,  divided  in 
pretty  equal  halves  too,  —  the  rest  waiting  what  will  come  of  it. 
Come  of  it,  and  of  the  Scotch  Army  advancing  towards  it !  — 

Cromwell,  it  appears,  deeply  sensible  of  all  this,  does  in 
weeks  make  strenuous  repeated  attempts  towards  at  least 
a  union  among  the  friends  of  the  Cause  themselves,  whose  aim 
is  one,  whose  peril  is  one.  But  to  little  effect.  Ludlow,  with 
visible  satisfaction,  reports  how  ill  the  Lieutenant-General 
sped,  when  he  brought  the  Army  Grandees  and  Parliament 
Grandees  "to  a  Dinner"  at  his  own  house  "in  King  Street," 
and  urged  a  cordial  agreement :  they  would  not  draw  together 
at  all.1  Parliament  would  not  agree  with  Army;  hardly  Par- 
liament with  itself:  as  little,  still  less,  would  1'arlianient  and 

>  LudJow.  i   »38. 


304  PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL  AVARS.        1648 

City  agree.  At  a  Common  Council  in  the  City,  prior  or  pos 
terior  to  this  Dinner,  his  success,  as  angry  little  Walker  inti- 
mates, was  the  same.  "Saturday,  8th  April,  1648,"  having 
prepared  the  ground  beforehand,  Cromwell  with  another  leader 
or  two,  attended  a  Common  Council ;  spake,  as  we  may  fancy, 
of  the  common  dangers,  of  the  gulfs  now  yawning  on  every 
side  :  "  but  the  City,"  chuckles  my  little  gentleman  in  gray, 
with  a  very  shrill  kind  of  laughter  in  the  throat  of  him,  "  were 
now  wiser  than  our  First  Parents  ;  and  rejected  the  Serpent 
and  his  subtleties."  l  In  fact,  the  City  wishes  well  to  Hamil 
ton  and  his  Forty  Thousand  Scots ;  the  City  has,  for  some  time, 
needed  regiments  quartered  in  it,  to  keep  down  open  Royalist- 
Presbyterian  insurrection.  It  was  precisely  on  the  morrow 
after  this  visit  of  Cromwell's  that  there  arose,  from  small 
cause,  huge  Apprentice-riot  in  the  City  :  discomfiture  of  Train- 
bands, seizure  of  arms,  seizure  of  City  Gates,  Ludgate,  New- 
gate, loud  wide  cry  of  "  God  and  King  Charles  !  "  —  riot  not 
to  be  appeased  but  by  "  desperate  charge  of  cavalry,"  after  it 
had  lasted  forty  hours.2  Such  are  the  aspects  of  affairs,  near 
and  far. 

Before  quitting  Part  Third,  I  will  request  the  reader  to 
undertake  a  small  piece  of  very  dull  reading;  in  which  how- 
ever, if  he  look  till  it  become  credible  and  intelligible  to  him, 
a  strange  thing,  much  elucidative  of  the  heart  of  this  matter, 
will  disclose  itself.  At  Windsor,  one  of  these  days,  unknown 
now  which,  there  is  a  Meeting  of  Army  Leaders.  Adjutant- 
General  Allen,  a  most  authentic  earnest  man,  whom  we  shall 
know  better  afterwards,  reports  what  they  did.  Entirely  amaz- 
ing to  us.  These  are  the  longest  heads  and  the  strongest  hearts 
in"  England;  and  this  is  the  thing  they  are  doing;  this  is  tlu* 
way  they,  for  their  part,  begin  despatch  of  business.  The 
reader,  if  he  is  an  earnest  man,  may  look  at  it  with  very  many 
thoughts,  for  which  there  is  no  word  at  present. 

"In  the  year  Forty-seven,  you  may  remember,"  says  Ad- 
jutant Allen,  "  we  in  the  Army  were  engaged  in  actions  of  a 

1  Hintory  of  Independency ,  part  i.  85.  *  Rushworth,  vii.  1051. 


PRAYER-MEETING.  305 

very  high  nature ;  leading  us  to  very  untrodden  paths,  —  both 
in  our  Contests  with  the  then  Parliament,  as  also  Conferences 
with  the  King.  In  which  great  works,  —  wanting  a  spirit  of 
faith,  and  also  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  also  being  unduly  sur- 
prised with  the  fear  of  man,  which  always  brings  a  snare,  we, 
to  make  haste,  as  we  thought,  out  of  such  perplexities,  measur- 
ing our  way  by  a  wisdom  of  our  own,  fell  into  Treaties  with 
the  King  and  his  Party :  which  proved  such  a  snare  to  us,  and 
l«'d  into  such  labyrinths  by  the  end  of  that  year,  that  the  very 
things  we  thought  to  avoid,  by  the  means  we  used  of  our  own 
.  devising,  were  all,  with  many  more  of  a  far  worse  and  more 
perplexing  nature,  brought  back  upon  us.  To  the  overwhelm- 
ing of  our  spirits,  weakening  of  our  hands  and  hearts ;  filling 
us  with  divisions,  confusions,  tumults,  and  every  evil  work ; 
and  thereby  endangering  the  ruin  of  that  blessed  Cause  we 
had,  with  such  success,  been  prospered  in  till  that  time. 

"  For  now  the  King  and  his  Party,  seeing  us  not  answer 
their  ends,  began  to  provide  for  themselves,  by  a  Treaty  with 
the  then  Parliament,  set  on  foot  about  the  beginning  of  Forty- 
eight.  The  Parliament  also  was,  at  the  same  time,  highly  dis- 
pleased with  us  for  what  we  had  done,  both  as  to  the  King 
and  themselves.  The  good  people  likewise,  even  our  most 
cordial  friends  in  the  Nation,  beholding  our  turning  aside  from 
that  path  of  simplicity  we  had  formerly  walked  in  and  been 
blessed  in,  and  thereby  much  endeared  to  their  hearts,  —  began 
now  to  fear,  and  withdraw  their  affections  from  us,  in  this 
politic  path  which  we  had  stepped  into,  and  walked  in  to  our 
hurt,  the  year  before.  And  as  a  farther  fruit  of  the  wages  of 
our  backsliding  hearts,  we  were  also  filled  with  a  spirit  of  great 
jealousy  and  divisions  amongst  ourselves ;  having  left  that  Wis- 
dom of  the  Word,  which  is  first  pure  and  then  peaceable ;  so  that 
we  were  now  fit  for  little  but  to  tear  and  rend  one  another,  and 
thereby  prepare  ourselves,  and  the  work  in  our  hands,  to  be 
ruined  by  our  common  enemies.  Enemies  that  were  ready  to 
say,  as  many  others  of  like  spirit  in  this  day  do,1  of  the  like 

1  1659:  Allen's  Pamphlet  u  written  as  a  Monition  and  Example  to  Fleet- 
wood  and  the  others,  now  in  a  similar  peril,  but  with  no  Oliver  now  among 
them. 


306          PART  ITT.    BETWEEN   THE  CIVIL  WARS.         iiua. 

sad  occasions  amongst  us,  (  Lo,  this  is  the  day  we  looked  for.' 
The  King  and  his  Party  prepare  accordingly  to  ruin  all ;  by 
sudden  Insurrections  in  most  parts  of  the  Nation  :  the  Scot, 
concurring  with  the  same  designs,  comes  in  with  a  potent  Army 
under  Duke  Hamilton.  We  in  the  Army,  in  a  low,  weak, 
divided,  perplexed  condition  in  all  respects,  as  aforesaid  :  — 
some  of  us  judging  it  a  duty  to  lay  down  our  arms,  to  quit 
our  stations,  and  put  ourselves  into  the  capacities  of  private 
men,  —  since  what  we  had  done,  and  what  was  yet  in  our 
hearts  to  do,  tending,  as  we  judged,  to  the  good  of  these  poor 
Nations,  was  not  accepted  by  them. 

"  Some  also  even  encouraged  themselves  and  us  to  such  a 
thing,  by  urging  for  such  a  practice  the  example  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  ;  who,  when  he  had  borne  an  eminent  testimony  to  the 
pleasure  of  his  Father  in  an  active  way,  sealed  it  at  last 
by  his  sufferings ;  which  was  presented  to  us  as  our  pattern 
for  imitation.  Others  of  us,  however,  were  different-minded  ; 
thinking  something  of  another  nature  might  yet  be  farther 
our  duty ;  —  and  these  therefore  were,  by  joint  advice,  by  a 
good  hand  of  the  Lord,  led  to  this  result ;  viz.  To  go  solemnly 
to  search  out  our  own  iniquities,  and  humble  our  souls  before 
the  Lord  in  the  sense  of  the  same ;  which,  we  were  persuaded, 
had  provoked  the  Lord  against  us,  to  bring  such  sad  perplexi- 
ties upon  us  at  that  day.  Out  of-  which  we  saw  no  way  else 
to  extricate  ourselves. 

"  Accordingly  we  did  agree  to  meet  at  Windsor  Castle  about 
the  beginning  of  Forty-eight.  And  there  we  spent  one  day 
together  in  prayer ;  inquiring  into  the  causes  of  that  sad  dis- 
pensation," —  let  all  men  consider  it ;  "  coming  to  no  farther 
result  that  day ;  but  that  it  was  still  our  duty  to  seek.  And 
on  the  morrow  we  met  again  in  the  morning;  where  many 
spake  from  the  Word,  and  prayed  ;  and  the  then  Lieutenant- 
General  Cromwell,"  —  unintelligible  to  Posterity,  but  extremely 
intelligible  to  himself,  to  these  men,  and  to  the  Maker  of  him 
and  of  them,  —  "did  press  very  earnestly  on  all  there  present 
to  a  thorough  consideration  of  our  actions  as  an  Army,  and  of 
our  ways  particularly  as  private  Christians  :  to  see  if  any  in- 
iquity could  be  found  in  them  ;  and  what  it  was,  that  if  pos- 


1C  18. 


PRAYER-MEETING.  807 


sible  we  might  find  it  out,  and  so  remove  the  cause  of  such  sad 
rebukes  as  were  upon  us  (by  reason  of  our  iniquities,  as  we 
judged)  at  that  time.  And  the  way  more  particularly  the 
Lord  led  us  to  herein  was  this :  To  look  back  and  consider 
what  time  it  was  when  with  joint  satisfaction  we  could  last 
say  to  the  best  of  our  judgments,  The  presence  of  the  Lord 
was  amongst  us,  and  rebukes  and  judgments  were  not  as  then 
upon  us.  Which  time  the  Lord  led  us  jointly  to  find  out  and 
agree  in ;  and  having  done  so,  to  proceed,  as  we  then  judged 
it  our  duty,  to  search  into  all  our  public  actions  as  an  Army 
afterwards.  Duly  weighing  (as  the  Lord  helped  us)  each  of 
tin-in,  with  their  grounds,  rules,  and  ends,  as  near  as  we  could. 
And  so  we  concluded  this  second  day,  with  agreeing  to  meet 
again  on  the  morrow.  Which  accordingly  we  did  upon  the 
same  occasion,  reassuming  the  consideration  of  our  debates  the 
day  before,  and  reviewing  our  actions  again. 

"  By  which  means  we  were,  by  a  gracious  hand  of  the  Lord, 
led  to  find  out  the  veiy  steps  (as  we  were  all  then  jointly 
convinced)  by  which  we  had  departed  from  the  Lord,  and 
provoked  Him  to  depart  from  us.  Which  we  found  to  be 
those  cursod  carnal  Conferences  our  own  conceitod  wisdom, 
our  fears,  and  want  of  faith  had  prompted  us,  the  year  before, 
to  entertain  with  the  King  and  his  Party.  And  at  this  time, 
and  on  this  occasion,  did  the  then  Major  Goffo  (as  I  remeinbei 
was  his  title)  make  use  of  that  good  Word,  Proverbs  First  and 
Twenty-third,  Turn  you  at  my  reproof:  behold,  I  will  jxnir  out 
my  Spirit  unto  you,  I  will  make  known  my  ttvm/.s-  unto  you. 
Whi.-li,  we  having  found  out  our  sin,  he  urged  as  our  duty 
from  those  words.  And  the  Lord  so  accompanied  by  His 
Spirit,  that  it  had  a  kindly  effect,  like  a  word  of  His,  upon 
most  of  our  hearts  that  were  then  present:  which  begot  in 
us  a  great  sense,  a  shame  and  loathing  of  ourselves  for  our 
iniquities,  and  a  justifying  of  the  Lord  as  righteous  in  His 
proceedings  against  us. 

"  And  in  this  path  the  Lord  led  us,  not  only  to  see  our  sin, 
but  also  our  duty;  and  this  so  unanimously  set  with  weight 
upon  each  heart,  that  none  was  able  hardly  to  speak  a  won  I 
to  each  other  for  bitter  weeping,"  —  does  the  modern  reader 


308  PART  III.    BETWEEN   THE   CIVIL  WARS.         1648. 

mark  it ;  this  weeping,  and  who  they  are  that  weep  ?  Weep- 
ing "partly  in  the  sense  and  shanie  of  our  iniquities;  of  our 
unbelief,  base  fear  of  men,  and  carnal  consultations  (as  the 
fruit  thereof)  with  our  own  wisdoms,  and  not  with  the  Word 
of  the  Lord,  —  which  only  is  a  way  of  wisdom,  strength  and 
safety,  and  all  besides  it  are  ways  of  snares.  And  yet  we 
were  also  helped,  with  fear  and  trembling,  to  rejoice  in  the 
Lord  ;  whose  faithfulness  and  loving-kindness,  we  were  made 
to  see,  yet  failed  us  not ;  —  who  remembered  us  still,  even  in 
our  low  estate,  because  His  mercy  endures  forever.  Who  no 
sooner  brought  us  to  His  feet,  acknowledging  Him  in  that  way 
of  His  (viz.  searching  for,  being  ashamed  of,  and  willing  to 
turn  from,  our  iniquities),  but  He  did  direct  our  steps ;  and 
presently  we  were  led  and  helped  to  a  clear  agreement 
amongst  ourselves,  not  any  dissenting,  That  it  was  the  duty 
of  our  day,  with  the  forces  we  had,  to  go  out  and  fight  against 
those  potent  enemies,  which  that  year  in  all  places  appeared 
against  us."  Courage  !  "  With  an  humble  confidence,  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  only,  that  we  should  destroy  them.  And 
we  were  also  enabled  then,  after  serious  seeking  His  face,  to 
come  to  a  very  clear  and  joint  resolution,  on  many  grounds  at 
large  there  debated  amongst  us,  That  it  was  our  duty,  if  ever 
the  Lord  brought  us  back  again  in  peace,  to  call  Charles 
Stuart,  that  man  of  blood,  to  an  account  for  that  blood  he 
had  shed,  and  mischief  he  had  done  to  his  utmost,  against 
the  Lord's  Cause  and  People  in  these  poor  Nations."  Mark 
that  also ! 

"  And  how  the  Lord  led  and  prospered  us  in  all  our  under- 
takings that  year,  in  this  way ;  cutting  His  work  short,  in 
righteousness ;  making  it  a  year  of  mercy,  equal  if  not  tran- 
scendent to  any  since  these  Wars  began;  and  making  it 
worthy  of  remembrance  by  every  gracious  soul,  who  was  wise 
to  observe  the  Lord,  and  the  operations  of  His  hands,  —  I 
wish  may  never  be  forgotten."  Let  Fleetwood,  if  he  have 
the  same  heart,  go  and  do  likewise.1 

1  A  faithful  Memorial  of  that  remarkable  Meeting  of  many  Officers  of  the 
Army  in  England  at  Windsor  Castle,  in  the  year  1648,  &c.  &c.  (in  Sowers 
Tracts,  vi.  499-501 ). 


1648. 


PRAYER-MEETING.  309 


Abysses,  black  chaotic  whirlwinds  :  —  does  the  reader  look 
upon  it  all  as  Madness  ?  Madness  lies  close  by ;  as  Madness 
does  to  the  Highest  Wisdom,  in  man's  life  always :  but  this  13 
not  mad !  This  dark  element,  it  is  the  mother  of  the  light- 
nings and  the  splendors ;  it  is  very  sane,  this  I  — 


PART   IV. 

SECOND  CIVIL  WAR. 
1648. 

LETTERS   LIX.  — LXII. 

ABOUT  the  beginning  of  May,  1648,  the  general  Presby- 
terian-Royalist discontent  announces  itself  by  tumults  in 
Kent,  tumults  at  Colchester,  tumults  and  rumors  of  tumult 
far  and  near ;  portending,  on  all  sides,  that  a  new  Civil  War 
is  at  hand.  The  Scotch  Army  of  Forty  Thousand  is  certainly 
voted ;  certainly  the  King  is  still  prisoner  at  Carisbrook ; 
factious  men  have  yet  made  no  bargain  with  him :  certainly 
there  will  and  should  be  a  new  War  ?  So  reasons  Presby- 
terian Royalism  everywhere.  Headlong  discontented  Wales 
in  this  matter  took  the  lead. 

Wales  has  been  full  of  confused  discontent  all  Spring;  this 
or  the  other  confused  Colonel  Poyer,  full  of  brandy  and  Pres- 
byterian texts  of  Scripture,  refusing  to  disband  till  his  arrears 
be  better  paid,  or  indeed  till  the  King  be  better  treated.  To 
whom  other  confused  Welsh  Colonels,  as  Colonel  Powel, 
Major-General  Laughern,  join  themselves.  There  have  been 
tumults  at  Cardiff,  tumults  here  and  also  there ;  open  shooting 
and  fighting.  Drunken  Colonel  Poyer,  a  good  while  ago,  in 
March  last,  seized  Pembroke ;  flatly  refuses  to  obey  the  Par- 
liament's Order  when  Colonel  Fleming  presents  the  same.  — 
Poor  Fleming,  whom  we  saw  some  time  ago  soliciting  promo- 
tion : l  he  here,  attempting  to  defeat  some  insurrectionary 
party  of  this  Poyer's  [at  a  Pass]  (name  of  the  Pass  not 
i  Letter  XXXVII.  p.  240. 


1648.  LETTER  LIX.    PEMBROKE.  311 

given),  is  himself  defeated,  forced  into  a  Church,  and  killed.1 
Drunken  Poyer,  in  Pembroke  strong  Castle,  defies  the  Parlia- 
ment and  the  world :  new  Colonels,  Parliamentary  and  Pres- 
byterian-Royalist, are  hastening  towards  him,  for  and  against. 
Wales,  smoking  with  confused  discontent  all  Spring,  has  now, 
by  influence  of  the  flaming  Scotch  comet  or  Army  of  Forty 
Thousand,  burst  into  a  general  blaze.  "  The  gentry  are  all  for 
the  King  ;  the  common  people  understand  nothing,  and  follow 
the  gentry."  Chepstow  Castle  too  has  been  taken  "  by  a  strat- 
agem." The  country  is  all  up  or  rising :  "  the  smiths  have  all 
fled,  cutting  their  bellows  before  they  went ; "  impossible  to 
get  a  horse  shod,  —  never  saw  such  a  country ! 8  On  the  whole, 
Cromwell  will  have  to  go.  Cromwell,  leave  being  asked  of 
Fairfax,  is  on  the  1st  of  May  ordered  to  go ;  marches  on 
Wednesday,  the  3d.  Let  him  march  swiftly! 

Horton,  one  of  the  Parliamentary  Colonels,  has  already, 
while  Cromwell  is  on  march,  somewhat  tamed  the  Wdsh 
humor,  by  a  good  beating  at  St.  Pagan's :  St.  Fagan's  Fight, 
near  Cardiff,  on  the  8th  of  May,  where  Laughern,  hastening 
towards  Poyer  and  Pembroke,  is  broken  in  pieces.  Cromwell 
marches  by  Monmouth,  by  Chepstow  (llth  May) ;  takes 
Chepstow  Town ;  attacks  the  Castle,  Castle  will  not  surrender, 
—  he  leaves  Colonel  Ewer  to  do  the  Castle,  who,  after  four 
weeks,  does  it.  Cromwell,  by  Swansea  and  Carmarthen,  ad- 
vances towards  Pembroke;  quelling  disturbance,  rallying 
force,  as  he  goes;  arrives  at  Pembroke  in  some  ten  days 
more;  and,  for  want  of  artillery,  is  like  to  have  a  tedious 
siege  of  it.8 


LETTER  LIX. 

HERB  is  his  first  Letter  from  before  the  place:  a  rugged 
rapid  despatch,  with  some  graphic  touches  in  it,  and  rather 

»  Runhworth,  vii.  1097.  -  Hml. 

8  Abundant  detail*  lie  scattered  in  Rushworth,  vii.  :  Poyer  and  IVml>n>ko 
Caatli-.  in  March,  p.  1033  ;  Kluming  killed  (1st  May),  p.  lo'.i:  ;  Cli.  j-t.-w 
mirjirisetl  ("beginning  of  May"),  p.  1109, —  retaken  (29tli  M;iy),  p.  1130; 
bl.  Faguu'v  Fight  (Wth  May),  p.  1110;  Cromwell's  March,  pp.  1121-1128. 


312  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL  WAR.  HJune, 

more  of  hope  than  the  issue  realized.  Guns  of  due  quality 
are  not  to  be  had.  In  the  beginning  of  June,1  "  Hugh  Peters  " 
went  across  to  Milford  Haven,  and  from  the  Lion,  a  Parlia- 
ment Ship  riding  there,  got  "  two  drakes,  two  demi-culverins, 
and  two  whole  culverins,"  and  safely  conveyed  them  to  the 
Leaguer ;  with  which  new  implements  an  instantaneous  essay 
was  made,  and  a  "  storming  "  thereupon  followed,  but  without 
success.  —  Of  "  the  Prince,"  Prince  Charles  and  his  revolted 
ships,  of  the  "victory  in  Kent"  and  what  made  it  needful, 
we  shall  have  to  speak  anon. 

[To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons :  These.~\ 

"LEAGUER  BEFORE  PEMBROKE,  14th  June,  1648. 

"  SIB,  —  All  that  you  can  expect  from  hence  is  a  relation  of 
the  state  of  this  Garrison  of  Pembroke.  Which  is  briefly 
thus : — 

"They  begin  to  be  in  extreme  want  of  provision,  so  as  in 
all  probability  they  cannot  live  a  fortnight  without  being 
starved.  But  we  hear  that  they  mutinied  about  three  days 
since ;  cried  out,  '  Shall  we  be  ruined  for  two  or  three  men's 
pleasure  ?  Better  it  were  we  should  throw  them  over  the 
walls.'  It 's  certainly  reported  to  us  that  within  four  or  six 
days  they'll  cut  Poyer's  throat,  and  come  all  away  to  us. 
Poyer  told  them,  Saturday  last,  that  if  relief  did  not  come 
by  Monday  night,  they  should  no  more  believe  him,  nay  they 
should  hang  him. 

"We  have  not  got  our  Guns  and  Ammunition  from  Wal- 
lingford  as  yet ;  but,  however,  we  have  scraped  up  a  few, 
which  stand  us  in  very  good  stead.  Last  night  we  got  two 
little  guns  planted,  which  in  twenty-four  hours  will  take 
away  their  Mills;  and  then,  as  Poyer  himself  confesses,  they 
are  all  undone.  We  made  an  attempt  to  storm  him,  about  ten 
days  since  ;  but  our  ladders  were  too  short,  and  the  breach  so 
as  men  could  not  get  over.  We  lost  a  few  men;  but  I  am 
confident  the  Enemy  lost  more.  Captain  Flower,  of  Colonel 

1  Cromwelliana,  p.  40. 


164«. 


liETTEH  LX.    PEMBROKE.  313 


Dean's  Regiment,  WAS  wounded;  and  Major  Grigg's  Lieu- 
tenant and  Ensign  elain;  Captain  Purges  lies  wounded,  and 
very  sick.  I  question  not,  but  within  a  fortnight  we  shall 
have  the  Town ;  [and]  Foyer  hath  engaged  himself  to  the 
Officers  of  the  Town,  Not  to  keep  the  Castle  longer  than  the 
Town  can  hold  out.  Neither  indeed  can  he ;  for  we  can  take 
away  his  water  in  two  days,  by  beating  down  a  staircase, 
which  goes  into  a  cellar  where  he  hath  a  well.  They  allow 
the  men  half  a  pound  of  beef,  and  as  much  bread  a  day  ;  but 
it  is  almost  spent. 

"We  much  rejoice  at  what  the  Lord  hath  done  for  you  in 
Kent.  Upon  our  thanksgiving  *  for  that  victory,  which  was 
both  from  Sea  and  Leaguer,  Poyer  told  his  men,  that  it  was 
the  Prince  [Prince  Charles  and  his  revolted  Ships],  coming 
with  relief.  The  other  night  they  mutinied  in  the  Town. 
Last  night  we  fired  divers  houses  ;  which  [fire]  runs  up  the 
Town  still :  it  much  frights  them.  Confident  I  am,  we  shall 
have  it  in  fourteen  days,  by  starving.  I  am,  Sir, 

"  Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  " 

Precisely  in  about  "  fourteen  days "  a  new  attempt  was 
made,'  not  without  some  promising  results,  but  again  ineffec- 
tual. "  The  Guns  are  not  come  from  Bristol,  for  want  of 
wind ; "  and  against  hunger  and  short  scaling-ladders  Poyer 
is  stubborn.  Three  days  after  this  Letter  to  Lenthall,  some 
three  weeks  since  the  siege  began,  here  is  another,  to  Major 
Sauuders. 


LETTER  LX. 

OF  this  Major,  afterwards  Colonel,  Thomas  Saundere,  now 
lying  at  Brecknock,  there  need  little  be  said  beyond  what  the 

1  By  Cannon-volleys. 

'  Kuahworth,  vii.   1159:   read  in  the  Houue,  20th  Juue,  1648   (Common* 
Journal*,  v.  608). 

*  Uual. worth,  vii.  1175. 


314  PAKT  IV.     SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  17  June, 

Letter  itself  says.  Ho  is  "  of  Derbyshire,"  it  seems ;  sat  after- 
wards as  a  King's- Judge,  or  at  least  was  nominated  to  sit ; 
continued  true  to  the  Cause,  in  a  dirn  way,  till  the  very  Res- 
toration ;  and  withdrew  then  into  total  darkness. 

This  Letter  is  endorsed  in  Saunders's  own  hand,  "  The  Lord 
General's  order  for  taking  Sir  Trevor  Williams,  and  Mr.  Morgan, 
Sheriff  of  Monmouthshire."  Of  which  two  Welsh  individuals, 
except  that  Williams  had  been  appointed  Commander-in-chief 
of  the  Parliament's  forces  in  Monmouthshire  some  time  ago, 
and  Morgan  High  Sheriff  there,1  both  of  whom  had  now  re- 
volted, we  know  nothing,  and  need  know  nothing.  The  Letter 
has  come  under  cover  enclosing  another  Letter,  of  an  official 
sort,  to  one  "  Mr.  Rumsey  "  (a  total  stranger  to  me)  ;  and  is 
superscribed  For  Yourself. 

[To  Major  Thomas  Saunders,  at  Brecknock :  These."] 

"  [BEFORE  PEMBROKE,]  17th  June,  1648. 

"  SIR,  —  I  send  you  this  enclosed  by  itself,  because  it 's  of 
greater  moment.  The  other  you  may  communicate  to  Mr. 
Rumsey  as  far  as  you  think  fit  and  I  have  written.  I  would 
not  have  him  or  other  honest  men  be  discouraged  that  I  think 
it  not  fit,  at  present,  to  enter  into  contests  ;  it  will  be  good  to 
yield  a  little,  for  public  advantage  :  and  truly  that  is  my  end  ; 
wherein  I  desire  you  to  satisfy  them. 

"I  have  sent,  as  my  Letter  mentions,  to  have  you  remove 
out  of  Brecknockshire ;  indeed,  into  that  part  of  Glamor- 
ganshire which  lieth  next  Monmouthshire.  For  this  end : 
We  have  plain  discoveries  that  Sir  Trevor  Williams,  of  Llan- 
gibby,2  about  two  miles  from  Usk,  in  the  County  of  Mon- 
mouth,  was  very  deep  in  the  plot  of  betraying  Chepstow 
Castle  ;  so  that  we  are  out  of  doubt  of  his  guiltiness  thereof. 
I  do  hereby  authorize  you  to  seize  him;  as  also  the  High 
Sheriff  of  Monmouth,  Mr.  Morgan,  who  was  in  the  same 
plot. 

"But,  because  Sir  Trevor  Williams  is  the  more  dangerous 

1  10th  January,  1645-6,  Williams ;   17th  November,   1647,  Morgan :  Com 
mons  Journals,  in  diebus. 

2  He  writes  "  Laugevie ,  "  "  Muniuoutb  "  too. 


1648.  LETTER  LX.    PEMBROKE.  815 

man  by  far,  I  would  have  you  seize  him  first,  and  the  other 
will  easily  be  had.  To  the  end  you  may  not  be  frustrated 
and  that  you  be  not  deceived,  I  think  fit  to  give  you  some 
characters  of  the  man,  and  some  intimations  how  things 
stand.  He  is  a  man,  as  I  am  informed,  full  of  craft  and  sub- 
tlety ;  very  bold  and  resolute ;  hath  a  House  at  Llangibby 
well  stored  with  arms,  and  very  strong;  his  neighbors  about 
him  very  Malignant,  and  much  for  him,  —  who  are  apt  to 
rescue  him  if  apprehended,  much  more  to  discover  anything 
which  may  prevent  it.  He  is  full  of  jealousy  ;  partly  out  of 
guilt,  but  much  more  because  he  doubts  some  that  were  in  the 
business  have  discovered  him,  which  indeed  they  have, — and 
also  because  he  knows  that  his  Servant  is  brought  hither, 
and  a  Minister  to  be  examined  here,  who  are  able  to  discover 
the  whole  plot. 

"  If  you  should  march  directly  into  that  Country  and  near 
him,  it's  odds  he  either  fortify  his  House,  or  give  you  the 
slip :  so  also,  if  you  should  go  to  his  House,  and  not  find 
him  there  ;  or  if  you  attempt  to  take  him,  and  miss  to  effect 
it ;  or  if  you  make  any  known  inquiry  after  him,  — it  will  be 
discovered. 

"  Wherefore,  [asj  to  the  first,  you  have  a  fair  pretence  of 
going  out  of  Brecknockshire  to  quarter  about  Newport  and 
Caerleon,  which  is  not  above  four  or  five  miles  from  his  House. 
You  may  send  to  Colonel  Herbert,  whose  House  lieth  in  Mon- 
niouth.shire ;  who  will  certainly  acquaint  you  where  he  is. 
You  are  also  to  send  to  Captain  Nicholas,  who  is  at  Chepstow, 
|uire  him  to  assist  you,  if  he  [Williams]  should  get  into 
his  House  and  stand  upon  his  guard.  Samuel  Jones,  who  is 
Quartermaster  to  Colonel  Herbert's  troop,  will  be  very  assist- 
ing to  you,  if  you  send  to  him  to  meet  you  at  your  quarters; 
both  by  letting  you  know  where  he  is,  and  also  in  all  matters 
of  intelligence.  If  there  shall  be  need,  Captain  Burges's  troop, 
now  quartered  in  Glamorganshire,  shall  be  directed  to  receive 
orders  from  you. 

"  You  perceive  by  all  this  that  we  are,  it  may  be,  a  little  t .  K> 
much  solicitous  in  this  business  ;  *  —  it's  our  fault ;  and  indeed 

»  B«e  Appendix.  Null. 


316  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL  WAR.  28  June, 

such  a  temper  causeth  us  often  to  overact  business.  Where- 
fore, without  more  ado,  we  leave  it  to  you ;  and  you  to  the 
guidance  of  God  herein ;  and  rest, 

«  Yours, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"[P.S.]  If  you  seize  him,  bring,  —  and  let  him  be  brought 
with  a  strong  guard,— to  me.  If  Captain  Nicholas  should 
light  on  him  at  Chepstow,  do  you  strengthen  him  with  a 
strong  guard  to  bring  him.  —  If  you  seize  his  person,  disarm 
his  House  ;  but  let  not  his  arms  be  embezzled.  If  you  need 
Captain  Burges's  troop,  it  quarters  between  Newport  and 
Chepstow."  l 

Saunders,  by  his  manner  of  endorsing  this  Letter,  seems  to 
intimate  that  he  took  his  two  men ;  that  he  keeps  the  Letter 
by  way  of  voucher.  Sir  Trevor  Williams  by  and  by2  com- 
pounds as  a  Delinquent,  —  retires  then  into  "  Langevie  House  " 
in  a  diminished  state,  and  disappears  from  History.  Of 
Sheriff  Morgan,  except  that  a  new  Sheriff  is  soon  appointed, 
we  have  no  farther  notice  whatever.8 


LETTER  LXI. 

SINGE  Cromwell  quitted  London,  there  have  arisen  wide 
commotions  in  that  central  region  too  ;  the  hope  of  the  Scotch 
Army  and  the  certainty  of  this  War  in  Wales  excite  all  unruly 
things  and  persons.  At  Pembroke  lately  we  heard  the  cannons 
fire,  both  from  Leaguer  and  Ships,  for  a  "  victory  in  Kent :  " 
concerning  which  and  its  origins  and  issues,  take  the  following 
indications. 

May  16th,  Came  a  celebrated  "  Surrey  Petition :  "  high-flying 
armed  cavalcade  of  Freeholders  from  Surrey,  with  a  Petition 
craving  in  very  high  language  that  Peace  be  made  with  his 
Majesty :  they  quarrelled  with  the  Parliament's  Guard  in 

1  Harris,  p.  495  ;  and  Forster,  iv.  239.  2  Commons  Journals. 

•  Note  to  Colonel  Hughes,  26th  June,  1648,  in  Appendix,  No.  11. 


1*4*  LETTER  LXI.    PEMBROKE.  317 

Westminster  Hall,  drew  swords,  had  swords  drawn  upon  them ; 
"  the  Miller  of  Wandsworth  was  run  through  with  a  halbert," 
he  and  others ;  and  the  Petitioners  went  home  in  a  slashed 
and  highly  indignant  condition.  Thereupon,  May  2±th,  armed 
meeting  of  Kentish-men  on  Blackheath ;  armed  meeting  of 
Essex-men  ;  several  armed  meetings,  all  in  communication  with 
the  City  Presbyterians :  Fairfax,  ill  of  the  gout,  has  to  mount, 
—  in  extremity  of  haste,  as  a  man  that  will  quench  fire  among 
smoking  flax. 

June  1st.  Fairfax,  at  his  utmost  speed,  smites  fiercely 
against  the  centre  of  this  Insurrection ;  drives  it  from  post  to 
post;  drives  it  into  Maidstone  "about  7  in  the  evening," 
"  with  as  hard  fighting  as  I  ever  saw  ; "  tramples  it  out  there. 
The  centre-flame  once  trampled  out,  the  other  flames,  or  armed 
meetings,  hover  hither  and  thither ;  gather  at  length,  in  few 
days,  all  at  Colchester  in  Essex ;  where  Fairfax  is  now  be- 
sieging them,  with  a  very  obstinate  and  fierce  resistance  from 
them.  This  is  the  victory  in  Kent,  these  are  the  "glorious 
successes  God  has  vouchsafed  you,"  which  Oliver  alludes  to  in 
this  Letter. 

We  are  only  to  notice  farther  that  Lambert  is  in  the  North ; 
waiting,  in  very  inadequate  strength,  to  see  the  Scots  arrive. 
Oliver  in  this  Letter  signifies  that  he  has  reinforced  him  with 
some  "  horse  and  dragoons,"  sent  by  "  West  Chester,"  which 
we  now  call  Chester,  where  "  Colonel  Dukinfield  "  is  Governor. 
The  Scots  are  indubitably  coming :  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale 
(whom  Oliver,  we  may  remark,  encountered  in  the  King's  left 
wing  at  Naseby  Flrjht)  has  raised  new  Yorkshiremen,  has 
seized  Berwick,  seized  Carlisle,  and  joined  the  Scots ;  it  is  be- 
coming an  openly  Royalist  affair.  In  Lancashire  a  certain  Sir 
Kirhard  Tempest,  very  forward  in  his  Royalism,  goes  suddenly 
bla/ing  abroad  "with  1,000  horse  and  many  knights  and  gen- 
tl«Mnen,"  threatening  huge  peril ;  but  is,  in  those  very  hours, 
iijeously  set  upon  by  Colonel  Robert  Lilburn  with  what 
little  ('.(impact  force  there  is,  and  at  once  extinguished:  —  an 
acceptable  service  on  the  part  of  Colonel  Robert ;  for  which  let 
him  luivi-  thanks  from  Parliament,  and  reward  of  £1,000.* 

i •,  j.j..  3PJ,  :n:; ,   L'ommvns  Journal*,  (5th  July,  1648),  v.  624  ;  *c 


318  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  28  June, 

Very  desirable,  of  course,  that  Oliver  had  done  with  Pem- 
broke, and  were  fairly  joined  with  Lambert.  But  Pembroke 
is  strong  ;  Poyer  is  stubborn,  hopes  to  surrender  "  on  condi- 
tions ; "  Oliver,  equally  stubborn,  though  sadly  short  of  artil- 
lery and  means,  will  have  him  "  at  mercy  of  the  Parliament," 
so  signal  a  rebel  as  him.  Fairfax's  Father,  the  Lord  Ferdi- 
nando,  died  in  March  last ; *  so  that  the  General's  title  is  now 
changed : — 

"  To  his  Excellency  the  Lord  Fairfax,  General  of  the  Parlia- 
ment's Army :  These. 

"BEFORE  PEMBROKE,  28th  June,  1648. 

"  SIR,  —  I  have  some  few  days  since  despatched  horse  and 
dragoons  for  the  North.  I  sent  them  by  the  way  of  West 
Chester ;  thinking  it  fit  to  do  so  in  regard  of  this  enclosed 
Letter  which  I  received  from  Colonel  Dukinfield ;  —  requiring 
them  to  give  him  assistance  in  the  way.  And  if  it  should 
prove  that  a  present  help  would  not  serve  the  turn,  then  I 
ordered  Captain  Pennyfeather's  troop  to  remain  with  the 
Governor  [Dukinfield] ;  and  the  rest  immediately  to  march 
towards  Leeds, — and  to  send  to  the  Committee  of  York, 
or  to  him  that  commands  the  forces  in  those  parts,  for  direc- 
tions whither  they  should  come,  and  how  they  shall  be  dis- 
posed of. 

"  The  number  I  sent  are  six  troops  :  four  of  horse,  and  two 
of  dragoons  ;  whereof  three  are  Colonel  Scroop's,  —  and  Cap- 
tain Pennyfeather's  troop,  and  the  other  two  dragoons.  I 
could  not,  by  the  judgment  of  the  Colonels  here,  spare  more, 
nor  send  them  sooner,  without  manifest  hazard  to  these  parts. 
Here  is,  as  I  have  formerly  acquainted  your  Excellency,  a  very 
desperate  Enemy ;  who,  being  put  out  of  all  hope  of  mercy, 
are  resolved  to  endure  to  the  uttermost  extremity;  being  very 
many  [of  them]  gentlemen  of  quality,  and  men  thoroughly  re- 
solved. They  have  made  some  notable  sallies  upon  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Reade's  quarter,2  to  his  loss.  We  are  forced  to  keep 

1  13th  March,  1647-8  (Rushworth,  vii.  1030). 

J  Reade  had  been  intrusted  with  the  Siege  of  Tenby :  that  had  ended  June 
3d  (Commons  Journals,  v.  588) ;  and  Reade  is  now  assisting  at  Pembroke. 


IMS.  LETTER  LXT.    PEMBROKE.  319 

divers  posts,  or  else  they  would  have  relief,  or  their  horse 
break  away.  Our  foot  about  them  are  four-and-twenty  hun- 
dred; we  always  necessitated  to  have  some  in  garrisons. 

"The  Country,  since  we  sat  down  before  this  place,  have 
made  two  or  three  insurrections ;  and  are  ready  to  do  it  every 
day  :  so  that,  —  what  with  looking  to  them,  and  disposing  our 
horse  to  that  end,  and  to  get  us  in  provisions,  without  which 
we  should  starve,  this  country  being  so  miserably  exhausted 
and  so  poor,  and  we  no  money  to  buy  victuals,  —  indeed,  what- 
ever may  be  thought,  it 's  a  mercy  we  have  been  able  to  keep 
our  men  together  in  the  midst  of  such  necessity,  the  suste- 
nance of  the  foot  for  most  part  being  but  bread  and  water. 
Our  guns,  through  the  unhappy  accident  at  Berkley,  not  yet 
come  to  us ;  —  and  indeed  it  was  a  very  unhappy  thing  they 
were  brought  thither ;  the  wind  having  been  always  so  cross, 
that  since  they  were  recovered  from  sinking,  they  could  not 
[come  to  us]  ;  and  this  place  not  being  to  be  had  without  fit 
instruments  for  battering,  except  by  starving.1  And  truly  I 
believe  the  Enemy's  straits  do  increase  upon  them  very  fast, 
and  that  within  a  few  days  an  end  will  be  put  to  this  business ; 
—  which  surely  might  have  been  before,  if  we  had  received 
things  wherewith  to  have  done  it.  But  it  will  be  done  in  the 
best  time.* 

"  I  rejoice  much  to  hear  of  the  blessing  of  God  upon  your 
Excellency's  endeavors.  I  pray  God  that  this  Nation,  and 
those  that  are  over  us,  and  your  Excellency  and  all  we  that 
are  under  you,  [may  discern]  what  the  mind  of  God  may  be 
in  all  this,  and  what  our  duty  is.  Surely  it  is  not  that  the 
poor  Godly  People  of  this  Kingdom  should  still  be  made  the 
object  of  wrath  and  anger;  nor  that  our  God  would  have  our 
necks  under  a  yoke  of  bondage.  For  these  things  that  have 
l:iti-ly  como  to  pass  have  boon  the  wonderful  works  of  God; 
breaking  the  rod  of  the  oppressor,  as  in  the  day  of  Midian,  — 
not  with  garments  much  rolled  in  blood,  but  by  the  terror  of 

1  "  Without  either  fit  inotrumont*  for  battering  except  by  starving."  Great 
haute,  and  c..n-.i.l.T.il.lo  Htnmbling  in  tho  grammar  of  this  last  sentence! 
Aft.  r  "  jitarving,"  a  men-  comma;  and  toon. 

*  God'*  time  is  the  best. 


820  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIJ-  WAR.  28  June, 

the  Lord;  who  will  yet  save  His  people  and  confound  His 
enemies,  as  on  that  day.  The  Lord  multiply  His  (Trace  upon 
you,  and  bless  you,  and  keep  your  heart  upright ;  and  then, 
though  you  be  not  conformable  to  the  men  of  this  world  noff 
to  their  wisdom,  yet  you  shall  be  precious  in  the  eyes  of  God, 
and  He  will  be  to  you  a  horn  and  a  shield. 

"  My  Lord,  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  had  a  Letter  fron» 
any  of  your  Army,  of  the  glorious  successes  God  has  vouch 
safed  you.  I  pray  pardon  the  complaint  made.  I  long  to  [be] 
with  you.  I  take  leave ;  and  rest,  my  Lord, 

"  Your  most  humble  and  faithful  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  [P.S.]  Sir,  I  desire  you  that  Colonel  Lehunt  may  have  a 
Commission  to  command  a  Troop  of  Horse,  the  greatest  part 
whereof  came  from  the  Enemy  to  us  ;  and  that  you  would  be 
pleased  to  send  blank  Commissions  for  his  inferior  officers,  — 
with  what  speed  may  be."  l 

In  Rushworth,  under  date  March  24th,  is  announced  that 
"  Sir  W.  Constable  has  taken  care  to  send  ordnance  and  am- 
munition from  Gloucester,  for  the  service  before  Pembroke."  ? 
"  The  unhappy  accident  at  Berkley,"  I  believe,  is  the  stranding 
of  the  "  Frigate,"  or  Shallop,  that  carried  them.  Guns  are  not 
to  be  had  of  due  quality  for  battering  Pembroke.  In  the  mean 
time,  several  bodies  of  "  horse  "  are  mentioned  as  deserting,  or 
taking  quarter  and  service  on  the  Parliament  side.3  It  is  over 
these  that  Lehunt  is  to  be  appointed  Colonel ;  and  to  Fairfax 
as  General-in-chief  "of  all  the  Parliament's  'Forces  raised  or  to 
be  raised,"  it  belongs  to  give  him  and  his  subordinates  the  due 
commissions. 

July  5th.  Young  Villiers  Duke  of  Buckingham,  son  of  the 
assassinated  Duke ;  he  with  his  Brother  Francis,  with  the  Earl 
of  Holland,  and  others  who  will  pay  dear  for  it,  started  up 
about  Kingston-on-Thames  with  another  open  Insurrectionary 
Armament ;  guided  chiefly  by  Dutch  Dalbier,  once  Cromwell's 

1  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  f.  90.  a  vii.  1036. 

8  Rushworth,  Cromwelliana. 


1048. 


LETTER  LXI.    PEMBROKE.  821 


instructor,  but  now  gone  over  to  the  other  side.  Fairfax  and 
the  Army  being  all  about  Colchester  in  busy  Siege,  there 
seemed  a  good  opportunity  here.  They  rode  towards  Reigate, 
these  Kingston  Insurgents,  several  hundreds  strong :  but  a 
Parliament  Party  '•'  under  Major  Gibbons  "  drives  them  back ; 
tbllowing  close,  comes  to  action  with  them  between  "  Nonsuch 
Park  and  Kingston,"  where  the  poor  Lord  Francis,  Brother  of 
the  Duke,  fell  mortally  wounded;  —  drives  them  across  the 
river  "  into  Hertfordshire ;  "  into  the  lion's  jaws.  For  Fairfax 
sent  a  Party  out  from  Colchester ;  overtook  them  at  St.  Neot's  j 
and  captured,  killed,  or  entirely  dissipated  them.1  Dutch 
Dalbier  was  hacked  in  pieces,  "  so  angry  were  the  soldiers  at 
him."  The  Earl  of  Holland  stood  his  trial  afterwards ;  and 
lost  his  head.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  got  off;  —  might 
almost  as  well  have  died  with  poor  Brother  Francis  here,  for 
an}r  good  he  afterwards  did.  Two  pretty  youths,  as  their  Van- 
dyke Portraits  in  Hampton  Court  still  testify  ;  one  of  whom 
lived  to  become  much  uglier! 

July  8th.  Duke  Hamilton,  with  the  actual  Scotch  Army,  is 
"  at  Annan  "  on  the  Western  Border,  ready  to  step  across  to 
England.  Not  quite  forty  thousand ;  yet  really  about  half 
that  number,  tolerably  effective.  Langdale,  with  a  vanguard 
of  three  thousand  Yorkshire  men,  is  to  be  guide ;  Monro,  with 
a  body  of  horse  that  had  long  served  in  Ulster,  is  to  bring  up 
the  rear.  The  great  Duke  dates  from  Annan,  8th  July,  1648.' 
Poor  old  Annan ;  —  never  saw  such  an  Army  gathered,  since 
the  Scotch  James  went  to  wreck  in  Solway  Moss,  above  a 
hundred  years  ago!8  Scotland  is  in  a  disastrous,  distracted 
condition ;  overridden  by  a  Hamilton  majority  in  Parliament. 
Poor  Scotland  will,  with  exertion,  deliver  its  "  King  from  the 
power  of  Sectaries ; "  and  is  dreadfully  uncertain  what  it  will 
do  witli  him  when  delivered !  Perhaps  Oliver  will  save  it  the 
trouU*-. 

July  11th.  Oliver  at  last  is  loose  from  Pembroke;  as  the 
following  brief  Letter  will  witness. 

»  Rnnhworth.  vii.  1178.  1182.  *  Ibid.  Til.  1184. 

•  .him.*  V.  A  i.   1542. 
vot    xvn  21 


322  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL   WAR. 


LETTER  LXII. 

"  To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons :  These. 

"[PEMBROKE,]  llth  July,  1648 

"SiR, —  The  Town  and  Castle  of  Pembroke  were  surren- 
dered to  me  this  day,  being  the  Eleventh  of  July ;  upon  the 
Propositions  which  I  send  you  here  enclosed.1  What  Arms, 
Ammunition,  Victual,  Ordnance  or  other  Necessaries  of  War 
are  in  [the], Town  I  have  not  to  certify  you,  —  the  Commis- 
sioners I  sent  in  to  receive  the  same  not  being  yet  returned, 
nor  like  suddenly  to  be ;  and  I  was  unwilling  to  defer  the 
giving  you  an  account  of  this  mercy  for  a  day. 

"  The  Persons  Excepted  are  such  as  have  formerly  served 
you  in  a  very  good  Cause ;  but,  being  now  apostatized,  I  did 
rather  make  election  of  them  than  of  those  who  had  always 
been  for  the  King ;  —  judging  their  iniquity  double  ;  because 
they  have  sinned  against  so  much  light,  and  against  so  many 
evidences  of  Divine  Providence  going  along  with  and  prosper- 
ing a  just  Cause,  in  the  management  of  which  they  themselves 
had  a  share.  I  rest, 

"Your  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL.'"* 

Drunken  Colonel  Poyer,  Major-General  Laughern  and  cer- 
tain others,  "  persons  excepted,"  have  had  to  surrender  at 
mercy ;  a  great  many  more  on  terms  :  Pembroke  happily  is 
down ;  —  and  the  Welsh  War  is  ended.8  Cromwell  hurries 
northward :  by  Gloucester,  Warwick ;  gets  "  3,000  pairs  of 
shoes  "  at  Leicester ;  leaves  his  prisoners  at  Nottingham  (with 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  Colonel,  in  the  Castle  there) ;  joins 

1  Given  in  Knshworth,  vii.  1190. 

2  Copy  in  Tanner  MSS.  Ixii.  159  :  printed  correctly  in  Grey  on  the  Third 
Volume  of  Neal's  Puritans  (Appendix,  p.  129),  from  another  source. 

8  Order,  "  12th  July,  1648"  (the  day  after  Pembroke),  for  demolishing  the 
Castle  of  Haverfordweet :  in  Appendix,  No.  11. 


1048.         LETTERS  LXTIT.-LXVI.    PRESTON  BATTLE.     323 

Lambert  among  the  hills  of  Yorkshire,1  where  his  presence  is 
much  needed  now. 

July  21th.  In  these  tumultuous  months  the  Fleet  too,  as  we 
heard  at  Pembroke  once,3  has  partially  revolted ;  "  set  Colonel 
Admiral  Rainsborough  ashore,"  in  the  end  of  May  last.  The 
Earl  of  Warwick,  hastily  sent  thither,  has  brought  part  of  it 
to  order  again ;  other  part  of  it  has  fled  to  Holland,  to  the 
Young  Prince  of  Wales.  The  Young  Prince  goes  hopefully 
on  board,  steers  for  the  coast  of  England ;  emits  his  summons 
and  manifesto  from  Yarmouth  roads,  on  the  27th  of  this 
month.  Getting  nothing  at  Yarmouth,  he  appears  next  week 
in  the  Downs  ;  orders  London  to  join  him,  or  at  least  to  lend 
him  £20,000.s 

It  all  depends  on  Hamilton  and  Cromwell  now.  His  Maj- 
esty from  Carisbrook  Castle,  the  revolted  Mariners,  the  Lon- 
don Presbyterians,  the  Besieged  in  Colchester,  and  all  men, 
are  waiting  anxiously  what  they  Two  now  will  make  of  it 
when  they  meet. 


LETTERS  LXni.-LXVL 

PRESTON    BATTLE. 

THK  Battle  of  Preston  or  Battle-and-Rout  of  Preston  lasts 
three  days ;  and  extends  over  many  miles  of  wet  Lancashire 
country,  —  from  "  Langridge  Chapel  a  little  on  the  east  of 
toil,"  southward  to  Warrington  Bridge,  and  northward 
also  as  far  as  you  like  to  follow.     A  wide-spread,  most  con- 
fused transaction;  the  essence  of  which  is,  That  Cromwell, 
uding  the  valley  of  the  Ribble,  with  a  much  smaller  but 
prompt  and  compact  force,  finds  Hamilton  flowing  southward 
at  Preston  in  very  loose  order;  dashes  in  upon  him,  cuts  him 

1  At  Barnanl  Pastlo.  on  the  27th  Jnly, "  his  horse  "  joined  (Rnshworth,  TU. 
121 1 ) ;  he  himself  uut  till  a  fortnight  after,  at  Wetherby  farther  south. 

J  Autoa,  p.  313. 

•  Rn«liw,,rth,  vii. ;  29th  May,  p.  1131 ;  8th  Jane,  llth  June,  pp.  1145, 1151 ; 
27th  July,  pp.  1207,  1215,  &C. 


324  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  August, 

in  two,  drives  him  north  and  south,  into  as  miserable  ruiii  as 
his  worst  enemy  could  wish. 

1  There  are  four  accounts  of  this  Affair  by  eye-witnesses,  still 
accessible :  Cromwell's  account  in  these  Two  Letters ;  a  Captain 
Hodgson's  rough  brief  recollections  written  afterwards;  and 
on  the  other  side,  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale's  Letter  in  vindi- 
cation of  his  conduct  there ;  and  lastly  the  deliberate  Narra- 
tive of  Sir  James  Turner  ("  alias  Dugald  Dalgetty,"  say  some). 
As  the  Affair  was  so  momentous,  one  of  the  most  critical  in  all 
these  Wars,  and  as  the  details  of  it  are  still  so  accessible,  we 
will  illustrate  Cromwell's  own  account  by  some  excerpts  from 
the  others.  Combining  all  which,  and  considering  well,  some 
image  of  this  rude  old  tragedy  and  triumph  may  rise  upon  the 
reader. 

Captain  Hodgson,  an  honest-hearted,  pudding-headed  York- 
shire Puritan,  now  with  Lambert  in  the  Hill  Country,  hover- 
ing on  the  left  flank  of  Hamilton  and  his  Scots,  saw  Cromwell's 
face  at  Bipon,  much  .to  the  Captain's  satisfaction.  "  The 
Scots,"  says  he,  "  marched  towards  Kendal ;  we  towards  Kipon, 
where  Oliver  met  us  with  horse  and  foot.  We  were  then 
between  eight  and  nine  thousand  :  a  fine  smart  Army,  fit  for 
action.  We  marched  up  to  Skipton ;  the  Forlorn  of  the  Enemy's 
horse,"  Sir  Marmaduke's,  "  was  come  to  Gargrave ;  having  made 
havoc  of  the  country,  —  it  seems,  intending  never  to  come  there 
again."  "  Stout  Henry  Cromwell,"  he  gave  them  a  check  at 
Gargrave  ; *  —  and  better  still  is  coming. 

Here,  however,  let  us  introduce  Sir  James  Turner,  a  stout 
pedant  and  soldier-of-fortune,  original  Dugald  Dalgetty  of  the 
Novels,  who  is  now  marching  with  the  Scots,  and  happily  has 
a  turn  for  taking  Notes.  The  reader  will  then  have  a  certain 
ubiquity,  and  approach  Preston  on  both  sides.  Of  the  Scotch 
Officers,  we  may  remark,  Middleton  and  the  Earl  of  Calendar 
have  already  fought  in  England  for  the  Parliament :  Baillie, 
once  beaten  by  Montrose,  has  been  in  many  wars,  foreign  and 

1  Hodgson's  Memoirs  (with  Slingsby's  Memoirs,  Edinburgh,  1808;  a  dull 
authentic.  Book,  left  full  of  blunders,  of  darkness  natural  and  adscititious,  b)- 
the  Editor),  pp.  114,  115. 


1648.       LETTERS  LXIII.-LXVI.    PRESTON   BATTLE.        325 

domestic ;  he  is  left-hand  cousin  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Robert, 
who  heard  the  Apprentices  in  Palace-yard  bellowing  "  Justice 
on  Strafford ! "  long  since,  in  a  loud  and  hideous  manner. 
Neither  of  the  Lesleys  is  here,  on  this  occasion ;  they  abide 
at  home  with  the  oppressed  minority.  The  Duke,  it  will  be 
seen,  marches  in  extremely  loose  order ;  vanguard  and  rear- 
guard very  far  apart,  —  and  a  Cromwell  attending  him  ou 
Hank ! 

"  At  Hornby,"  says  the  learned  Sir  James  alias  Dugald,  "  a 
day's  march  beyond  Kendal,  it  was  advised,  Whether  we  should 
march  to  Lancashire,  Cheshire,  and  the  Western  Counties  ;  or 
if  we  should  go  into  Yorkshire,  and  so  put  ourselves  in  the 
straight  road  to  London,  with  a  resolution  to  fight  all  who 
would  oppose  us  ?  Calendar  was  indifferent ;  Middleton  was 
for  Yorkshire ;  Baillie  for  Lancashire.  When  my  opinion  was 
asked,  I  was  for  Yorkshire ;  and  for  this  reason  only,  That  I 
understood  Lancashire  was  a  close  country,  full  of  ditches  and 
In-d^es  ;  which  was  a  great  advantage  the  English  would  have 
over  our  raw  and  undisciplined  musketeers  ;  the  Parliament's 
army  consisting  of  disciplined  and  well-trained  soldiers,  and 
excellent  firemen ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  Yorkshire  was 
a  more  open  country  and  full  of  heaths,  where  we  might  both 
make  use  of  our  horse,  and  come  sooner  to  push  of  pike  "  with 
our  foot  "  My  Lord  Duke  was  for  Lancashire  way ;  and  it 
seems  he  had  hopes  that  some  forces  would  join  with  him  in 
his  march  that  way.  I  have  indeed  heard  him  say,  that  he 
thought  Manchester  his  own  if  he  came  near  it.  Whatever 
the  matter  was,  I  never  saw  him  tenacious  in  anything  during 
the  time  of  his  command  but  in  that.  We  chose  to  go  that 
way,  which  led  us  to  our  ruin. 

"Our  march  was  much  retarded  by  most  rainy  and  tempes- 
tuous weather,  tin-  elements  fighting  against  us ;  and  by  staying 
for  country  horses  to  carry  our  little  ammunition.  The  van- 
guard is  constantly  given  to  Sir  Marmaduke,  upon  condition 
that  he  should  constantly  furnish  guides;  pioneers  for  clearing 
the  ways;  and,  which  was  more  than  both  these,  have  good 
;unl  certain  intelligence  of  all  the  Enemy's  motions.  But 
u  li.-tl.i-r  it  was  by  our  fault  or  his  neglect,  want  of  intelligence 


326  PART  IV.    SECOND   CTVTL  WAR.  August, 

helped  to  ruin  us ;  for,"  —  in  fact  we  were  marching  in  ex- 
tremely loose  order ;  left  hand  not  aware  what  the  right  was 
doing ;  van  and  rear  some  twenty  or  thirty  miles  apart ;  —  far 
too  loose  for  men  that  had  a  Cromwell  on  their  flank  ! 

On  the  night  of  Wednesday,  16th  August,  1648,  my  Lord 
Duke  has  got  to  Preston  with  the  main  body  of  his  foot;  his 
horse  lying  very  wide,  —  ahead  of  him  at  Wigan,  arear  of 
him,  one  knows  not  where,  he  himself  hardly  knows  where 
Sir  Marmaduke  guards  him  on  the  left,  "on  Preston  Moor, 
about  Langridge  Chapel,"  some  four  miles  up  the  Kibble,  — 
and  knows  not,  in  the  least,  what  storm  is  coming.  For 
Cromwell,  this  same  night,  has  got  across  the  hills  to  Clitheroe 
and  farther;  this  same  Wednesday  night  he  lies  "at  Stony- 
hurst,"  where  now  the  College  of  Stony  hurst  is,  —  "a  Papist's 
house,  one  Sherburn's ; "  and  to-morrow  morning  there  will 
be  news  of  Cromwell. 

"That  night,"  says  Hodgson,  "we  pitched  our  camp  at  Stan- 
yares  Hall,  a  Papist's  house,  one  Sherburn's ;  and  the  next 
morning  a  Forlorn  of  horse  and  foot  was  drawn  out.  And 
at  Langridge  Chapel  our  horse  "  came  upon  Sir  Marmaduke  ; 
"drawn  up  very  formidably.  One  Major  Poundall  [Pownel, 
you  pudding-head !]  and  myself  commanded  the  Forlorn  of 
foot.  And  here  being  drawn  up  by  the  Moorside  (a  mere 
scantling  of  us,  as  yet,  not  half  the  number  we  should  have 
been),  the  General"  Cromwell  "comes  to  us,  orders  us  To 
march.  We  not  having  half  of  our  men  come  up,  desired  a 
little  patience ;  he  gives  out  the  word, '  March  ! ' "  —  not  having 
any  patience,  he,  at  this  moment !  And  so  the  Battle  of  Pres- 
ton, the  first  day  of  it,  is  begun.  Here  is  the  General's  own 
Report  of  the  business  at  night.  Poor  Langdale  did  not  know 
at  first,  and  poor  Hamilton  did  not  know  all  day,  that  it  was 
Cromwell  who  was  now  upon  them.1  Sir  Marmaduke  com- 
plains bitterly  that  he  was  not  supported ;  that  they  did  not 
even  send  him  powder,  —  marched  away  the  body  of  their 
force  as  if  this  matter  had  been  nothing ;  "  merely  some  flying 
party,  Ashton  and  the  Lancashire  Presbyterians."  Cromwell 
writes  in  haste,  late  at  night. 

1  Sir  Marmaduke's  Letter. 


164*.  LETTER  LXIII.    PRESTON   BATTLE.  327 

LETTER  LXIII. 

"  For  the  Honorable  Committee  of  Lancashire  sitting  at 
Manchester. 

(u  /  desire  the  Commander  of  the  Forces  there  to  open  this  Let- 
ter, if  U  come  not  to  their  hands.) 

"[PRESTON,]  I7th  August,  1648. 

"GENTLEMEN,  — It  hath  pleased  God,  this  day,  to  show  His 
great  power  by  making  the  Army  successful  against  the  com- 
mon Enemy. 

"  We  lay  last  night  at  Mr.  Sherburn's  of  Stonyhurst,  nine 
miles  from  Preston,  which  was  within  three  miles  of  the  Scots 
quarters.  We  advanced  betimes  next  morning  towards  Pres- 
ton, with  a  desire  to  engage  the  Enemy  ;  and  by  that  time  our 
Forlorn  had  engaged  the  Enemy,  we  were  about  four  miles 
from  Preston,  and  thereupon  we  advanced  with  the  whole 
Army :  and  the  Enemy  being  drawn. out  on  a  Moor  betwixt  us 
and  the  Town,  the  Armies  on  both  sides  engaged ;  and  after 
a  very  sharp  dispute,  continuing  for  three  or  four  hours,  it 
|ilr,isrcl  God  to  enable  us  to  give  them  a  defeat;  which  I 
huj«?  we  shall  improve,  by  God's  assistance,  to  their  utter 
ruin :  and  in  this  service  your  countrymen  have  not  the  least1 
share. 

u  We  cannot  be  particular,  having  not  time  to  take  account 
of  the  slain  and  prisoners ;  but  we  can  assure  you  we  have 
in.iiiy  prisoners,  and  many  of  those  of  quality;  and  many 
slain;  and  the  Army  so  dissipated  [as  I  say].  Tin-  principal 
part  whereof,  with  Duke  Hamilton,  is  on  south  side  Kibble  and 
J);ir\vcii  Bridge,  and  we  lying  with  the  greatest  part  of  the 
Army  close  to  them  ;  nothing  hindering  the  ruin  of  that  part 
of  the  Enemy's  Army  but  tho  night.  It  shall  be  our  care  that 
they  shall  not  pass  over  any  ford  beneath  the  Bridge,*  to  go 
Northward,  or  to  come  betwixt  us  and  Whalley. 

"We  understand  Colonel-General  Ashton's  are  at  Whalley; 

1  meant)  "  tin-  n<>r  1< 

*  There  U  buch  a  ford,  ri'lablu  if  lido  aud  rain  permit 


328  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  17  Aug. 

we  have  seven  troops  of  horse  or  dragoons  that  we  believe  lie 
at  Clitheroe.  This  uight  I  have  sent  order  to  them  expressly 
to  march  to  Whalley,  to  join  to  those  companies  ;  that  so  we 
may  endeavor  the  ruin  of  this  Enemy.  You  perceive  by  this 
Letter  how  things  stand.  By  this  means  the  Enemy  is  broken : 
and  most  of  their  horse  having  gone  Northwards,  and  we  hav- 
ing sent  a  considerable  party  at  the  very  heel  of  them ;  and 
the  Enemy  having  lost  almost  all  his  ammunition,  and  near 
four  thousand  arms,  so  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  Foot  are 
naked ;  —  therefore,  in  order  to  perfecting  this  work,  we  de- 
sire you  to  raise  your  County ;  and  to  improve  your  forces  to 
the  total  ruin  of  that  Enemy,  which  way  soever  they  go  ;  and 
if1  you  shall  accordingly  do  your  part,  doubt  not  of  their 
total  ruin. 

"  We  thought  fit  to  speed  this  to  you ;  to  the  end  you  may 
not  be  troubled  if  they  shall  march  towards  you,  but  improve 
your  interest  as  aforesaid,  that  you  may  give  glory  to  God  for 
this  unspeakable  mercy.     This  is  all  at  present  from, 
"  Your  very  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

Commons  Journals,  Monday,  21°  Augusti,  1648 :  "  The  Copy 
of  a  Letter  from  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell,  from  Preston, 
of  17°  Augusti,  1648,  to  the  Committee  of  Lancashire  sitting 
at  Manchester,  enclosed  in  a  Letter  from  a  Member  of  this 
House  from  Manchester,  of  19°  Augusti,  1648,  were  this  day 
read.  Ordered,  That  it  be  referred  to  the  Committee  at  Derby 
House  to  send  away  a  copy  of  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell's 
Letter  to  the  General "  Fairfax,  "  and  to  the  Lord  Admiral " 
Warwick,  to  encourage  them  in  their  part  of  the  work.  —  The 
enclosing  "  Letter  from  the  Member  of  this  House  at  Manches- 

1  "  that "  in  the  Original.  —  The  punctuation  and  grammar  of  these  sen- 
tences might  have  been  improved ;  but  their  breathless  impetuosity,  direct- 
ness, sincere  singleness  of  purpose,  intent  on  the  despatch  of  business  only, 
would  have  been  obscured  in  the  process. 

2  Lancashire  during  the  Civil  War  (a  Collection   of  Tracts  republished  by 
the  Chetham  Society,  Manchester,  1844),  p.  257.   The  letter  is  in  many  old 
Pamphlets   of  the  time.     Langdale's  Letter  is  also  given  in  this  Chetham 
Book,  p.  267. 


IMS.  LETTER  LXIV.    PRESTON    BATTLE.  329 

ter,"  short  and  insignificant,  about  "  dispensations,"  "  provi- 
dences," &c.  is  also  given  in  the  old  Pamphlets,  and  in  this 
Chetham  Book  now  before  us.  He  signs  himself  "  W.  L. ; " 
probably  William  Langton,  the  new  Member  for  Preston. 


LETTER  LXIV. 

CROMWELL,  on  this  Thursday  Night,  does  not  yet  know  all 
the  havoc  he  has  made.  Listen  to  stout  Sir  James  from  the 
other  side ;  and  pity  poor  men  embarked  in  a  hollow  Cause, 
with  a  Duke  of  Hamilton  for  General. 

"  Beside  Preston  in  Lancashire,"  says  the  stout  Knight, 
"  Cromwell  falls  on  Sir  Marmaduke's  flank.  The  English  " 
of  Sir  Marmaduke  "imagined  it  was  one  Colonel  Ashton,  a 
powerful  Presbyterian,  who  had  got  together  3,000  men  to 
oppose  us,  because  we  came  out  of  Scotland  without  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly's  permission.  Mark  the  quarrel.  While  Sir 
Marmaduke  disputes  the  matter,  Baillie,  by  the  Duke's  order, 
marches  to  Ribble  Bridge,  and  passes  it  with  all  the  foot  ex- 
cept two  brigades."  Never  dreaming  that  Cromwell  is  upon 
us  !  "  This  was  two  miles  from  Preston.  By  my  Lord  Duke's 
command,  I  had  sent  some  ammunition  and  commanded-men 
to  Sir  Marmaduke's  assistance :  but  to  no  purpose  ;  for  Crom- 
well prevailed;  so  that  our  English  first  retired,  and  then 
fled.  It  must  be  remembered  that,  the  night  before  this  sad 
encounter,  Earl  Calendar  and  Middleton  were  gone  to  Wigan, 
eight  miles  from  thence,  with  a  considerable  part  of  the  cav- 
alry. Calendar  was  come  back,  and  was  with  the  Duke," 
while  the  action  took  place ;  "  and  so  was  I :  but  upon  the 
rout  of  Sir  Marmaduke's  people,  Calendar  got  away  to  Rib- 
ble, where  he  arrived  safely  by  a  miracle,  as  I  think ;  for  the 
Enemy  was  between  the  Bridge  and  us,  and  had  killed  or 
taken  most  part  of  our  two  brigades  of  foot,"  which  was  all 
that  Baillie  had  left  here. 

The  Duke  with  his  guard  of  horse,  Sir  Marmaduke  with 
many  officers,  among  others  myself,  got  into  Preston  Town ; 


330  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL  WAK.  August, 

with  intention  to  pass  a  ford  below  it,  though  at  that  lime  not 
ridable.  At  the  entry  of  the  Town,  the  enemy  pursued  us 
hard.  The  Duke  faced  about,  and  put  two  troops  of  them  to 
a  retreat ;  but  so  soon  as  we  turned  from  them,  they  again 
turned  upon  us.  The  Duke  facing  the  second  time,  charged 
them,  which  succeeded  well.  Being  pursued  the  third  time, 
my  Lord  Duke  cried  To  charge  once  more  for  King  Charles ! 
One  trooper  refusing,  he  beat  him  with  his  sword.  At  that 
charge  we  put  the  enemy  so  far  behind  us,  that  he  could  not 
so  soon  overtake  us  again.  Then  Sir  Marmaduke  and  I  en- 
treated the  Duke  to  hasten  to  his  Army  :  —  and  truly  here  he 
showed  as  much  personal  valor  as  any  man  could  be  capable 
of.  We  swam  the  Kibble  River :  and  so  got  to  the  place 
where  Lieutenant-General  Baillie  had  advantageously  lodged 
the  foot,  on  the  top  of  a  Hill,  among  very  fencible  enclo- 
sures. 

"  After  Calendar  came  to  the  infantry,  he  had  sent  600  mus- 
keteers to  defend  Ribble  Bridge.  Very  unadvisedly ;  for  the 
way  Cromwell  had  to  it  was  a  descent  from  a  hill  that  com- 
manded all  the  champaign  ;  which  was  about  an  English 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  length  between  the  Bridge  and  that  Hill 
where  our  foot  were  lodged.  So  that  our  musketeers,  having 
no  shelter,  were  forced  to  receive  all  the  musket-shot  of 
Cromwell's  infantry,  which  was  secure  within  thick  hedges  ; 
and  after  the  loss  of  many  men,  were  forced  to  run  back  to 
our  foot.  Here  Claud  Hamilton,  the  Duke 's  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  had  his  arm  broke  with  a  musket-bullet. 

"  The  Bridge  of  Eibble  being  lost,  the  Duke  called  all  the 
Colonels  together  on  horseback  to  advise  what  was  next  to  be 
done.  We  had  no  choice  but  one  of  two  :  Either  stay,  and 
maintain  our  ground  till  Middleton  (who  was  sent  for)  came 
back  with  his  cavalry ;  Or  else  march  away  that  night,  and 
find  him  out.  Calendar  would  needs  speak  first ;  whereas  by 
the  custom  of  war  he  should  have  told  his  opinion  last,  —  and 
it  was,  To  inarch  away  that  night  so  soon  as  it  was  dark. 
This  was  seconded  by  all  the  rest,  except  by  Lieut.-General 
Baillie  and  myself.  But  all  the  arguments  we  used,  —  as,  the 
impossibility  of  a  safe  retreat  from  an  enemy  so  powerful  of 


1648.  LETTER  LX1V.    PREsiUN   BATTLE.  331 

lior.se ;  in  so  very  foul  weather,  and  extremely  deep  ways ;  our 
soldiers  exceedingly  wet,  weary  and  hungry  ;  the  inevitable 
loss  of  all  our  ammunition,  —  could  not  move  my  Lord  Duke 
by  his  authority  to  contradict  the  shameful  resolution  taken 
by  the  major  part  of  his  officers. 

"After  that  drumless  march  was  resolved  upon,  and  but  few 
horse  appointed  to  stay  in  rear  of  the  foot,  I  inquired,  What 
should  become  of  our  unfortunate  Ammunition,  since  forward 
with  us  we  could  not  get  it  ?  It  was  not  thought  fit  to  blow 
it  up  that  night,  lest  thereby  the  Enemy  should  know  of  our 
retreat,  or  rather  flight.  I  was  of  that  opinion  too ;  but  for 
another  reason  :  for  we  could  not  have  blown  it  up  then  with- 
out a  visible  mischief  to  ourselves,  being  so  near  it.  It  was 
ordered  it  should  be  done,  three  hours  after  our  departure,  by 
a  train :  but  that  being  neglected,  Cromwell  got  it  all. 

"  Next  morning  we  appeared  at  Wigan  Moor ;  half  our  num- 
ber less  than  we  were ;  —  most  of  the  faint  and  weary  soldiers 
having  lagged  behind ;  whom  we  never  saw  again.  Lieutenant- 
General  Middleton  had  missed  us,"  such  excellent  order  was  in 
this  Army ;  "  for  he  came  by  another  way  to  Kibble  Bridge.  It 
was  to  be  wished  he  had  still  stayed  with  us  !  He,  not  finding 
us  there,  followed  our  track :  but  was  himself  hotly  pursued 
by  Cromwell's  horse  ;  with  whom  he  skirmished  the  whole 
way  till  he  came  within  a  mile  of  us.  He  lost  some  men,  and 
several  were  hurt,  among  others  Colonel  Urrey  l  got  a  danger- 
ous shot  on  the  left  side  of  his  head;  whereof,  though  he  was 
afterwards  taken  prisoner,  he  recovered.  In  this  retreat  of 
Middleton's,  which  he  managed  well,  Cromwell  lost  one  of  the 
gallantest  officers  he  had,  Major  Thoruhaugh;  who  was  run 
into  the  l>iv:u-.t  with  a  lance,  whereof  he  died. 

•  After  Lieutenant-General  Middleton's  coining,  we  began  to 
think  of  fighting  in  that  Moor :  but  that  was  found  impossible, 
—  in  regard  it  was  nothing  large,  and  was  environed  with  en- 
closures which  commanded  it,  and  these  wo  could  not  maintain 
long,  for  want  of  that  ammunition  we  had  left  Ixjhind  us. 
An. I  therefore  we  marched  forward  with  intention  to  gain 
Warrington,  ten  miles  from  the  Moor  we  were  in;  and  there 

1  Sir  Juiui  Hurry,  th«  famous  Turncoat,  of  whom  afterwards. 


332  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  Augmt, 

we  conceived  we  might  faee  about,  having  the  command  of  a 
Town,  a  River,  and  a  Bridge.  Yet  I  conceive  there  were  but 
few  of  us  could  have  foreseen  we  might  be  beaten  before  we 
were  masters  of  any  of  them. 

"  It  was  towards  evening  and  in  the  latter  end  of  August," 
Friday,  18th  of  the  month,  "  when  our  horse  began  to  march. 
Some  regiments  of  them  were  left  with  the  rear  of  the  foot : 
Middleton  stayed  with  these;  my  Lord  Duke  and  Calendar 
were  before.  —  As  I  marched  with  the  last  brigade  of  foot 
through  the  Town  of  Wigan,  I  was  alarmed,  That  our  horse 
behind  me  were  beaten,  and  running  several  ways,  and  that 
the  enemy  was  in  my  rear.  I  faced  about  with  that  brigade  ; 
and  in  the  Market-place  serried  the  pikes  together,  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  to  entertain  any  that  might  charge :  and  sent 
orders  to  the  rest  of  the  brigades  before,  To  continue  their 
march,  and  follow  Lieutenant-General  Baillie  who  was  before 
them.  It  was  then  night,  but  the  moon  shone  bright.  A 
regiment  of  horse  of  our  own  appeared  first,  riding  very  dis- 
orderly. I  got  them  to  stop,  till  I  commanded  my  pikes  to 
open,  and  give  way  for  them  to  ride  or  run  away,  since  they 
would  not  stay.  But  now  my  pikemen,  being  demented  (as  I 
think  we  were  all),  would  not  hear  me :  and  two  of  them  ran 
full  tilt  at  me,"  —  poor  Dalgetty !  "  One  of  their  pikes,  which 
was  intended  for  my  belly,  I  griped  with  my  left  hand  ;  the 
other  ran  me  nearly  two  inches  into  the  inner  side  of  my  right 
thigh ;  all  of  them  crying,  of  me  and  those  horse,  '  They  are 
Cromwell's  men ! '  This  was  an  unseasonable  wound ;  for  it 
made  me,  after  that  night,  unserviceable.  This  made  me 
forget  all  rules  of  modesty,  prudence  and  discretion,"  —  my 
choler  being  up,  and  my  blood  flowing  !  "  I  rode  to  the  horse, 
and  desired  them  to  charge  through  these  foot.  They  fearing 
the  hazard  of  the  pikes,  stood  :  I  then  made  a  cry  come  from 
behind  them,  That  the  enemy  was  upon  them.  This  encour- 
aged them  to  charge  my  foot  so  fiercely,  that  the  pikemen 
threw  down  their  pikes,  and  got  into  houses.  All  the  horse 
galloped  away,  and  as  I  was  told  afterwards,  rode  not  through 
but  over  our  whole  foot,  treading  them  down;  —  and  in  this 
confusion  Colonel  Lockhart,"  —  let  the  reader  note  that  Colo- 


iwa.  LETTER  LX1V.    I'llESTON   BATTLE.  333 

riel,  —  "was  trod  down  from  his  horse,  with  great  danger  of 
his  life. 

"  Though  the  Enemy  was  near,  yet  I  beat  drums  to  gather 
my  men  together.  Shortly  after  came  Middleton  with  some 
horse.  I  told  him  what  a  disaster  I  had  met  with,  aud  what 
a  greater  I  expected.  He  told  me  he  would  ride  before,  and 
make  the  horse  halt.  I  marched,  however,  all  that  night  till 
it  was  fair  day ;  and  then  Baillie,  who  had  rested  a  little, 
entreated  me  to  go  into  some  house  and  repose  on  a  chair ;  for 
I  had  slept  none  in  two  nights,  and  eaten  as  little.  I  alighted ; 
but  the  constant  alarms  of  the  Enemy's  approach  made  me 
resolve  to  ride  forward  to  Warrington,  which  was  but  a  mile  ; 
and  indeed  I  may  say  I  slept  all  that  way,  notwithstanding 
my  wound." 

While  the  wounded  Dalgetty  rides  forward,  let  us  borrow 
another  glimpse  from  a  different  source;1  of  bitter  struggle 
still  going  on  a  nttle  to  the  rear  of  him.  "  At  a  place  called 
Redbank,"  near  Winwick  Church,  two  miles  from  Warrington, 
"  the  Scots  made  a  stand  with  a  body  of  pikes,  and  lined  the 
hedges  with  muskets  ;  who  so  rudely  entertained  the  pursuing 
Enemy,  that  they  were  compelled  to  stop  until  the  coming  up 
of  Colonel  Pride's  regiment  of  foot,  who,  after  a  sharp  dispute, 
put  those  same  brave  fellows  to  the  run.  They  were  com- 
manded by  a  little  spark  in  a  blue  bonnet,  who  performed  the 
part  of  an  excellent  commander,  and  was  killed  on  the  spot." 
Does  any  one  know  this  little  spark  in  the  blue  bonnet  ?  No 
one.  His  very  mother  has  long  ceased  to  weep  for  him  now. 
Let  him  have  burial,  aud  a  passing  sigh  from  us !  —  Dugald 
Turner  continues  :  — 

"  I  expected  to  have  found  either  the  Duke  or  Calendar,  or 
both  of  them,  at  Warrington  :  but  I  did  not ;  and  indeed  I 
have  often  been  told  that  Calendar  carried  away  the  Duke 
with  him,  much  against  his  mind.  Here  did  the  Lieutenant- 
<  J^nt-ral  of  the  foot  meet  with  an  Order,  whereby  he  is  required 
'  To  make  as  good  conditions  for  himself  and  those  under  him 
as  he  could  ;  for  the  horse  would  not  come  back  to  him,  being 
resolved  to  preserve  themselves  for  a  better  time.'  Baillie 

1  Heath's  Chronicle,  p.  323. 


334  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  August, 

was  surprised  with  this  ;  and  looking  upon  that  action  which 
he  was  ordered  to  do,  as  full  of  dishonor,  he  lost  much  of  that 
patience  of  which  naturally  he  was  master ;  and  beseeched 
any  that  would  to  shoot  him  through  the  head,"  —  poor  Baillie  ! 
"  At  length  having  something  composed  himself,  and  being 
much  solicited  by  the  officers  that  were  by  him,  he  wrote  to 
Cromwell.  —  I  then  told  him,  That  so  long  as  there  was  a 
resolution  to  fight,  I  would  not  go  a  foot  from  him ;  but  now 
that  they  were  to  deliver  themselves  prisoners,  I  would  pre- 
serve my  liberty  as  long  as  I  could  :  aud  so  took  my  leave  of 
him,  carrying  my  wounded  thigh  away  with  me.  I  met  imme- 
diately with  Middleton ;  who  sadly  condoled  the  irrecoverable 
losses  of  the  last  two  days.  Within  two  hours  after,  Baillie 
and  all  the  officers  and  soldiers  that  were  left  of  the  foot  were 
Cromwell's  prisoners.  I  got  my  wound  dressed  that  morning 
by  my  own  surgeon ;  and  took  from  him  those  things  I  thought 
necessary  for  me ;  not  knowing  when  I  might  see  him  again ;  — 
as  indeed  I  never  saw  him  after." l 

This  was  now  the  Saturday  morning  when  Turner  rode  away, 
"carrying  his  wounded  thigh  with  him ; "  and  got  up  to  Hamil- 
ton and  the  vanguard  of  horse ;  who  rode,  aimless  or  as  good 
as  aimless  henceforth,  till  he  and  they  were  captured  at 
Uttoxeter,  or  in  the  neighborhood.  Monro  with  the  rear- 
guard of  horse,  "always  a  day's  march  behind,"  hearing  now 
what  had  befallen,  instantly  drew  bridle ;  paused  uncertain ; 
then,  in  a  marauding  manner,  rode  back  towards  their  own 
country. 

Of  which  disastrous  doings  let  us  now  read  Cromwell's  vic- 
torious account,  drawn  up  with  more  deliberation  on  the  mor- 
row after.  "This  Gentleman,"  who  brings  up  the  Letter,  is 
Major  Berry ;  "  once  a  Clerk  in  the  Shropshire  Iron-works ;  " 
now  a  very  rising  man.  "  He  had  lived  with  me,"  says  Eich- 
ard  Baxter,  "  as  guest  in  my  own  house  ; "  he  has  now  high 
destinies  before  him,  —  which  at  last  sink  lower  than  ever.2 

1  Memoirs  of  his  own  Life  and  Times,  by  Sir  James  Turner  (Edinburgh, 
1829),  pp.  63-67. 

2  Baxter's  Life,  pp.  57,  97,  58,  72. 


164d.  LETTER  LXIV.    PRESTON   BATTLE.  3B6 

"  To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons :   These. 

"  [WARRINGTON,]  20th  August,  1648. 

"  SIR,  —  I  have  sent  up  this  Gentleman  to  give  you  an  account 
of  the  great  and  good  hand  of  God  towards  you,  in  the  late 
victory  obtained  against  the  Enemy  in  these  parts. 

"  After  the  conjunction  of  that  Party  which  I  brought  with 
me  out  of  Wales  with  the  Northern  Forces  about  Knares- 
borough  and  Wetherby,  —  hearing  that  the  Enemy  was  ad- 
vanced with  their  Army  into  Lancashire,  we  marched  the 
next  day,  being  the  13th  of  this  instant  August,  to  Otley  (hav- 
ing cast  off  our  Train,  and  sent  it  to  Knaresborough,  because  of 
the  difficulty  of  marching  therewith  through  Craven,  and  to 
the  end  we  might  with  more  expedition  attend  the  Enemy's 
motion) :  and  on  the  14th  to  Skipton  ;  the  15th  to  Gisburne ; 
the  16th  to  Hodder  Bridge  over  Kibble ;  *  where  we  held  a 
council  of  war.  At  which  we  had  in  consideration,  Whether 
we  should  march  to  Whalley  that  night,  and  so  on,  to  interpose 
between  the  Enemy  and  his  farther  progress  into  Lancashire 
aixl  so  southward,  —  which  we  had  some  advertisement  the 
Kiiriiiy  intended,  and  [we  are]  since  confirmed  that  they  in- 
tended for  London  itself :  Or  whether  to  march  immediately 
over  the  said  Bridge,  there  being  no  other  betwixt  that  and 
ron,  and  there  engage  the  Enemy, — who  we  did  believe 
would  stand  his  ground,  because  we  had  information  that  the 
Irish  Forces  under  Monro  lately  come  out  of  Ireland,  which 
consisted  of  twelve  hundred  horse  and  fifteen  hundred  foot, 
were  on  their  march  towards  Lancashire  to  join  them. 

"  It  was  thought  that  to  engage  the  Enemy  to  fight  was  our 

1  <  )ver  Hodder  rather,  which  in  the  chief  tributary  of  the  Kibble  in  those 
npland  parts,  and  little  inferior  I"  the  main  stream  in  size.  Rihhle  from  tho 
Northen.*t,  Ho«ldr>r  from  the  North,  then  :i  few  miles  farther,  f'alder  from  tho 
South  :  after  which  Rihble  pursues  its  old  direction  ;  draining  an  extensive 
bill  tract  by  means  of  frequent  im-misiderable  brooks,  and  receiving  no  nota- 
)>!>•  -(ream  on  either  side  till,  far  dowu,  the  Darweu  from  the  East  and  South 
fall-*  in  near  Preaton,  and  the  united  waters,  now  a  respectabl'  River,  ru»h 
swiftly  into  the  Irish  Sea. 


336  PART  IV.    SECOND    CIVIL   WAR.  20  Ang. 

business;  and  the  reason  aforesaid  giving  us  hopes  that  our 
marching  on  the  North  side  of  Kibble  would  effect  it,  it  was 
resolved  we  should  march  over  the  Bridge ;  which  accordingly 
we  did ;  and  that  night  quartered  the  whole  Army  in  the  field 
by  Stonyhurst  Hall,  being  Mr.  Sherburn's  house,  a  place  nine 
miles  distant  from  Preston.  Very  early  the  next  morning  we 
inarched  towards  Preston :  having  intelligence  that  the  Enemy 
was  drawing  together  thereabouts  from  all  his  out-quarters,  we 
drew  out  a  Forlorn  of  about  two  hundred  horse  and  four  hun- 
dred foot,  the  horse  commanded  by  Major  Smithson,  the  foot 
by  Major  Pownel.  Our  Forlorn  of  horse  marched,  within  a 
mile  [to]  where  the  Enemy  was  drawn  up,  —  in  the  enclosed 
grounds  by  Preston,  on  that  side  next  us ;  and  there,  upon  a 
Moor,  about  half  a  mile  distant  from  the  Enemy's  Army,  met 
with  their  Scouts  and  Outguard  ;  and  did  behave  themselves 
with  that  valor  and  courage  as  made  their  Guards  (which  con 
sisted  both  of  horse  and  foot)  to  quit  their  ground ;  and  took 
divers  prisoners;  holding  this  dispute  with  them  until  our 
Forlorn  of  foot  came  up  for  their  justification  ;  and  by  these 
we  had  opportunit}7  to  bring  up  our  whole  Army. 

"  So  soon  as  our  foot  and  horse  were  come  up,  we  resolved 
that  night  to  engage  them  if  we  could ;  and  therefore,  advan- 
cing with  our  Forlorn,  and  putting  the  rest  of  our  Army  into 
as  good  a  posture  as  the  ground  would  bear  (which  was  totally 
inconvenient  for  our  horse,  being  all  enclosure  and  miry  ground), 
we  pressed  upon  them.  The  regiments  of  foot  were  ordered 
as  followeth.  There  being  a  Lane,  very  deep  and  ill,  up  to  the 
Enemy's  Army,  and  leading  to  the  Town,  we  commanded  two 
regiments  of  horse,  the  first  whereof  was  Colonel  Harrison's 
and  next  was  my  own,  to  charge  up  that  Lane ;  and  on  either 
side  of  them  advanced  the  [Main]-battle,  —  which  were  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Reade's,  Colonel  Dean's,  and  Colonel  Pride's  on 
the  right ;  Colonel  Bright's  and  my  Lord  General's  on  the  left ; 
and  Colonel  Ashton  with  the  Lancashire  regiments  in  reserve. 
We  ordered  Colonel  Thornhaugh's  and  Colonel  Twistle ton's  regi- 
ments of  horse  on  the  right ;  and  one  regiment  in  reserve  for 
the  Lane ;  and  the  remaining  horse  on  the  left :  —  so  that,  at 
last,  we  came  to  a  Hedge-dispute ;  the  greatest  of  the  impres- 


1648.  LETTER  LXIV.    PRESTON   BATTLE.  337 

sion  from  the  Enemy  being  upon  our  left  wing,  and  upon  the 
[Main] -battle  on  both  sides  the  Lane,  and  upon  our  horse  in 
the  Lane :  in  all  which  places  the  Enemy  were  forced  from 
their  ground,  after  four  hours'  dispute ;  —  until  we  came  to  the 
Town ;  into  which  four  troops  of  my  own  regiment  first  en- 
tered; and,  being  well  seconded  by  Colonel  Harrison's  regi- 
ment, charged  the  Enemy  in  the  Town,  and  cleared  the 
streets. 

"  There  came  no  band  of  your  foot  to  fight  that  day  but  did 
it  with  incredible  valor  and  resolution ;  among  which  Colonel 
Bright's,  my  Lord  General's,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Reade's  and 
Colonel  Ashton's  had  the  greatest  work ;  they  often  coming  to 
push  of  pike  and  to  close  firing,  and  always  making  the  Enemy 
to  recoil.  And  indeed  I  must  needs  say,  God  was  as  much 
seen  in  the  valor  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  these  before- 
mentioned  as  in  any  action  that  hath  been  performed;  the 
Enemy  making,  though  he  was  still  worsted,  very  stiff  and 
sturdy  resistance.  Colonel  Dean's  and  Colonel  Pride's,  out- 
winging  the  Enemy,  could  not  come  to  so  much  share  of  the 
action ;  the  Enemy  shogging 1  down  towards  the  Bridge ;  and 
keeping  almost  all  in  reserve,  that  so  he  might  bring  fresh 
liands  often  to  fight.  Which  we  not  knowing,  and  lest  we 
should  be  outwinged,  [we]  placed  those  two  regiments  to  en- 
large our  right  wing ;  this  was  the  cause  they  had  not  at  that 
time  so  great  a  share  in  that  action. 

"  At  the  last  the  Enemy  was  put  into  disorder ;  many  men 
slain,  many  prisoners  taken;  the  Duke,  with  most  of  the 
Scots  horse  and  foot,  retreated  over  the  Bridge ;  where,  — 
after  a  very  hot  dispute  betwixt  the  Lancashire  regiments, 
part  of  my  Lord  General's,  and  them,  being  often  at  push  of 
jiikf,  — they  were  beaten  from  the  Bridge  ;  and  our  horse  and 
foot,  following  them,  killed  many  and  took  divers  prisoners ; 
and  we  possessed  the  Bridge  over  Darwen  [also],  and  a  few 
houses  there ;  the  Enemy  being  driven  up  within  musket-shot 

1  Shog  is  from  the  same  root  M  shock;  "  shogging,"  a  word  of  Oliver's,  in 
•uch  ca«eii  signifies  moving  by  pukes,  intermittently.     Kibble  Bridge  lay  on 
the  Scotch  right;  Deaii  au<l  I'ride,  therefore,  who  fought  on  the  Kn^li.-u 
right,  got  gradually  leas  and  leas  to  do. 
TOL.  xvu.  22 


338  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  20  Aug. 

of  us  where  we  lay  that  night,1  —  we  not  being  able  to  attempt 
farther  upon  the  Enemy,  the  night  preventing  us.  In  this 
posture  did  the  Enemy  and  we  lie  most  part  of  that  night. 
Upon  entering  the  Town,  many  of  the  Enemy's  horse  fled 
towards  Lancaster ;  in  the  chase  of  whom  went  divers  of  our 
horse,  who  pursued  them  near  ten  miles,  and  had  execution 
of  them,  and  took  about  five  hundred  horse  and  many  pris- 
oners. We  possessed  in  this  Fight  very  much  of  the  Enemy's 
ammunition;  I  believe  they  lost  four  or  five  thousand  arms. 
The  number  of  slain  we  judge  to  be  about  a  thousand ;  the 
prisoners  we  took  were  about  four  thousand. 

"In  the  night  the  Duke  was  drawing  off  his  Army  towards 
Wigan ;  we  were  so  wearied  with  the  dispute  that  we  did  not 
so  well  attend  the  Enemy's  going  off  as  might  have  been  ;  by 
means  whereof  the  Enemy  was  gotten  at  least  three  miles  with 
his  rear  before  ours  got  to  them.  I  ordered  Colonel  Thorn- 
haugh  to  command  two  or  three  regiments  of  horse  to  follow 
the  Enemy,  if  it  were  possible  to  make  him  stand  till  we  could 
bring  up  the  Army.  The  Enemy  marched  away  seven  or  eight 
thousand  foot  and  about  four  thousand  horse ;  we  followed  him 
with  about  three  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  five  hundred 
horse  and  dragoons;  and,  in  this  prosecution,  that  worthy 
gentleman,  Colonel  Thornhaugh,  pressing  too  boldly,  was  slain, 
being  run  into  the  body  and  thigh  and  head  by  the  Enemy's 
lancers.2  And  give  me  leave  to  say,  he  was  a  man  as  faithful 
and  gallant  in  your  service  as  any ;  and  one  who  often  hereto- 
fore lost  blood  in  your  quarrel,  and  now  his  last.  He  hath 
left  some  behind  him  to  inherit  a  Father's  honor ;  and  a  sad 
Widow ;  —  both  now  the  interest  of  the  Commonwealth. 

"  Our  horse  still  prosecuted  the  Enemy  ;  killing  and  taking 
divers  all  the  way.  At  last  the  Enemy  drew  up  within  three 
miles  of  Wigan;  and  by  that  time  our  Army  was  come  up, 
they  drew  off  again,  and  recovered  Wigan  before  we  could 

1  The  Darwen  between  us  and  them. 

a  "  Knn  through  with  a  lancier  in  Chorley,  he  wanting  his  arms,"  says 
Hodgson.  For  "arma"  read  "armor,"  corselet,  &c.  This  is  the  Colonel 
Thoruhaugh  so  often  mentioned,  praised  and  mourned  for,  by  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson. 


1648.  LETTER  LXIV.    PRESTON   BATTLE.  339 

attempt  anything  upon  them.  We  lay  that  night  in  the  field 
close  by  the  Enemy  ;  being  very  dirty  and  weary,  and  having 
marched  twelve  miles  of  such  ground  as  I  never  rode  in  all  my 
life,  the  day  being  very  wet.  We  had  some  skirmishing,  that 
night,  with  the  Enemy,  near  the  Town ;  where  we  took  Gen- 
eral Van  Druske  and  a  Colonel,  and  killed  some  principal 
Officers,  and  took  about  a  hundred  prisoners ;  where  I  also 
received  a  Letter  from  Duke  Hamilton,  for  civil  usage  to- 
wards his  kinsman  Colonel  Hamilton,1  whom  he  left  wounded 
tin -re.  We  took  also  Colonel  Hurry  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Innes,  sometimes  in  your  service.  The  next  morning  the 
Enemy  marched  towards  Warrington,  and  we  at  the  heels  of 
them.  The  Town  of  Wigan,  a  great  and  poor  Town,  and 
very  Malignant,  were  plundered  almost  to  their  skins  by 
them. 

"We  could  not  engage  the  Enemy  until  we  came  within 
three  miles  of  Warrington  ;  and  there  the  Enemy  made  a 
stand,  at  a  place  near  Winwick.  We  held  them  in  some 
dispute  till  our  Army  came  up;  they  maintaining  the  Pass 
with  great  resolution  for  many  hours ;  ours  and  theirs  com- 
ing to  push  of  pike  and  very  close  charges,  —  which  forced 
us  to  give  ground;  but  our  men,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
quickly  recovered  it,  and  charging  very  home  upon  them,  beat 
them  from  their  standing ;  where  we  killed  about  a  thousand 
of  them,  and  took,  as  we  believe,  about  two  thousand  prisoners ; 
and  prosecuted  them  home  to  Warrington  Town  ;  where  they 
possessed  the  ft  ridge,  which  had  a  strong  barricado  and  a  work 
upon  it,  formerly  made  very  defensive.  As  soon  as  we  came 
thither,  I  received  a  message  from  General  ftaillie,  desir- 
ing some  capitulation.  To  which  I  yielded.  Considering  the 

1  Clauil  Hamilton  ;  «ee  Tamer,  supra.  Who  "  Van  Drnske "  is,  none 
known.  "  Colonel  Hurry  "in  the  ever-changing  Sir  John  Hurry,  soim'ti  in  cs 
railed  Urry  and  Hnrrey,  who  whisks  like  a  most  rapid  actor  of  all  work, 
on  a  new  side,  ever  charging  in  the  van,  through  this  Civil- War  Drama.  The 
notahlf-st  feat  he  ever  did  was  lending  I'rinn-  Knpcrl  mi  th.-it  marauding  party, 
from  <  Kford  to  High  Wycombe,  on  the  return  from  which  Hampden  met  his 
death  (Clarendon,  ii.  351).  Hurry  had  been  on  the  1'arli.unciit  si<lo  li»-f..rf. 
He  was  taken,  at  last,  when  Montrose  was  taken  ;  and  hanged  out  of  the  win-. 
Of  IimiM  ("  Eunis  ")  I  know  nothing  at  present. 


340  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  20  Aug. 

strength  of  the  Pass,  and  that  I  could  not  go  over  the  River 
[Mersey]  within  ten  miles  of  Warriugton  with  the  Army,  I 
gave  him  these  terms :  That  he  should  surrender  himself  and 
all  his  officers  and  soldiers  prisoners  of  war,  with  all  his  arms 
and  ammunition  and  horses,  to  me ;  I  giving  quarter  for  life, 
and  promising  civil  usage.  Which  accordingly  is  done  :  and 
the  Commissioners  deputed  by  me  have  received,  and  are  re- 
ceiving, all  the  arms  and  ammunition  ;  which  will  be,  as  they 
tell  me,  about  four  thousand  complete  arms ;  and  as  many 
prisoners:  and  thus  you  have  their  Infantry  totally  ruined. 
What  Colonels  and  Officers  are  with  General  Baillie,  I  have 
not  yet  received  the  list. 

"  The  Duke  is  marching  with  his  remaining  Horse,  which 
are  about  three  thousand,  towards  Nantwich ;  where  the  Gentle- 
men  of  the  County  have  taken  about  five  hundred  of  them  ; 
of  which  they  sent  me  word  this  day.  The  country  will 
scarce  suffer  any  of  my  men  to  pass,  except  they  have  iny 
hand-[writing] ;  telling  them,  They  are  Scots.  They  bring  in 
and  kill  divers  of  them,  as  they  light  upon  them.  Most  of 
the  Nobility  of  Scotland  are  with  the  Duke.  If  I  had  a  thou- 
sand horse  that  could  but  trot  thirty  miles,  I  should  not  doubt 
but  to  give  a  very  good  account  of  them  :  but  truly  we  are 
so  harassed  and  haggled  out  in  this  business,  that  we  are 
not  able  to  do  more  than  walk  [at]  an  easy  pace  after  them.  — 
I  have  sent  post  to  my  Lord  Grey,  to  Sir  Henry  CholraeJy 
and  Sir  Edward  Rhodes,  to  gather  all  together,  with  speed, 
for  their  prosecution ;  as  likewise  to  acquaint  the  Governor 
of  Stafford  therewith. 

"I  hear  Monro  is  about  Cumberland  with  the  horse  that 
ran  away,1  and  his  [own]  Irish  horse  and  foot,  which  are  a 
considerable  body.  I  have  left  Colonel  Ashton's  three  regi- 
ments of  foot,  with  seven  troops  of  horse  (six  of  Lancashire 
and  one  of  Cumberland),  at  Preston  ;  and  ordered  Colonel 
Scroop  with  five  troops  of  horse  and  two  troops  of  dragoons, 
[and];  with  two  regiments  of  foot  (Colonel  Lascelles's  and 
Colonel  Wastell's),  to  embody  with  them  ;  and  have  ordered 
them  to  put  their  prisoners  to  the  sword  if  the  Scots  shall 

1  Northward  from  Preston  on  the  evening  of  the  17th,  the  Battle-day. 


1648.  LETTER  LXIV.    PRESTON   BATTLE.  341 

presume  to  advance  upon  them,  because  they  cannot  bring 
them  off  with  security.1 

"Thus  you  have  a  Narrative  of  the  particulars  of  the  suc- 
cess which  God  hath  given  you  :  which  I  could  hardly  at  this 
time  have  done,  considering  the  multiplicity  of  business  ;  but 
truly,  when  I  was  once  engaged  in  it,  I  could  hardly  tell  how 
to  say  less,  there  being  so  much  of  God  in  it ;  and  I  am  not 
willing  to  say  more,  lest  there  should  seem  to  be  any  of  man. 
Only  give  me  leave  to  add  one  word,  showing  the  disparity 
of  forces  on  both  sides ;  that  so  you  may  see,  and  all  the  world 
a«  knowledge,  the  great  hand  of  God  in  this  business.  The 
Army  could  not  be  less  than  twelve  thousand  effective 
foot,  well  armed,  and  five  thousand  horse ;  Langdale  not  less 
than  two  thousand  five  hundred  foot,  and  fifteen  hundred 
horse  :  in  all  twenty-one  thousand  ;  —  and  truly  very  few  of 
their  foot  but  were  as  well  armed  if  not  better  than  yours, 
and  at  divers  disputes  did  fight  two  or  three  hours  before  they 
would  quit  their  ground.  Yours  were  about  two  thousand  five 
hundred  horse  and  dragoons  of  your  old  Army ;  about  four 
thorn-awl  foot  of  your  old  Army ;  also  about  sixteen  hundred 
Lancashire  foot,  and  about  five  hundred  Lancashire  horse: 
in  all,  about  eight  thousand  six  hundred.  You  see  by  com- 
putation about  two  thousand  of  the  Enemy  slain;  betwixt 
eight  and  nine  thousand  prisoners ;  besides  what  are  lurking 
in  hedges  and  private  places,  which  the  Country  daily  bring 
in  or  destroy.  Where  Langdale  and  his  broken  forces  are, 
I  know  not;  but  they  are  exceedingly  shattered. 

ir.-ly,  Sir,  this  is  nothing  but  the  hand  of  God ;  and 
\vli.-n-v.-i  anything  in  this  world  is  exalted,  or  exalts  itself, 
(MM  I  will  pull  it  down  ;  for  this  is  the  day  wherein  He  alone 
will  IH-  exalt. -d.  It  is  not  fit  for  me  to  give  advice,  nor  to  say 
a  \\onl\vhat  use  you  should  make  of  this; — more  than  to 
you,  and  all  that  :icknowledge  God,  That  they  would  exalt 

1  It  is  to  he  hoped  the  Scots  under  Mourn  will  not  presume  to  advance, 
fur  the  prisoners  here  in  Preston  are  about  four  thousand!  Them  are  not 
l'.:iillii-V  \\f:irniii't..ii  mm  "who  «iirrriidiTcd  on  quarter  for  life:"  these  are 
"at 


342  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  20  Aug. 

Him,  — and  not  hate  His  people,  who  are  as  the  apple  of  His 
eye,  and  for  whom  even  Kings  shall  be  reproved ;  and  that  you 
would  take  courage  to  do  the  work  of  the  Lord,  in  fulfilling 
the  end  of  your  Magistracy,  in  seeking  the  peace  and  welfare 
of  this  Land,  —  that  all  that  will  live  peaceably  may  have 
countenance  from  you,  and  they  that  are  incapable  and  will 
not  leave  troubling  the  Land  may  speedily  be  destroyed  out  of 
the  Land.  And  if  you  take  courage  in  this,  God  will  bless 
you  ;  and  good  men  will  stand  by  you  ;  and  God  will  have 
glory,  and  the  Land  will  have  happiness  by  you  in  despite  of 
all  your  enemies.  Which  shall  be  the  prayer  of, 

"  Your  most  humble  and  faithful  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"Postscript.  We  have  not,  in  all  this,  lost  a  considerable 
Officer  but  Colonel  Thornhaugh  ;  and  not  many  soldiers,  con- 
sidering the  service  :  but  many  are  wounded,  and  our  horse 
much  wearied.  I  humbly  crave  that  some  course  may  be  taken 
to  dispose  of  the  Prisoners.  The  trouble,  and  extreme  charge 
of  the  Country  where  they  lie,  is  more  than  the  danger  of  their 
escape.  I  think  they  would  not  go  home  if  they  might,  with- 
out a  convoy  ;  they  are  so  fearful  of  the  Country,  from  whom 
they  have  deserved  so  ill.  Ten  men  will  keep  a  thousand  from 
running  away." l 

Commons  Journals,  Wednesday,  23d  August,  1648  :  "  Ordered, 
That  the  sum  of  Two  Hundred  Pounds  be  bestowed  upon  Major 
Berry,  and  the  sum  of  One  Hundred  Pounds  upon  Edward 
Sexby,  who  brought  the  very  good  news  of  the  very  great  suc- 
cess obtained,  by  the  great  mercy  of  God,  against  the  whole 
Scots  Army  in  Lancashire,  and  That  the  said  respective  sums 
shall  be  "  — in  short,  paid  directly.  Of  Major  Berry,  Kichard 
Baxter's  friend,  we  have  already  heard.  Captain  Edward 
Sexby,  here  known  to  us  as  Captain  for  the  first  time,  —  did 
we  not  once  see  him  in  another  character  ?  One  of  Three 
Troopers  with  a  Letter,  in  the  Honorable  House,  in  the  time 

1  Chetham-Society  Book,  ut  supra,  pp.  259-267. 


1648.  LETTER  LXV.    WARRINGTON.  343 

of  the  A.rmy  Troubles  ? l  He  will  again  turn  up,  little  to  his 
advantage,  by  and  by.  A  Day  of  universal  Thanksgiving  for 
this  "  wonderful  great  Success "  is  likewise  ordered ;  and  a 
printed  schedule  of  items  to  be  thankful  for  is  despatched, 
"  to  the  number  of  10,000,"  into  all  places.8 


LETTER  LXV. 

LET  the  following  hasty  Letter,  of  the  same  date  with  that 
more  deliberate  one  to  Lenthall,  followed  by  another  as  hasty, 
terminate  the  Preston  Business.  Letters  of  hot  Haste,  of 
Hue-and-Cry ;  two  remaining  out  of  many  such,  written  "  to 
all  the  Countries,"  in  that  posture  of  affairs ;  —  the  fruit  of 
which  we  shall  soon  see.  Colonels  "  Cholmely,  White,  Hatcher, 
Rhodes,"  Country  Colonels  of  more  or  less  celebrity,  need  not 
detain  us  at  present. 

"  For  the  Honorable  the  Committee  at  York :  These. 

"  WAHBINGTON,  20th  August,  1648. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  We  have  quite  tired  our  horses  in  pursuit  of 
the  Enemy  :  we  have  killed,  taken  and  disabled  all  their  Foot ; 
and  left  them  only  some  Horse,  with  whom  the  Duke  is  fled 
into  Delamere  Forest,  having  neither  Foot  nor  Dragooners. 
Tln-y  have  taken  five  hundred  of  them,  —  I  mean  the  Country 
Forces  [have],  as  they  send  me  word  this  day. 

"They*  are  so  tired,  and  in   such  confusion,  that  if  my 

Horse  could  but  trot  after  them,  I  could  take  them  all.     But 

we  are  so  weary,  we  can  scarce  be  able  to  do  more  than  walk 

aftor  th.-ni.     I  Ix-soecli  you  therefore,  let  Sir  Henry  Cholmely, 

Sir  Edward  Rhodes,  Colonel  Hatcher,  and  Colonel  White,  and 

all  the  Countries  about  you,  be  sent  to,  to  rise  with  you  and 

follow  them.     For  they  are  the  miserablest  party  that  ever 

was :  I  durst  engage  myself,  with  Five  Hundred  fresh  Horse, 

1  Antea,  ]>  260;  and  Lmllow,  i.  189. 

»  Cbmmvru  Journal*,  T.  685.  •  The  Scot*. 


344  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  23  Aug. 

and  Five  Hundred  nimble  Foot,  to  destroy  them  all.  My 
Horse  are  miserably  beaten  out ;  —  and  I  have  Ten  Thousand 
of  them  Prisoners. 

"  We  have  killed  we  know  not  what ;  but  a  very  great  num- 
ber ;  having  done  execution  upon  them  above  thirty  miles 
together,  —  besides  what  we  killed  in  the  Two  great  Fights, 
the  one  at  Preston,  the  other  at  Warringtou  [or  Winwick 
Pass].  The  Enemy  was  twenty-four  thousand  horse  and  foot ; 
whereof  eighteen  thousand  foot  and  six  thousand  horse :  and 
our  number  about  six  thousand  foot  and  three  thousand  horse 
at  the  utmost. 

"  This  is  a  glorious  Day :  —  God  help  England  to  answer  His 
mercies  !  —  I  have  no  more  ;  but  beseech  you  in  all  your  parts 
to  gather  into  bodies,  and  pursue.  I  rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  [P.S.]  The  greatest  part,  by  far,  of  the  Nobility  of  Scot- 
land are  with  Duke  Hamilton." 1 


LETTER  LXVI. 

"  For  the  Honorable  the  Committee  at  York  :  These. 

"  WIGAN,  23d  August,  1648. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  I  have  intelligence  even  now  come  to  my 
hands,  That  Duke  Hamilton  with  a  wearied  Body  of  Horse  is 
drawing  towards  Pontefract;  where  probably  he  may  lodge 
himself,  and  rest  his  Horse ;  —  as  not  daring  to  continue  in 
those  Countries  whence  we  have  driven  him;  the  Country- 
people  rising  in  such  numbers,  and  stopping  his  passage  at 
every  bridge. 

"  Major-General  Lambert,  with  a  very  considerable  force, 
pursues  him  at  the  heels.  I  desire  you  that  you  would  get  to- 
gether what  force  you  can,  to  put  a  stop  to  any  farther  designs 
they  may  have;  and  so  be  ready  to  join  with  Major-General 

1  Copy  in  the  possession  of  W.  Beaumont,  Esq.,  Warriugton. 


1648. 


LETTER  LXVI.    WIG  AN.  345 


Lambert,  if  there  shall  be  need.  I  ain  marching  Northward 
with  the  greatest  part  of  the  Ariny ;  where  I  shall  be  glad  to 
hear  from  you.  I  rest, 

"  Your  very  affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

"OLIVER  CBOMWELL. 

"  I  could  wish  you  would  draw  out  whatever  force  you  have ; 
either  to  be  in  his  rear  or  to  impede  his  march.  For  I  am  per- 
suaded, if  he,  or  the  greatest  part  of  those  that  are  with  him 
be  taken,  it  would  make  an  end  of  the  Business  of  Scot- 
land."1 

This  Letter,  carelessly  printed  in  the  old  Newspaper,  is  with- 
out address;  but  we  learn  that  it  "came  to  my  hands  this 
present  afternoon,"  "  at  York,"  26th  August,  1648 ;  —  whither 
also  truer  rumors,  truer  news,  as  to  Hamilton  and  his  affairs, 
are  on  the  road. 

On  Friday,  25th,  at  Uttoxeter  in  Staffordshire,  the  poor  Duke 
of  Hamilton,  begirt  with  enemies,  distracted  with  mutinies  and 
internal  discords,  surrenders  and  ceases ;  "  very  ill,  and  unable 
to  march."  "My  Lord  Duke  and  Calendar,"  says  Dalgetty, 
"  fell  out  and  were  at  very  high  words  at  supper,  where  I  was," 
the  night  before ;  "  each  blaming  the  other  for  the  misfortune 
and  miscarriage  of  our  affairs : "  a  sad  employment !  Dalgetty 
himself  went  prisoner  to  Hull ;  lay  long  with  Colonel  Robert 
Overton,  an  acquaintance  of  ours  there.  "  As  we  rode  from 
Uttoxeter,  we  made  a  stand  at  the  Duke's  window ;  and  he  look- 
ing out  with  some  kind  words,  we  took  our  eternal  farewell  of 
him,"  —  never  saw  him  more.  He  died  on  the  scaffold  for  this 
business;  being  Earl  of  Cambridge,  and  an  English  Peer  as 
well  as  Scotch :  —  the  unhappiest  of  men ;  one  of  those  "  sin- 
gularly able  men  "  who,  with  all  their  "  ability,"  have  never 
succeeded  in  any  enterprise  whatever  ! 

1  Newspaper,  Packett  of  Letter*  from  Scotland  and  the  North,  no.  24  (London, 
printed  by  Robert  Ibbitoon  in  Smitbfield,  29th  August,  1648).  —  See,  in  Appen- 
dix, No.  12,  Letter  of  same  date  to  Derby-House  Committee,  requesting  RIIJV 


346  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL   WAR.  23  Aug. 

Colchester  Siege,  one  of  the  most  desperate  defences,  being 
now  plainly  without  object,  terminates  on  Monday  next.1 
Surrender,  "on  quarter"  for  the  inferior  parties,  "at  discre- 
tion "  for  the  superior.  Two  of  the  latter,  Sir  Charles  Lucas 
and  Sir  George  Lisle,  gallant  Officers  both,  are  sentenced  and 
shot  on  the  place.  "  By  Ireton's  instigation,"  say  some :  yes, 
or  without  any  special  instigation;  merely  by  the  nature  of 
the  case  !  They  who,  contrary  to  Law  and  Treaty,  have  again 
involved  this  Nation  in  blood,  do  they  deserve  nothing  ?  Two 
more,  Goring  and  Lord  Capel,  stood  trial  at  Westminster ;  of 
whom  Lord  Capel  lost  his  head.  He  was  "  the  first  man  that 
rose  to  complain  of  Grievances "  in  November,  1640 ;  being 
then  Mr.  Capel,  and  Member  for  Hertfordshire. 

The  Prince  with  his  Fleet  in  the  Downs,  too,  so  soon  as  these 
Lancashire  tidings  reached  him,  made  off  for  Holland ;  "  en- 
tered the  Hague  in  thirty  coaches,"  and  gave  up  his  military 
pursuits.  The  Second  Civil  War,  its  back  once  broken  here  at 
Preston,  rapidly  dies  everywhere  ;  is  already  as  good  as  dead. 

In  Scotland  itself  there  is  no  farther  resistance.  The 
oppressed  Kirk  Party  rise  rather,  and  almost  thank  the 
conquerors.  "Sir  George  Monro,"  says  Turner,  "following 
constantly  a  whole  day's  march  to  the  rear  of  us,"  finding 
himself,  by  this  unhappy  Battle,  cut  asunder  from  my  Lord 
Duke,  and  brought  into  contact  with  Cromwell  instead, — 
"  marched  straight  back  to  Scotland  and  joined  with  Earl 
Lanark's  forces,"  my  Lord  Duke's  brother.  "  Straight  back," 
as  we  shall  find,  is  not  the  word  for  this  march. 

"  But  so  soon  as  the  news  of  our  Defeat  came  to  Scotland," 
continues  Turner,  "  Argyle  and  the  Kirk  Party  rose  in  arms ; 
every  mother's  son ;  and  this  was  called  the  l  Whiggamore 
Raid : ' "  1648,  —  first  appearance  of  the  Whig  party  on  the 
page  of  History,  I  think  !  "  David  Lesley  was  at  their  head, 
and  old  Leven,"  the  Fieldmarshal  of  1639,  "  in  the  Castle  of 
Edinburgh;  who  cannonaded  the  Royal"  Hamilton  "troops 
whenever  they  came  in  view  of  him  ! " a 

Cromwell  proceeds  northward,  goes  at  last  to  Edinburgh 
itself,  to  compose  this  strange  state  of  matters. 

1  28th  August,  Rushworth,  vii.  1242. 

2  Turner,  ubi  eupra;  Guthry's  Memoirs  (Glasgow,  1748),  p.  285. 


1648.  LETTER  LXV1I.    KNAKESBOROUGH.  347 


LETTERS   LXVIL-LXXIX. 

MONBO  with  the  rearward  of  Hamilton's  beaten  Army  did 
not  march  "straight  back  "  to  Scotland,  as  Turner  told  us,  but 
very  obliquely  back  ;  lingering  for  several  weeks  on  the  South 
side  of  the  Border;  collecting  remnants  of  English,  Scotch, 
and  even  Irish  Malignants,  not  without  hopes  of  raising  a 
new  Army  from  them,  —  cruelly  spoiling  those  Northern 
Counties  in  the  interim.  Cromwell,  waiting  first  till  Lambert 
with  the  forces  sent  in  pursuit  of  Hamilton  can  rejoin  the 
main  Army,  moves  Northward,  to  deal  with  these  broken  par- 
ties, and  with  broken  Scotland  generally.  The  following 
Thirteen  Letters  bring  him  as  far  as  Edinburgh :  whither  let 
us  now  attend  him  with  such  lights  as  they  yield. 

LETTER  LXVII. 

OLIVER  ST.  JOHN,  a  private  friend,  and  always  officially  an 
important  man  always  on  the  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms, 
Derby-House  Committee,  or  whatever  the  governing  Authority 
might  be,  —  finds  here  a  private  Note  for  himself ;  one  part  of 
which  is  very  strange  to  us.  Does  the  reader  look  with  any 
intelligence  into  that  poor  old  prophetic,  symbolic  Deathbed- 
scene  at  Preston  ?  Any  intelligence  of  Prophecy  and  Symbol 
in  general ;  of  the  symbolic  Man-child  Makers  halal- has  hoaz  at 
Jerusalem,  or  the  handful  of  Cut  Grass  at  Preston ;  —  of  the 
opening  Portals  of  Eternity,  and  what  last  departing  gleams 
there  are  in  the  Soul  of  the  pure  and  just?  —  Mahershalal- 
hashbaz  ("  Hasten-to-the-spoil,"  so  called),  and  the  bundle  of 
Cut  Grass  are  grown  somewhat  strange  to  us !  Kead  ;  and 
having  sneered  duly,  —  consider :  — 

"  For  my  worthy  Friend  Oliver  St.  John,  Esquire,  Solicitor- 
General :  These,  at  Lincoln's  Inn. 

"KNABEBBOBOUUH,  1st  Sept.  [1648.] 

"DEAR  SIB,  —  I  can  s;iy  nothing;  but  surely  the  Lord  our 
(i"«l  is  a  great  and  glorious  God.  He  only  ic  worthy  to  be 


PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL  WAR. 

feared  and  trusted,  and  His  appearances  particularly  to  be 
waited  for.  He  will  not  fail  His  People.  Let  everything 
that  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord !  — 

"  Remember  my  love  to  my  dear  brother  H.  Vane  :  I  pray 
he  make  not  too  little,  nor  I  too  much,  of  outward  dispensa- 
tions :  —  God  preserve  us  all,  that  we,  in  simplicity  of  our 
spirits,  may  patiently  attend  upon  them.  Let  us  all  be  not 
careful  what  men  will  make  of  these  actings.  They,  will  they, 
nill  they,  shall  fulfil  the  good  pleasure  of  God ;  and  we  — 
shall  serve  our  generations.  Our  rest  we  expect  elsewhere  : 
that  will  be  durable.  Care  we  not  for  to-morrow,  nor  for  any- 
thing. This  Scripture  has  been  of  great  stay  to  me :  read 
Isaiah  Eighth,  10,  11,  14;  —  read  all  the  Chapter.1 

"  I  am  informed  from  good  hands,  that  a  poor  godly  man 
died  in  Preston,  the  day  before  the  Fight ;  and  being  sick, 
near  the  hour  of  his  death,  he  desired  the  woman  that  cooked 
to  him,  To  fetch  him  a  handful  of  Grass.  She  did  so ;  and 
when  he  received  it,  he  asked  Whether  it  would  wither  or  not, 
now  it  was  cut  ?  The  woman  said,  '  Yea.'  He  replied,  '  So 
should  this  Army  of  the  Scots  do,  and  come  to  nothing,  so 
soon  as  ours  did  but  appear/  or  words  to  this  effect ;  and 
so  immediately  died.  — 

"  My  service  to  Mr.  W.  P.,  Sir  J.  E.,  and  the  rest  of  our 
good  friends.  I  hope  I  do  often  remember  you. 

"  Yours, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  My  service  to  Frank  Eussel  and  Sir  Gilbert  Pickering."  * 

1  Yes,  the  indignant  symbolic  "  Chapter,"  about  Mahershalal-hashbaz,  and 
the  vain  desires  of  the  wicked,  is  all  worth  reading ;  here  are  the  Three  Verses 
referred  to,  more  especially :  "  Take  counsel  together,"  ye  unjust,  "  and  it 
shall  come  to  naught ;  speak  the  word,  and  it  shall  not  stand.    For  God  is 
with  us.  —  Sanctify  the  Lord  of  Hosts ;  and  let  Him  be  your  fear,  and  let  Him 
be  your  dread.     And  He  shall  be  for  a  sanctuary  :  —  but  for  a  stone  of  stum- 
bling and  for  a  rock  of  offence  to  both  the  Houses  of  Israel ;  for  a  gin  and  for 
a  snare  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem !    And  many  among  them  shall  stum- 
ble and  fall,  nud  be  broken,  and  be  snared,  and  be  taken."    This  last  verse, 
we  find,  is  often  in  the  thoughts  of  Oliver. 

2  AyBcough  MSS.  4107,  f .  94  ;  a  Copy  by  Birch. 


1648.  LETTER  LXVIH.    KNARESBOROUGH.  349 

"  Sir  J.  E.,"  when  he  received  this  salutation,  was  palpable 
enough ;  but  has  now  melted  away  to  the  Outline  of  a  Shadow ! 
I  guess  hi  in  to  be  Sir  John  Evelyn  of  Wilts ;  and,  with  greater 
confidence,  "Mr.  W.  P."  to  be  William  Pierpoint,  Earl  of 
Kingston's  Son,  a  man  of  superior  faculty,  of  various  destiny 
and  business,  "  called  in  the  Family  traditions,  Wise  William;  " 
Ancestor  of  the  Dukes  of  Kingston  (Great-grandfather  of 
that  Lady  Mary,  whom  as  Wortley  Montagu  all  readers  still 
know) ;  and  much  a  friend  of  Oliver,  as  we  shall  transiently 
see. 


LETTER  LXVIIL 

ANOTHER  private  Letter :  to  my  Lord  Wharton ;  to  congrat- 
ulate him  on  some  "  particular  mercy,"  seemingly  the  birth  of 
an  heir,  and  to  pour  out  his  sense  of  these  great  general  mer- 
cies. This  Philip  Lord  Wharton  is  also  of  the  Committee  of 
Derby  House,  the  Executive  in  those  months  ;  it  is  probable 1 
Cromwell  had  been  sending  despatches  to  them,  and  had  hastily 
enclosed  these  private  Letters  in  the  Packet. 

Philip  Lord  Whartou  seems  to  have  been  a  zealous  Puritan, 
much  concerned  with  Preachers,  Chaplains  &c.,  in  his  domes- 
tic establishment ;  and  full  of  Parliamentary  and  Politico- 
religious  business  in  public.  He  had  a  regiment  of  his  own 
raising  at  Edgehill  Fight ;  but  it  was  one  of  those  that  ran 
away ;  whereupon  the  unhappy  Colonel  took  refuge  "  in  a  saw- 
pit," —  says  Royalism  confidently,  crowing  over  it  without 
end.*  A  quarrel  between  him  and  Sir  Henry  Mildmay,  Mem- 
ber for  Maiden,  about  Sir  Henry's  saying,  "  He  Wharton  had 
made  his  peace  at  Oxford  "  in  November,  1643,  is  noted  in  the 
Commons  Journals,  iiL  300.  It  was  to  him,  about  the  time  of 
tliis  Cromwell  Letter,  that  one  Osborne,  a  distracted  King's 
flunky,  had  written,  accusing  Major  Rolf,  a  soldier  under 
Hammond,  of  attempting  to  poison  Charles  in  the  Isle  of 

1   '  'ommont  Journal*,  vi.  6,  5th  September. 

*  Woud'»  Ailt-  ii" ,  iii.  177,  uud  in  all  ninuutr  uf  1'uaiphleU  eLtewhew. 


350  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL,  WAR.  2  Sept. 

Wight.1  —  This  Philip's  patrimonial  estate,  Wharton,  still  a 
Manor-house  of  somebody,  lies  among  the  Hills  on  the  south- 
west side  of  Westmoreland ;  near  the  sources  of  the  Eden,  the 
Swale  rising  on  the  other  watershed  not  far  off.  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  dwelt  at  Upper  Wiuchington,  Bucks,  "  a  seat 
near  Great  Wycombe."  He  lived  to  be  a  Privy  Councillor  to 
William  of  Orange.2  He  died  in  1696.  Take  this  other  anec- 
dote, once  a  very  famous  one  :  — 

"  James  Stewart  of  Blantyre,  in  Scotland,  son  of  a  Treasurer 
Stewart,  and  himself  a  great  favorite  of  King  James,  was  a 
gallant  youth ;  came  up  to  London  with  great  hopes :  but  a 
discord  falling  out  between  him  and  the  young  Lord  Wharton, 
they  went  out  to  single  combat  each  against  the  other ;  and  at 
the  first  thrust  each  of  them  killed  the  other,  and  they  fell 
dead  in  one  another's  arms  on  the  place."  3  The  "  place  "  was 
Islington  fields ;  the  date  8th  November,  1609.  The  tragedy 
gave  rise  to  much  ballad-singing  and  other  rumor.4  Our  Philip 
is  that  slain  Wharton's  Nephew. 

This  Letter  has  been  preserved  by  Thurloe ;  four  blank 
spaces  ornamented  with  due  asterisks  occur  in  it,  —  Editor 
Birch  does  not  inform  us  whether  from  tearing  off  the  Seal,  or 
why.  In  these  blank  spaces  the  conjectural  sense,  which  I 
distinguish  here  as  usual  by  brackets,  is  occasionally  somewhat 
questionable. 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  Wharton :  These. 

"  [KNARESBOROUGH,]  2d  Sept.  1648. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  You  know  how  untoward  I  am  at  this  busi- 
ness of  writing :  yet  a  word.  I  beseech  the  Lord  make  us 
sensible  of  this  great  mercy  here,  which  surely  was  much  more 
than  [the  sense  of  it]  the  House  expresseth.5  I  trust  [to  have, 

1  Wood,  iii.  501  ;  Pamphlets  ;   Commons  Journals,  &c. 

2  Wood,  iv.  407,  542 ;  Fasti,  i.  335  ;  Nicolas's  Synopsis  of  the  Peerage. 

8  Scotstarvet's  Staggering  State  (Ediiib.  1754,  a  very  curious  little  Book), 
p.  32. 

4  Bibliotheca  Topographica,  no.  xlix. 

6  The  house  calls  it  "  a  wonderful  great  mercy  and  success,"  this  Preston 
victory  ( Commons  Journals,  v.  680) ;  —  ami  then  passes  on  to  other  matters 


1648.  LETTER  LXVm.    KN  ARES  BOROUGH.  351 

through]  the  goodness  of  our  God,  time  and  opportunity  to 
speak  of  it  to  you  face  to  face.  When  we  think  of  our  God, 
what  are  we  !  Oh,  His  mercy  to  the  whole  society  of  saints, 
—  despised,  jeered  saints  !  Let  them  mock  on.  Would  we 
were  all  saints  !  The  best  of  us  are,  God  knows,  poor  weak 
saints  ;  —  yet  saints  ;  if  not  sheep,  yet  lambs  ;  and  must  be 
fed.  We  have  daily  bread,1  and  shall  have  it,  in  despite  of 
all  enemies.  There  's  enough  in  our  Father's  house,  and  He 
dispenseth  it.2  I  think,  through  these  outward  mercies,  as  we 
call  them,  Faith,  Patience,  Love,  Hope  are  exercised  and  per- 
fected, —  yea  Christ  formed,  and  grows  to  a  perfect  man  within 
us.  I  know  not  well  how  to  distinguish  :  the  difference  is 
only  in  the  subject  [not  in  the  object]  ;  to  a  worldly  man  they 
are  outward,  to  a  saint  Christian  ;  —  but  I  dispute  not. 

"  My  Lord,  I  rejoice  in  your  particular  mercy.  I  hope  that 
it  is  so  to  you.  If  so,  it  shall  not  hurt  you  ;  not  make  you 
plot  or  shift  for  the  young  Baron  to  make  him  great.  You 
will  say,  '  He  is  God's  to  dispose  of,  and  guide  for  ;  '  and  there 
you  will  leave  him. 

•  My  love  to  the  dear  little  Lady,  better  [to  me]  than  the 
fluid.  The  Lord  bless  you  both.  My  love  and  service  to 
all  Friends  high  and  low  ;  if  you  will,  to  my  Lord  and  Lady 
Mulgrave  and  Will  Hill.  I  am  truly, 

"  Your  faithful  friend  and  humblest  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."' 

During  these  very  days,  perhaps  it  was  exactly  two  days 
after,  "on  Monday  last,"  if  that  mean  4th  September,4  — 
Monro,  lying  about  Appleby,  has  a  party  of  horse  "sent  into 
tin-  P.ishopric;"  firing  "divers  houses"  thereabouts,  and  not 

n  'it  <|iiite  adequately  conscious  that  its  life  had  been  saved  hereby!  What 
fir.-  w;w  lilii/.ini;,  ami  how  high,  in  Wales,  and  theu  in  Lancashire,  is  known 
onl\  in  jii-rf«-i  lic.n  to  those  that  trampled  it  nut. 

1  Spiritual  food,  enroiiri^cmi'iit  of  merciful  Providence,  from  day  to  day. 

1  There  follows  here  in  the  Birch  edition:  "Aw  onr  eyes  [seven  stare] 
behinde,  then  wee  can  [seven  stars)  we  for  him  "  word*  totally  unintelligible; 
and  not  worth  guessing  at,  the  original  not  being  here,  but  only  Birch'0  quea- 


»  Thurloe,  i.  99.  «  CVomirW/iamr  ,  p.  45. 


352  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  8  Sept 

forgetting  to  plunder  "  the  Lord  Wharton's  tenants  "  by  the 
road :  Cromwell  penetrating  towards  Berwick,  yet  still  at  a 
good  distance,  scatters  this  and  other  predatory  parties  rapidly 
enough  to  Appleby,  —  as  it  were  by  the  very  wind  of  him ; 
like  a  coming  mastiff  smelt  in  the  gale  by  vermin.  They 
are  swifter  than  he,  and  get  to  Scotland,  by  their  dexterity 
and  quick  scent,  unscathed.  "  Across  to  Kelso,"  about  Sep- 
tember 8th.1 

Mulgrave  in  those  years  is  a  young  Edmund  Sheffield,  of 
whom,  except  that  he  came  afterwards  to  sit  in  the  Council  of 
State,  and  died  a  few  days  before  the  Protector,  History 
knows  not  much. —  "Will  Hill  "is  perhaps  William  Hill,  a 
Puritan  Merchant  in  London,  ruined  out  of  "a  large  estate' 
by  lending  for  the  public  service  ;  who,  this  Summer,  and  still 
in  this  very  month,  is  dunning  the  Lords  and  Commons,  the 
Lords  with  rather  more  effect,  to  try  if  they  cannot  give  him 
some  kind  of  payment,  or  shadow  of  an  attempt  at  payment, 
—  he  having  long  lain  in  jail  for  want  of  his  money.  A  zeal- 
ous religious,  and  now  destitute  and  insolvent  man ;  known  to 
Oliver ;  —  and  suggests  himself  along  with  the  Miilgraves  by 
the  contrast  of  "  Friends  high  and  low."  Poor  Hill  did,  after 
infinite  struggling,  get  some  kind  of  snack  at  the  Bishops' 
Lands  by  and  by.2 

The  "  young  Baron "  now  born  is  father,  I  suppose,  —  he 
or  his  brother  is  father,8  —  of  the  far-famed  high-gifted  half- 
delirious  Duke  of  Wharton. 

On  the  8th  of  September,  Cromwell  is  at  Durham,4  scaring 
the  Monro  fraternity  before  him ;  and  publishes  the  following 

"  DECLARATION. 

"WHEREAS  the  Scottish  Army,  under  the  command  of 
James  Duke  of  Hamilton,  which  lately  invaded  this  Nation  of 

1  Rushworth,  vii   1250,  3,  9,  60.  2  Commons  Journals,  vi.  29,  243. 

?  He,  Thomas,  the  one  now  born  ;  subsequently  Marquis,  and  a  man  other- 
wise of  distinction  ;  who  "  died  12th  April,  1715,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  age  : " 
Boyer's  Political  State,  of  Great  Britain  (April,  1715,  London),  p.  305.  (NoU 
to  Third  Edition:  communicated  by  Mr.  T.  Watts  of  the  British  Museum.) 

*  Commons  Journals,  vii.  1260. 


1048.  DECLARATION.  363 

England,  is,  by  tho  blessing  of  God  upon  the  Parliament's 
Forces,  defeated  and  overthrown ;  and  some  thousands  of  their 
soldiers  and  officers  are  now  prisoners  in  our  hands ;  so  that 
by  reason  of  their  great  number,  and  want  of  sufficient 
guards  and  watches  to  keep  them  so  carefully  as  need  re- 
quires (the  Army  being  employed  upon  other  duty  and  ser- 
vice of  the  Kingdom),  divers  may  escape  away ;  and  many,  both 
since  and  upon  the  pursuit,  do  lie  in  private  places  in  the 
country : 

"  I  thought  it  very  just  and  necessary  to  give  notice  to  all, 
and  accordingly  do  declare,  That  if  any  Scottishmen,  officers 
or  soldiers,  lately  members  of  the  said  Scottish  Army,  and 
taken  or  escaped  in  or  since  the  late  Fight  and  pursuit,  shall 
be  found  straggling  in  the  countries,  or  running  away  from 
the  places  assigned  them  to  remain  in  till  the  pleasure  of  the 
Parliament,  or  of  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General  be  known, 
—  It  will  be  accounted  a  very  good  and  acceptable  service  to 
the  Country  and  Kingdom  of  England,  for  any  person  or  per- 
sons to  take  and  apprehend  all  such  Scottishmen  ;  and  to  carry 
them  to  any  Officer  having  the  charge  of  such  prisoners ;  or, 
in  defect  of  such  Officer,  to  the  Committee  or  Governor  of  tho 
next  Garrison  for  the  Parliament  within  the  County  where 
they  shall  be  so  taken  ;  there  to  be  secured  and  kept  in  prison, 
as  shall  be  found  most  convenient. 

"  And  the  said  Committee,  Officer,  or  Governor  respectively, 
are  desired  to  secure  such  of  the  said  prisoners  as  shall  be  so 
apprehended  and  brought  unto  them,  accordingly.  And  if  any 
of  the  said  Scottish  officers  or  soldiers  shall  make  any  resist- 
ance, and  refuse  to  be  taken  or  render  themselves,  all  such 
persons  well  affected  to  the  service  of  the  Parliament  and 
Kingdom  of  England,  may  and  are  desired  to  fall  upon,  fight 
with,  and  slay  such  refusers :  but  if  the  said  prisoners  shall 
pontiimi'  and  remain  within  the  places  and  guards  assigned 
for  the  keeping  of  them,  That  then  no  violence,  wrong,  nor 
injury  be  offered  to  them  by  any  means. 

••  Provided  also,  and  special  care  is  to  be  taken,  That  no 
Scottish  man  residing  within  this  Kingdom,  and  not  having 
a  niciulHT  <>f  tin-  s:nd  Army,  and  also,  That  none  such  of 

*VII  "'* 


354  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  11 

the  said  Scottish  prisoners  as  shall  have  liberty  given  them, 
and  sufficient  passes  to  go  to  any  place  appointed,  may  be  in- 
terrupted or  troubled  hereby. 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

"  [DURHAM,]  8th  September,  1648." 


LETTER  LXIX. 

FAIRFAX  is  still  at  Colchester,  arranging  the  "ransoms,"  and 
confused  wrecks  of  the  Siege  there ;  Cromwell  has  now  reached 
Berwick,2  at  least  his  outposts  have, — all  the  Monros  now 
fairly  across  the  Tweed.  "  Lieutenant-Colonel  Cowell,"  I  con- 
clude, was  mortally  wounded  at  Preston  Battle  ;  and  here  has 
the  poor  Widow  been,  soliciting  and  lamenting. 

"  For  his  Excellency  the  Lord  Fairfax,  General  of  all  the 
Parliament's  Armies :  These. 

"[ALNWICK,]  llth  Sept.  1648. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  Since  we  lost  Lieutenant-Colonel  Cowell,  his 
Wife  came  to  me  near  Northallerton,  much  lamenting  her  loss, 
and  the  sad  condition  she  and  her  children  were  left  in. 

"  He  was  an  honest  worthy  man.  He  spent  himself  in  your 
and  the  Kingdom's  service.  He  being  a  great  Trader  in  Lon- 
don, deserted  it  to  serve  the  Kingdom.  He  lost  much  moneys 
to  the  State  ;  and  I  believe  few  outdid  him.  He  had  a  great 
arrear  due  to  him.  He  left  a  Wife  and  three  small  children 
but  meanly  provided  for.  Upon  his  death-bed,  he  commended 
this  desire  to  me,  That  I  should  befriend  his  to  the  Parliament 
or  to  your  Excellency.  His  Wife  will  attend  you  for  Letters 
to  the  Parliament ;  which  I  beseech  you  to  take  into  a  tender 
consideration. 

"  I  beseech  you  to  pardon  this  boldness  to, 

"Your  Excellency's  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  a 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  46)  2  Rushworth,  vii.  125. 

»  Lansdowne  MSS.  1236,  fol.  85. 


1«48.  LETTER  LXX.    ALNWICK.  355 

On  the  19th  .Tune,  1649,  "Widow  Cowell "  is  ordered  to  be 
paid  her  Husband's  Arrears  by  the  Committee  at  Haber- 
dashers' Hall.1  One  hopes  she  received  payment,  poor 
woman!  "Upon  his  death-bed  her  Husband  commended 
tli  is  desire  to  me." 

In  the  very  hours  while  this  Letter  is  a- writing,  "  Monday, 
llth  September,  1648,"  Monro,  now  joined  with  the  Earl  of 
Lanark,  presents  himself  at  Edinburgh :  but  the  Whiggamore 
Raid,  all  the  force  of  the  West  Country,  6,000  strong,  is 
already  there;  "draws  out  on  the  crags  be-east  the  Town," 
old  Leven  in  the  Castle  ready  to  fire  withal ;  and  will  not  let 
him  enter.  Lanark  and  Monro,  after  sad  survey  of  the  in- 
accessible armed  crags,  bend  westward,  keeping  well  out  of 
the  range  of  Leven's  guns,  —  to  Stirling ;  meet  Argyle  and  the 
Whiggamores,  make  some  Treaty  or  Armistice,  and  admit  them 
to  be  the  real  "  Committee  of  Estates,"  the  Hamilton  Faction 
having  ended.2  Here  are  Three  Letters,  Two  of  one  date, 
directly  on  the  back  of  these  occurrences. 


LETTER  LXX. 

• 
"  For  the  Governor  of  Berwick :  These. 

"ALNWICK,  15th  Sept.  1648. 

,  —  Being  come  thus  near,  I  thought  fit  to  demand  the 
Town  of  Berwick  to  be  delivered  into  my  hands,  to  the  use 
of  the  Parliament  and  Kingdom  of  England,  to  whom  of  right 
it  U'longeth. 

"I  need  not  use  any  arguments  to  convince  you  of  the 
justice  hereof.  The  witness  that  God  hath  Iwrne  against  your 
Army,  in  their  Invasion  of  those  who  desired  to  sit  in  peace 
by  you,  doth  at  once  manifest  His  dislike  of  the  injury  done 
to  a  Nation  that  meant  you  no  harm,  but  hath  been  all  along 
desirous  to  keep  amity  and  brotherly  affection  and  agreement 
with  you. 

"If  you  deny  me  in  this,  we  must  make  a  second  appeal  to 

1   Common*  Jvurnult,  \i   237.  «  Quthry,  pp.  288-297. 


356  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  16  Sept 

God,  putting  ourselves  upon  Him,  in  endeavoring  to  obtain 
our  rights,  and  let  Him  be  judge  between  us.  And  if  our  aim 
be  anything  beyond  what  we  profess,  He  will  requite  it.  If 
farther  trouble  ensue  upon  your  denial,  we  trust  He  will  make 
our  innocency  to  appear. 

"  I  expect  your  answer  to  this  summons,  this  day,  and  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

Ludovic  Lesley,  the  Scotch  Governor  of  Berwick,  returns  "a 
dilatory  answer,"  not  necessary  for  us  to  read.  Here  is  a  more 
important  message :  — 


LETTER  LXXI. 

"For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  Marquis  of  Argyle,  and 
the  rest  of  the  well-affected  Lords,  Gentlemen,  Ministers 
and  People  now  in  arms  in  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland. 
Present. 

"  [NEAR  BERWICK,]  16th  September,  1648. 

"  MY  LORDS  AND  GENTLEMEN,  —  Being  (in  prosecution 
of  the  common  Enemy)  advanced,*  with  the  Army  under 
my  command,  to  the  borders  of  Scotland,  I  thought  fit,  to 
prevent  any  misapprehension  or  prejudice  that  might  be 
raised  thereupon,  to  send  your  Lordships  these  Gentlemen, 
Colonel  Bright,  Scoutmaster-General  Howe,  and  Mr.  Stapylton, 
to  acquaint  you  with  the  reasons  thereof :  concerning  which 
I  desire  your  Lordships  to  give  them  credence.  I  remain, 
my  Lords, 

"Your  very  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 2 

Colonel  Bright  and  Scoutmaster  Rowe  are  persons  that 
often  occur,  though  somewhat  undistinguishably,  in  the  Old 
Pamphlets.  Bright,  in  the  end  of  this  month,  was  sent  over, 

1  Lords  Journals  (in  Parliamentary  History,  xvii.  485). 
•  Thurloe,  i.  100. 


IMS.  LETTER  LXXT.    NEAR   BERWICK.  357 

"from  Berwick"  apparently,  to  take  possession  of  Carlisle, 
now  ready  to  surrender  to  us.1  "  Scoutmaster  "  is  the  Chief 
of  the  Corps  of  "  Guides,"  as  soldiers  now  call  them.  As  to 
Stapylton  or  Stapleton,  we  have  to  remark  that,  besides  Sir 
Philip  Stapleton,  the  noted  Member  for  Boroughbridge,  and 
one  of  the  Eleven,  who  is  now  banished  and  dead,  there  is  a 
Bryan  Stapleton  now  Member  for  Aldborough ;  he  in  January 
last 2  was  Commissioner  to  Scotland  :  but  this  present  Stapyl- 
ton is  still  another.  Apparently,  one  Robert  Stapylton ;  a 
favorite  Chaplain  of  Cromwell's ;  an  Army-Preacher,  a  man 
of  weight  and  eminence  in  that  character.  From  his  follow- 
ing in  the  rear  of  the  Colonel  and  the  Scoutmaster,  instead 
of  taking  precedence  in  the  Lieutenant-General's  Letter,  as 
an  M.P.  would  have  done,  we  may  infer  that  this  Reverend 
Robert  Stapylton  is  the  Cromwell  Messenger,  —  sent  to  speak 
a  word  to  the  Clergy  in  particular. 

Scoutmaster  Rowe,  William  Rowe,  appears  with  an  enlarged 
sphere  of  influence,  presiding  over  the  Cromwell  spy-world  in 
a  very  diligent,  expert  and  almost  respectable  manner,  some 
years  afterwards,  in  the  Milton  State-Papers.  His  counsel 
might  bo  useful  with  Argyle ;  his  experienced  eye,  at  any  rate, 
might  take  a  glance  of  the  Scottish  Country,  with  advantage 
to  an  invading  General. 

Of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Stapylton's  proceedings  on  this  occa- 
sion we  have  no  notice :  but  he  will  occur  afterwards  in  these 
Letters ;  and  two  years  hence,  on  Cromwell's  second  visit  to 
those  Northern  parts,  we  find  this  recorded:  "Last  Lord's 
Day,"  29th  September,  1050,  "  Mr.  Stapylton  preached  in  the 
High  Church"  of  Edinburgh,  while  we  were  mining  the  Cas- 
tlr  !  —  "  forenoon  and  afternoon,  before  his  Excellency  with 
his  Officers ;  where  was  a  great  concourse  of  people ;  many 
Scots  expressing  much  affection  at  the  doctrine,  in  their  usual 
way  of  groans."8  In  tln-ir  usual  way  of  groans,  while  Mr. 
Stapylton  held  forth:  consider  that!  — Mr.  Robert,  "at  10 
o'clock  at  night  on  the  3d  September,"  next  year,  writes, 

1   Cromwelliana,  p.  48. 

*  Common*  Journalt,  v.  442  ;  Whitlocke,  p.  290. 

•  CYvNiuW/ifini,  p.  92. 


358  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  i«  gept 

"from  the  other  side  of  Severn,"  a  copious  despatch  con- 
cerning the  Battle  of  Worcester,1  and  then  disappears  from 
History. 

The  following  Letter,  of  the  same  date,  was  brought  by  the 
same  Messengers  for  the  Committee  of  Estates. 


LETTER  LXXII. 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  the   Committee  of  Estates  for  the 
Kingdom  of  Scotland:  These. 

"[NEAR  BERWICK,]  16th  Sept.  1648. 

"  RIGHT  HONORABLE,  —  Being  upon  my  approach  to  the 
borders  of  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  I  thought  fit  to  acquaint 
you  of  the  reason  thereof. 

"It  is  well  known  how  injuriously  the  Kingdom  of  England 
was  lately  invaded  by  the  Army  under  Duke  Hamilton ;  con- 
trary to  the  Covenant  and  [to]  our  leagues  of  amity,  and 
against  all  the  engagements  of  love  and  brotherhood  between 
the  two  Nations.  And  notwithstanding  the  pretence  of  your 
late  Declaration,2  published  to  take  with  the  people  of  this 
Kingdom,  the  Commons  of  England  in  Parliament  Assembled 
declared  the  said  Army  so  entering,  Enemies  to  the  Kingdom  ; 
and  those  of  England  who  should  adhere  to  them,  Traitors. 
And  having 3  received  command  to  march  with  a  considerable 
part  of  their  Army,  to  oppose  so  great  a  violation  of  faith  and 
justice,  —  what  a  witness  God,  being  appealed  to,4  hath  borne, 
upon  the  engagement  of  the  two  Armies,  against  the  unright- 
eousness of  man,  not  only  yourselves,  but  this  Kingdom,  yea 
and  a  great  part  of  the  known  world  will,  I  trust,  acknowledge. 
How  dangerous  a  thing  is  it  to  wage  an  unjust  war ;  much 
more,  to  appeal  to  God  the  Righteous  Judge  therein !  We 

1  Cromwelliana,  p.  113. 

2  To  be  found  in  Rushworth ;  read  it  not ! 

3  The  grammar  requires  "  I  having,"  but  the  physiognomy  of  the  sentence 
requires  nothing. 

*  on  Preston  Moor. 


1M«.  LETTER  LXXII.    NEAR    BERWICK.  359 

trust  He  will  persuade  you  better  by  this  manifest  token  of 
His  displeasure;  lest  His  hand  be  stretched  out  yet  more 
against  you,  and  your  poor  People  also,  if  they  will  be 
deceived. 

"  That  which  I  am  to  demand  of  you  is,  The  restitution  of 
the  Garrisons  of  Berwick  and  Carlisle  into  my  hands,  for  the 
use  of  the  Parliament  and  Kingdom  of  England.  If  you  deny 
me  herein,  I  must  make  our  appeal  to  God;  and  c;ill  upon 
Him  for  assistance,  in  what  way  He  shall  direct  us  ;  —  where- in 
we  are,  and  shall  be,  so  far  from  seeking  the  harm  of  the  well- 
affected  people  of  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  that  we  profess  as 
before  the  Lord,  That  (what  difference  an  Army,  necessitated 
in  a  hostile  way  to  recover  the  ancient  rights  and  inheritance 
of  the  Kingdom  under  which  they  serve,  can  make)  1  we  shall 
use  our  endeavors  to  the  utmost  that  the  trouble  may  fall  upon 
the  contrivers  and  authors  of  this  breach,  and  not  upon  the 
poor  innocent  people,  who  have  been  led  and  compelled  iuto 
this  action,  as  many  poor  souls  now  prisoners  to  us  confess. 

"We  thought  ourselves  bound  in  duty  thus  to  expostulate 
with  you,  and  thus  to  profess ;  to  the  end  we  may  bear 
our  integrity  out  before  the  world,  and  may  have  comfort 
in  God,  whatever  the  event  be.  Desiring  your  answer,  I 

rest, 

"Your  Lordships'  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

The  troubles  of  Scotland  are  coming  thick.  The  "En- 
gagers," those  that  "engaged"  with  Hamilton,  are  to  be 
condemned;  then,  before  long,  come  " Resolutioners "  and 
••Protesters;"  and  in  the  wreck  of  the  Hamilton- Argyle 
discussions,  and  general  annotations,  —  all  men  desiring  to 
say  Yes  and  No  instead  of  Yes  or  No,  —  Royalisiu  and  Pres- 
byterianism  alike  are  disastrously  sinking. 

The  Lordships  here  addressed,  aa  "Committee  of  Estates" 


"  no  far  ae  an  Armr,  necessitated  to  vindicate  its  romitry  by  War, 
ran  make  a  dwcriiiiiuiitimi."     Tim  "ancieiit  right**  ami  iulwriuiuce"  are  the 
right  to  ctuxwe  uur  own  &ug  ur  Mwluujj,  au4  BO  iwttU, 
»  TliUftoe, ',  100. 


360  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  18  Sept. 

can  make  no  answer,  for  they  do  not  now  exist  as  Committee 
of  Estates;  —  Argyle  and  Company  are  now  assuming  that 
character:  the  shifting  of  the  dresses,  which  occasions  some 
complexity  in  those  old  Letters,  is  just  going  on.  From 
Argyle  and  Company,  however,  who  see  m  Cromwell  their 
one  sure  stay,  there  are  already  on  the  road  conciliatory  con- 
gratulatory messages,  by  Lairds  and  Majors,  "  from  Falkirk," 
where  the  Whiggamore  Kaid  and  Lanark  are  making  their 
Armistice  or  Treaty.  Whereupon  follows,  with  suitably  vague 
Superscription,  for  Argyle  and  Company:  — 


LETTER  LXXIII. 

"To  the  Right  Honorable  the  Earl  of  London,  Chancellor  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Scotland : 

"  To  be  communicated  to  the  Noblemen,  Gentlemen,  and  Burgesses 
now  in  arms,1  who  dissented  in  Parliament  from  the  late 
Engagement  against  the  Kingdom  of  England. 

"CHESWICK,2  18th  Sept.  1648. 

"  RIGHT  HONORABLE,  —  We  received  yours  from  Falkirk  of 
the  15th  September  instant.  We  have  had  also  a  sight  of 
your  Instructions  given  to  the  Laird  of  Greenhead  and  Major 
Strahan ;  as  also  other  two  Papers  concerning  the  Treaty 
between  your  Lordships  and  the  Enemy;  wherein  your  care 
of  the  interest  of  the  Kingdom  of  England,  for  the  delivery 
of  the  Towns 8  unjustly  taken  from  them,  and  [your]  desire 
to  preserve  the  unity  of  both  Nations,  appears.  By  which 
also  we  understand  the  posture  you  are  in  to  oppose  the 

1  "  The  Whiggamore  Raid,"  as  Turner  calls  it,  now  making  a  Treaty  with 
Lanark,  Monro,  and  the  other  Assignees  of  the  bankrupt  Hamilton  concern. 
Expressly  addressed,  in  the  next  Letter,  as  "  Committee  of  Estates,"  they 
now. 

2  Cheswick,  still  a  Manor-house  "  of  the  Family  of  Strangeways,"  lies  three 
or  four  miles  south  of  Berwick,  on  the  great  road  to  Newcastle  and  London. 

8  Berwick  and  Carlisle,  which  by  agreement  in  1646-7  were  not  to  be 
garrisoned  except  by  consent  of  both  Kingdoms. 


1648.  LETTER  LXXITI.    CHEsWICK.  361 

Enemies  of  the  welfare  and  the  peace  of  both  Kingdoms; 
for  which  we  bless  God  for  His  goodness  to  you ;  and  re- 
joice to  see  the  power  of  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland  in  a 
hopeful  way  to  be  invested  in  the  hands  of  those  who,  we 
trust,  are  taught  of  God  to  seek  His  honor,  and  the  comfort 
of  His  people. 

"  And  give  us  leave  to  say,  as  before  the  Lord,  who  knows 
the  secrets  of  all  hearts,  That,  as  we  think  one  especial  end 
of  Providence  in  permitting  the  enemies  of  God  and  Goodness 
in  lx)th  Kingdoms  to  rise  to  that  height,  and  exercise  such 
tyranny  over  His  people,  was  to  show  the  necessity  of  Unity 
amongst  those  of  both  Nations,  so  we  hope  and  pray  that  the 
late  glorious  dispensation,  in  giving  so  happy  success  against 
your  and  our  Enemies  in  our  victories,  may  be  the  foundation 
of  Union  of  the  People  of  God  in  love  and  amity.  Unto  that 
end  we  shall,  God  assisting,  to  the  utmost  of  our  power  en- 
deavor to  perform  what  may  be  behind  on  our  part :  and  when 
we  shall,  through  any  wilfulness,  fail  therein,  let  this  pro- 
fession rise  up  in  judgment  against  us,  as  having  been  made 
in  hypocrisy,  —  a  severe  avenger  of  which  God  hath  lately 
appeared,  in  His  most  righteous  witnessing  against  the  Army 
under  Duke  Hamilton,  invading  us  under  specious  pretences 
of  piety  and  justice.  We  may  humbly  say,  we  rejoice  with 
more  trembling1  than  to  dare  to  do  such  a  wicked  thing. 

"Upon  our  advance  to  Alnwick,  we  thought  fit  to  send  a 
good  body  of  our  horse  to  the  borders  of  Scotland,  and 
thereby  a  summons  to  the  Garrison  of  Berwick  ; 3  to  which 
having  received  a  dilatory  answer,  I  desired  a  safe-convoy  for 
Colonel  Bright  and  the  Scoutmaster-General  of  this  Army 
to  go  to  the  Committee  of  Estates  in  Scotland ;  who,  I  hope, 
will  have  the  opportunity  to  be  with  your  Lordships  before 
this  come  to  your  hands,  —  and,  according  as  they  are  in- 
structed,  will  let  yoxir  Lordships  in  some  measure,  as  well 
as  we  could  in  so  much  ignorance  of  your  condition,  know 
our  affections  to  you.  And  understanding  things  more  fully 

1  "Juin  tn-inliling  with  your  mirth"  (Scrum!  I'aulm). 
»  Utter  IA.\ 


362  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  18  Sept 

by  yours,  we  now  thought  fit  to  make  you  this  [present] 
return. 

"  The  command  we  received,  upon  the  defeat  of  Duke  Ham- 
ilton, was,  To  prosecute  this  business  until  the  Enemy  were  put 
out  of  a  condition  or  hope  of  growing  into  a  new  Army,  and 
the  Garrisons  of  Berwick  and  Carlisle  were  reduced.  Four 
regiments  of  our  horse  and  some  dragoons,  who  had  followed 
the  Enemy  into  the  south  parts,1  being  now  come  up ;  and  this 
country  not  able  to  bear  us,  the  cattle  and  old  corn  thereof 
having  been  wasted  by  Moiiro  and  the  forces  with  him ;  the 
Governor  of  Berwick  also  daily  victualling  his  Garrison  from 
Scotland  side ;  and  the  Enemy  yet  in  so  considerable  a  pos- 
ture as  by  these  Gentlemen  and  your  Papers  we  understand,  — 
still  prosecuting  their  former  design,  having  gotten  the  advan- 
tage of  Stirling  Bridge,  and  so  much  of  Scotland  at  their 
backs  to  enable  them  thereunto ;  and  your  Lordships'  condi- 
tion not  being  such,  at  present,  as  may  compel  them  to  submit 
to  the  honest  and  necessary  things  you  have  proposed  to 
them  for  the  good  of  both  the  Kingdoms :  we  have  thought 
fit,  out  of  the  sense  of  duty  to  the  commands  laid  upon  us  by 
those  who  have  sent  us,  and  to  the  end  we  might  be  in  a  pos- 
ture more  ready  to  give  you  assistance,  and  not  be  wanting  to 
what  we  have  made  so  large  professions  of,  —  to  advance  into 
Scotland  with  the  Army.2  And  we  trust,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  the  common  Enemy  will  thereby  the  sooner  be  brought 
to  a  submission  to  you  :  and  we  thereby  shall  do  what  becomes 
us  in  order  to  the  obtaining  of  our  Garrisons  ;  engaging  our- 
selves that,  so  soon  as  we  shall  know  from  you  that  the  Enemy 
will  yield  to  the  things  you  have  proposed  to  them,  and  we 
have  our  Garrisons  delivered  to  us,  we  shall  forthwith  depart 
out  of  your  Kingdom  ;  and  in  the  mean  time  be  [even]  more 
tender  towards  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  in  the  point  of 
charge,  than  if  we  were  in  our  own  Kingdom. 

"  If  we  shall  receive  from  you  any  desire  of  a  more  speedy 
advance,  we  shall  readily  yield  compliance  therewith;  —  desir- 

1  Uttoxeter  and  thereabouts. 

2  Neither  does  the  sentence  end  even  here !     It  is  dreadfully  bad  composi- 
tion ;  yet  contains  a  vigorous  clear  sense  in  it. 


1H4*  LETTER  LXXII1.    CHESWICK.  363 

ing  also  to  hear  from  you  how  affairs  stand.     This  being  the 
result  of  a  Council  of  War,  I  present  it  to  you  as  the  expres- 
sion of  their  affections  and  of   my  own ;  who  am,  my  Lords, 
"Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OUVER   CROMWELL."1 

Cheswick,  where  Oliver  now  has  his  head-quarter,  lies,  as  we 
s;ii<l,  some  three  or  four  miles  south  of  Berwick,  on  the  Eng- 
lish side  of  Tweed.  Part  of  his  forces  crossed  the  River,  I 
find,  next  day ;  a  stray  regiment  had  without  order  gone  across 
the  day  before.  —  The  "  Laird  of  Greenhead,"  Sir  Andrew  Ker, 
is  known  in  the  old  Scotch  Books  ;  still  better,  Major  Strahan, 
who  makes  a  figure  on  his  own  footing  by  and  by.  The  Anti- 
Hamilton  or  Whiggamore  Party  are  all  inclined  to  Cromwell ; 
inclined,  and  yet  averse :  wishing  to  say  "  Yes  and  No : "  if 
that  were  possible  !  — 

The  answer  to  this  Letter  immediately  follows  in  Thurloe; 
but  it  is  not  worth  giving.  The  intricate  long-windedness  of 
mere  Loudons,  Argyles  and  the  like,  on  such  subjects,  at  this 
time  of  day  is  not  tolerable  to  either  gods  or  men.  "We, 
Loudon,  Argyle  and  Company,  are  very  sensible  how  right- 
eously '  God  who  judgeth  the  Earth '  has  dealt  with  Hamil- 
ton and  his  followers ;  an  intolerable,  unconscionable  race  of 
men,  tending  towards  mere  ruin  of  religion,  and  '  grievously 
oppressive'  to  us.  We  hope  all  things  from  you,  respectar 
ble  Lieutenant-General.  We  have  sent  influential  persons  to 
order  the  giving  up  of  Berwick  and  Carlisle  instantly ;  and 
hope  these  Garrisons  will  obey  them.  We  rest,  —  Humbly 
devoted,  —  Argyle,  Loudon  and  Company." 

Influential  Persons:  "Friday  last,  the  22d  September,  the 
Marquis  of  Argyle,  the  Lord  Elcho,  Sir  John  Scot  and  others 
came  as  Commissioners  from  the  Honest  Party  in  Scotland  to 
the  Laird  of  Mordington's  House  at  Mordington,  to  the  Lieu- 
tenant-General's quarters,  two  miles  within  Scotland.  That 
night  the  Marquis  of  Argyle  sent  a  trum]»ot  to  Berwick  "  *  — 
Berwick  made  delays,  needed  to  send  to  the  Earl  of  I  anark 

1  TLurk*.  i.  101.  »  Kualiworili.  vii.  1232. 


364  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL  WAft.  20  Sept. 

first.  Lanark,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  consent.  Meanwhile  the 
Lieutenant-General  opens  his  parallels,  diligently  prepares  to 
besiege,  if  necessary.  Among  these  influential  Persons,  a  quick 
reader  notices  "  Sir  John  Scot,"  — and  rejoices  to  recognize  him, 
in  that  dim  transient  way,  for  the  "  Director  of  the  Chancery," 
and  Laird  of  Scotstarvet  in  Fife,  himself  in  rather  a  staggering 
state 1  at  present,  worthy  old  gentleman ! 


PEOCLAMATION. 

"  WHEREAS  we  are  marching  with  the  Parliament's  Army 
into  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  in  pursuance  of  the  remain- 
ing part  of  the  Enemy  who  lately  invaded  the  Kingdom  of 
England,  and  for  the  recovery  of  the  Garrisons  of  Berwick 
and  Carlisle : 

"  These  are  to  declare,  That  if  any  Officer  or  Soldier  under 
my  command  shall  take  or  demand  any  money ;  or  shall  vio- 
lently take  any  horses,  goods  or  victual,  without  order ;  or  shall 
abuse  the  people  in  any  sort,  —  he  shall  be  tried  by  a  Council 
of  War :  and  the  said  person  so  offending  shall  be  punished, 
according  to  the  Articles  of  War  made  for  the  government  of 
the  Army  in  the  Kingdom  of  England,  which  punishment  is 
death. 

"  Each  Colonel,  or  other  chief  Officer  in  every  regiment,  is 
to  transcribe  a  copy  of  this ;  and  to  cause  the  same  to  be  deliv- 
ered to  each  Captain  in  his  regiment :  and  every  said  Cap- 
tain of  each  respective  troop  and  company  is  to  publish  the 
same  to  his  troop  or  company ;  and  to  take  a  strict  course 
that  nothing  be  done  contrary  hereunto. 

"  Given  under  my  hand,  this  20th  September,  1648. 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  2 

1  Scot  of  Scotstarvet's  Staggering  State  of  Scots  Statesmen  is  the  strange  Title 
of  his  strange  little  Book :  not  a  Satire  at  all,  but  a  Homily  on  Life's  Noth- 
ingness, enforced  by  examples ;  gives  in  brief  compass,  not  without  a  rude 
Laconic  geniality,  the  cream  of  Scotch  Biographic  History  in  that  age,  and 
unconsciously  a  curious  self-portrait  of  the  Writer  withal 

2  Newspapers  in  Cromwdliana,  p.  46. 


1048.  LETTER  LXX1V.    NORHAM. 

LETTER   LXXIV. 

u  For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Committee  of  Estates  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Scotland,  at  Edinburgh  :   These. 

"  NORHAM,  21st  Sept.  1648. 

"  RIGHT  HONORABLE,  —  We  perceive  that  there  was,  upon 
our  advance  to  the  Borders,  the  last  Lord's  Day,1  a  very  dis- 
orderly carriage  by  some  horse ;  who,  without  order,  did  steal 
over  the  Tweed,  and  plundered  some  places  in  the  Kingdom 
ot  Scotland  :  and  since  that,  some  stragglers  have  been  alike 
faulty ;  to  the  wrong  of  the  inhabitants,  and  to  our  very  great 
grid'  of  heart. 

"  I  have  been  as  diligent  as  I  can  to  find  out  the  men  that 
have  done  the  wrong,  and  I  am  still  in  the  discovery  thereof ; 
and  I  trust  there  shall  be  nothing  wanting  on  my  part  that 
may  testify  how  much  we  abhor  such  things  :  and  to  the  best 
of  my  information  I  cannot  find  the  least  guilt  of  the  fact a  to 
lie  upon  the  regiments  of  this  Army,  but  upon  some  of  the 
Northern  horse,  who  have  not  been  under  our  discipline  and 
government,  until  just  that  we  came  into  these  parts. 

•  I  have  commanded  those  forces  away  back  again  into  Eng- 
land ;  and  I  hope  the  exemplarity  of  justice  will  testify  for  us 
our  great  detestation  of  the  fact.9  For  the  remaining  regi- 
ments, which  are  of  our  old  forces,  we  may  engage  for  them 
their  officers  will  keep  them  from  doing  any  such  things:  and 
we  are  confident  that,  saving  victual,  they  shall  not  take  any- 
thing from  the  inhabitants;  and  in  that  also  they  shall  be  so 
fiir  from  being  their  own  carvers,  as  that  they  shall  submit  to 
have  provisions  ordered  and  proportioned  by  the  consent,  and 
with  the  direction,  of  the  Committees  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Country,  and  not  otherwise,  if  they  *  please  to  be  assisting  to 
us  therein. 

"  I  thought  fit,  for  the  preventing  of  misunderstanding,  to 
give  your  Lordships  this  account ;  and  rest,  my  Lords, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVKK  CROMWELL."  ' 

»  Slit  Sept  1648  is  Thursday  ;  last  Sunday  is  17th. 
1  "  fait."  8  these  Committees. 

4  Tliurl'H-,  i  103  (from  the  Public  Itocurd*  of  Scotland,  iu  the  Laigh  I'ar- 
liiuueut  IIuuw  at  Edinburgh). 


366  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  21  Sept. 

"  Upon  our  entrance  into  Scotland,  a  regiment  lately  raised 
in  the  Bishopric  of  Durham,  under  Colonel  Wren,  behaved 
themselves  rudely ;  which  as  soon  as  the  Lieutenant-General 
of  this  Army"  Cromwell  "had  notice  of,  he  caused  it  to  ren- 
dezvous on  Tweed  banks;  and  the  Scottish  people  having 
challenged  several  horses  taken  from  them  by  that  Kegiment, 
the  Lieutenant-General  caused  the  said  horses  to  be  restored 
back,  and  the  plunderers  to  be  cashiered.  A  Lieutenant  that 
countenanced  such  deeds  was  delivered  into  the  Marshal's 
hands ;  and  the  Colonel  himself,  conniving  at  them,  and  not 
doing  justice  upon  the  offenders  when  complaints  were  brought 
in  to  him,  was  taken  from  the  head  of  his  Regiment,  and  sus- 
pended from  executing  his  place,  until  he  had  answered  at  a 
Council  of  War  for  his  negligence  in  the  performance  of  his 
duty.  This  notable  and  impartial  piece  of  justice  did  take 
very  much  with  the  people ;  and  the  Kegiment  is  ordered  back 
into  Northumberland,"  l  —  as  we  see. 

The  answer  of  "  Loudon  Cancellarius  "  to  this  Letter  from 
Norham  is  given  in  the  old  Newspapers.2  The  date  is  Edin- 
burgh, 28th  of  September,  1648.  Loudon  of  course  is  very 
thankful  for  such  tenderness  and  kind  civilities  ;  thankful  es- 
pecially that  the  Honorable  Lieutenant-General  has  come  so 
near,  and  by  the  dread  of  him  forced  the  Malignants  at  Stir- 
ling Bridge  to  come  to  terms,  and  leave  the  Well-affected  at 
peace.  A  very  great  blessing  to  us  "the  near  distance  of 
your  forces  at  this  time," — though  once  (you  ken  varry  weel, 
and  Whitlocke  kens),  we  considered  you  an  incendiary,  and  I, 
O  Honorable  Lieutenant-General,  would  so  fain  have  had  you. 
extinguished,  —  not  knowing  what  I  did  ! 

Norham  lies  on  the  South  shore  of  the  Tweed,  some  seven 
miles  above  Berwick :  — 

"  Day  set  on  Norham's  castled  steep."8 

Cromwell  went  across  to  Mordington,  and  met  the  "  Influen- 
tial Persons,"  on  the  morrow.  As  the  following  Letter,  tak- 
ing a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  matter,  will  abundantly 
manifest. 

1  Perfect  Diurnal,  October  2d  to  9th  (in  CromweUiana,  p.  47). 
*  CromweUiana,  p.  47.  *  Scott's  Marmion. 


1648  LETTER  LXXV.    BERWICK.  367 

LETTER  LXXV. 

[To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons :    These.] 

"BERWICK,  2d  October,  1648. 

«  SIR,  —  I  hrvve  formerly  represented  to  the  Committee  at 
Derby  House,1  how  far  I  have  prosecuted  your  business  in 
relation  to  the  Commands  I  did  receive  from  them.  To  wit : 
That  I  have  sent  a  party  of  horse  with  a  Summons  to  Ber- 
wick ;  and  a  Letter  to  the  Committee  of  Estates,  which  I  sup- 
posed did  consist  of  the  Earl  of  Lanark  and  his  participants  ; 
and  a  Letter  of  kindness  and  affection  to  the  Marquis  of 
Argyle,  and  the  Well-affected  Party  in  arms  at  [or  about] 
Edinburgh,  with  credence  to  Colonel  Bright  and  Mr.  William 
Rowe,  Scoutmaster  of  the  Army,  To  let  them  know  upon  what 
grounds  and  with  what  intentions  we  came  into  their  King- 
dom :  And  how  that,  in  the  mean  time,  the  Marquis  of  Argyle 
and  the  rest  at  Edinburgh  had  sent  Sir  Andrew  Ker,  Laird 
of  Greenhead,  and  Major  Strahan  to  me,  with  a  Letter,  and 
].np'-rs  of  Instructions,  expressing  their  good  affection  to  the 
Kingdom  of  England,  and  disclaiming  the  late  Engagement; 
—  tn Aether  with  my  Answer  to  the  said  Letters  and  papers. 
Implicates  of  all  which  I  sent  to  the  Committee  at  Derby 
Ilcuse,  and  therefore  forbear  to  trouble  you  with  the  things 
themselves.  —  I  think  now  fit  to  give  you  an  account,  what 
farther  progress  has  been  made  in  your  business. 

"  The  two  [Scotch]  Armies  being  drawn  up,  the  one  under 
Lanark  and  Monro  at  Stirling,  and  the  other  under  the  Earl 
of  Leven  and  Lieutenant-General  Lesley  betwixt  that  and 
Edinburgh  ;  the  heads  of  these  two  Armies  being  upon  treaties 
concerning  their  own  affairs ;  and  I  having  given,  as  I  hoped, 
sufficient  satisfaction  concerning  the  justice  of  your  cause, 
and  the  clearness  of  my  intentions  in  entering  that  King- 
dom,—  [I]  did,  upon  Thursday,  21st  September,  and  two 
Ixifore,  the  T \vn-.l  Ix-in^  forcible,  march  over  Tweed  at 

1  I..-'./  I,ftt«-r.  ilati-.l  until  September,  nx-apitulatiug  what  id  already  known 
to  UK  lii-re.  Ajijieudix,  No.  13. 


368  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  2  Oct. 

Norham  into  Scotland,  with  four  regiments  of  horse  and  some 
dragoons,  and  six  regiments  of  foot ;  and  there  quartered ; 
my  head-quarters  being  at  the  Lord  Mordington's  House. 

"  Where  hearing  that  the  Marquis  of  Argyle,  the  Lord  El- 
cho,  and  some  others,  were  coming  to  me  from  the  Commit- 
tee of  Estates  assembled  at  Edinburgh,  —  I  went,  on  Friday, 
22d  September,  some  part  of  the  way  to  wait  upon  his  Lord- 
ship. Who,  when  he  was  come  to  his  quarters,  delivered  me 
a  Letter,  of  which  the  enclosed  is  a  copy,1  signed  by  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  by  warrant  of  the  Committee  of  Estates.  And 
after  some  time  spent  in  giving  and  receiving  mutual  satisfac- 
tion concerning  each  other's  integrity  and  clearness,  —  wherein 
I  must  be  bold  to  testify,  for  that  noble  Lord  the  Marquis, 
the  Lord  Elcho,  and  the  other  Gentlemen  with  him,  that  I 
have  found  nothing  in  them  [other]  than  what  becomes  Chris- 
tians and  men  of  honor, — the  next  day  it  was  resolved,  that 
the  command  of  the  Committee  of  Estates  to  the  Governor 
of  Berwick,  for  rendering  the  Town,  should  be  sent  to  him, 
by  the  Lord  Elcho  and  Colonel  Scot.  Which  accordingly  was 
done.  But  he,  pretending  that  he  had  not  received  the  com- 
mand of  that  place  from  those  hands  that  now  demanded  it  of 
him,  desired  liberty  to  send  to  the  Earl  of  Lanark  ;  engaging 
himself  then  to  give  his  positive  answer,  and  intimating  it 
should  be  satisfactory. 

"  Whilst  these  things  were  in  transacting,  I  ordered  Major- 
General  Lambert  to  march  towards  Edinburgh,  with  six 
regiments  of  horse  and  a  regiment  of  dragoons.  Who  accord- 
ingly did  so;  and  quartered  in  East  Lothian,  within  six  miles 
of  Edinburgh ;  the  foot  lying  in  his  rear  at  Copperspath  and 
thereabouts.2 

"  Upon  Friday,  29th  September,  came  an  Order  from  the  Earl 
of  Lanark,  and  divers  Lords  of  his  Party,  requiring  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Berwick  to  march  out  of  the  Town ;  which  accord- 
ingly he  did,  on  Saturday,  the  last  of  September ;  —  at  which 
time  I  entered ;  and  have  placed  a  Garrison  there  for  your  use. 
The  Governor  would  fain  have  capitulated  for  the  English 

1  Conceivable  by  us  here. 

8  What  follows  now  is  published  as  a  fragment  in  the  Newspapers. 


J(548.  LETTER  LXXVI.    BERWICK.  369 

[who  wero  with  him] ;  but  we,  having  the  advantage  upon  him, 
would  not  hear  of  it :  so  that  they  are  submitted  to  your  mercy, 
and  are  under  the  consideration  of  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig ;  who, 
I  believe,  will  give  you  a  good  account  of  them  ;  and  who  hath 
already  turned  out  the  Malignant  Mayor,  and  put  an  honest 
man  in  his  room. 

"  I  have  also  received  an  Order  for  Carlisle ;  and  have  sent 
Colonel  Bright,  with  horse  and  foot  to  receive  it ;  Sir  Andrew 
Ker  and  Colonel  Scot  being  gone  with  him  to  require  observ- 
ance of  the  Order ;  there  having  been  a  Treaty  and  an  agree- 
ment betwixt  the  two  parties  in  Scotland,  To  disband  all  forces, 
except  fifteen  hundred  horse  and  foot  under  the  Earl  of  Leven, 
which  are  to  be  kept  to  see  all  remaining  forces  disbanded. 

"  Having  some  other  things  to  desire  from  the  Committee  of 
Estates  at  Edinburgh  for  your  service,  I  am  myself  going  thith- 
erward this  day ;  and  so  soon  as  I  shall  be  able  to  give  you  a 
farther  account  thereof,  I  shall  do  it.  In  the  mean  time,  I 
make  it  my  desire  that  the  Garrison  of  Berwick  (into  which 
I  have  placed  a  regiment  of  foot,  which  shall  be  attended  also 
by  a  regiment  of  horse)  may  be  provided  for;  and  that  Sir 
Arthur  Haselrig  may  receive  commands  to  supply  it  with  guns 
and  ammunition  from  Newcastle ;  and  be  otherwise  enabled  by 
you  to  furnish  this  Garrison  with  all  other  necessaries,  accord- 
ing as  a  place  of  that  importance  will  require.  Desiring  that 
these  mercies  may  beget  trust  and  thankfulness  to  God  the  only 
author  of  them,  and  an  improvement  of  them  to  His  glory  and 
the  good  of  this  poor  Kingdom,  I  rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OUVEB  CROMWELL."  l 


LETTER    LXXVI. 

FOLLOWS  here  a  small  Note,  enclosing  a  duplicate  of  the 
above  Letter,  for  Fairfax ;  written  chiefly  to  enforce  the 
request  as  to  Haselrig  and  Berwick,  — "  Hasleridge n  and 

1  Tanner  MSB.  (iu  Gary's  Memorial*,  ii.  18);  Newspapers  (Cromwelliana. 
p.  48). 

TOL.    XTII.  24 


370  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  2  Oct. 

"Bavwick,"  as  Oliver  here  spells.  Haselrig  is  Governor  of 
Newcastle ;  a  man  of  chief  authority  in  those  Northern  re- 
gions. Fairfax,  who  has  been  surveying,  regulating,  and 
extensively  dining  in  Town-halls,  through  the  Eastern  Coun- 
ties, is  now  at  St.  Albans,1  —  the  Army's  head-quarters  for 
some  time  to  come. 

"  For  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General  Fairfax,  at  St.  Albans : 

These. 

"BERWICK,  2d  October,  1648. 

"MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  EXCELLENCY,  —  I  received  your 
late  Commissions,  with  your  directions  how  they  shall  be  dis- 
posed ;  which  I  hope  I  shall  pursue  to  your  satisfaction. 

"  I  having  sent  an  account  to  the  House  of  Commons,  am 
bold  (being  straitened  in  time)  to  present  you  with  a  Duplicate 
thereof,  which  I  trust  will  give  you  satisfaction.  I  hope  there 
is  a  very  good  understanding  between  the  Honest  Party  of 
Scotland  and  us  here  ;  better  than  some  would  have.  —  Sir,  I 
beg  of  yonr  Excellency  to  write  to  Sir  A.  Haselrig  to  take  care 
of  Berwick ;  he  having  at  Newcastle  all  things  necessary  for 
the  Garrison  [here],  which  is  left  destitute  of  all,  and  may  be 
lost  if  this  be  not  [done].  I  beg  of  your  Lordship  a  Commis- 
sion to  be  speeded  to  him.  I  have  no  more  at  present ;  but 
rest,  my  Lord, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

In  these  weeks,  once  more,  there  is  an  intensely  interesting 
Treaty  going  on  in  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  Treaty  of  Forty  Daj's 
with  the  King;  solemn  Parliamentary  Commissioners  on  one 
hand,  Majesty  with  due  Assistants  on  the  other,  very  solemnly 
debating  and  negotiating  day  after  day,  for  forty  days  and 
longer,  in  the  Town  of  Newport  there.8  The  last  hope  of 

1  Since  16th  September,  Rushworth,  vii.  1271. 

2  Sloane  MSS.  1519,  f.  92. 

8  Warwick,  pp. 321-329;  Rushworth,  vii. &c. &c.  Began  18th  September; 
was  lengthened  out  by  successive  permissions  to  the  18th,  25th,  and  even  27th 
of  Novembei. 


inw.  LETTER  LXXVI.    BERWICK.  371 

Presbyterian  Royalism  in  this  world.  Not  yet  the  last  hope 
of  his  Majesty ;  who  still,  after  all  the  sanguinary  ruin  of  this 
year,  feels  himself  a  tower  of  strength  ;  inexpugnable  in  his 
divine  right,  which  no  sane  man  can  question ;  settlement  of 
the  Nation  impossible  without  him.  Happily,  at  any  rate,  it  is 
the  last  of  the  Treaties  with  Charles  Stuart,  —  for  History 
begins  to  be  weary  of  them.  Treaty  which  came  to  nothing, 
as  all  the  others  had  done.  Which  indeed  could  come  only  to 
nothing;  his  Majesty  not  having  the  smallest  design  to  al>i<l*> 
by  it ;  his  Majesty  eagerly  consulting  about  "  escape  "  all  the 
while,  —  escape  to  Orinond  who  is  now  in  Ireland  again,  escape 
some-whither,  any-whither ;  —  and  considering  the  Treaty 
mainly  as  a  piece  of  Dramaturgy,  which  must  be  handsomely 
done  in  the  interim,  and  leave  a  good  impression  on  the  Pub- 
lic.1 Such  is  the  Treaty  of  Forty  Days ;  a  mere  torpor  on  the 
page  of  History ;  which  the  reader  shall  conceive  for  himself 
ad  libitum.  The  Army,  from  head-quarters  at  St.  Albans,  re- 
gards him  and  it  with  a  sternly  watchful  eye ;  not  participat- 
ing in  the  hopes  of  Presbyterian  Royalism  at  all ;  —  and  there 
begin  to  be  Army  Councils  held  again. 

As  for  Cromwell,  he  is  gone  forward  to  Edinburgh ;  reaches 
Seaton,  the  Earl  of  Winton's  House,  which  is  the  head-quarters 
of  the  horse,  a  few  miles  east  of  Edinburgh,  on  Tuesday  even- 
ing. Next  day,  Wednesday,  4th  October,  1648,  come  certain 
Dignitaries  of  the  Argyle  or  Whiggamore  Party,  and  escort 
him  honorably  into  Edinburgh;  "to  the  Earl  of  Murrie's 
House  in  the  Cannigate  [so,  in  good  Edinburgh  Scotch,  do  the 
old  Pamphlets  spell  it] ;  where  a  strong  guard,"  an  English 
Guard,  "  is  appointed  to  keep  constant  watch  at  the  Gate ; " 
and  all  manner  of  Earls  and  persons  of  Whiggamore  quality 
come  to  visit  the  Lieutenant-General ;  and  even  certain  Clergy 
come,  who  have  a  leaning  that  way.2  —  The  Earl  of  Moray's 

1  Hid  own  Letters  (in  Wagstaff's  Vindication  of  the.  Royal  Martyr,  in  Carte's 
Ormana,  Ac.) ;  Bee  Godwin,  ii.  COtMi23. 

*  True  Account  of  the  great  Expressions  of  Love  from  the  Noblemen,  Ac. 
of  Scotland  unto  Lieutenjuit-Genera)  Cromwell  and  hia  Officers  ;  In  a  Letter 
to  a  Frinud  (London,  1C48  ;  Kind's  I'limpUM*.  -mall  4to,  no.  :i'JL',  §  2C>,  dated 
With  UM  pea  23U  October) :  Abridged  iu  Rualiworth,  vii. 


372  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL  WAR.  5  Oct. 

House,  Moray  House,  still  stands  in  the  Canongate  of  Edin- 
burgh, well  known  to  the  inhabitants  there.  A  solid  spacious 
mansion,  which,  when  all  bright  and  new  two  hundred  years 
ago,  must  have  been  a  very  adequate  lodging.  There  are  re- 
mains of  noble  gardens  ;  one  of  the  noble  state-rooms,  when  I 
last  saw  it,  was  an  extensive  Paper  Warehouse.  There  is  no 
doubt  but  the  Lieutenant-General  did  lodge  here ;  Guthry 
seeming  to  contradict  this  old  Pamphlet,  turns  out  to  con- 
firm it.1 

The  Lieutenant-General  has  received  certain  Votes  of  Par- 
liament,2 sanctioning  what  he  has  done  in  reference  to  these 
Scotch  Parties,  and  encouraging  and  authorizing  him  to  do 
more.  Of  which  circumstance,  in  the  following  official  Docu- 
ment, he  fails  not  to  avail  himself,  on  the  morrow  after  his 
arrival. 


LETTER  LXXVn. 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Committee  of  Estates  for  the 
Kingdom  of  Scotland :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  5th  October,  1648. 

"  RIGHT  HONORABLE,  —  I  shall  ever  be  ready  to  bear  wit- 
ness of  your  Lordships'  forwardness  to  do  right  to  the  King- 
dom of  England,  in  restoring  the  Garrisons  of  Berwick  and 
Carlisle ;  and  having  received  so  good  a  pledge  of  your  resolu- 
tions to  maintain  amity  and  a  good  understanding  between  the 
Kingdoms  of  England  and  Scotland,  it  makes  me  not  to  doubt 
but  that  your  Lordships  will  farther  grant  what  in  justice  and 
reason  may  be  demanded. 

"  I  can  assure  your  Lordships,  That  the  Kingdom  of  England 
did  foresee  that  wicked  design  of  the  Malignants  in  Scotland 
to  break  all  engagements  of  faith  and  honesty  between  the 
Nations,  and  to  take  from  the  Kingdom  of  England  the  Towns 
of  Berwick  and  Carlisle.  And  although  they  could  have  pre- 

1  Guthry's  Memoirs,  p.  297.     For  a  description  of  the  place,  see  Chambers't 
Edinburgh  Journal,  21st  January,  1837. 

2  Commons  Journals,  28th  September,  1648. 


1043.  LETTER  LXXVII.    EDINBURGH.  373 

vented  the  loss  of  those  considerable  Towns,  without  breach 
of  the  Treaty,  by  laying  forces  near  unto  them ;  yet  such  was 
the  tenderness  of  the  Parliament  of  England  not  to  give  the 
least  suspicion  of  a  breach  with  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland, 
that  they  did  forboar  to  do  anything  therein.  And  it  is  not 
unknown  to  your  Lordships,  when  the  Malignants  had  gotten 
the  power  of  your  Kingdom,  how  they  protected  and  employed 
our  English  Malignants,  though  demanded  by  our  Parliament; 
and  possessed  themselves  of  those  Towns ;  —  and  with  what 
violence  and  unheard-of  cruelties  they  raised  an  Army,  and 
began  a  War,  and  invaded  the  Kingdom  of  England;  and 
endeavored,  to  the  uttermost  of  their  power,  to  engage  both 
Kingdoms  in  a  perpetual  Quarrel,  and  what  blood  they  have 
spilt  in  our  Kingdom,  and  what  great  loss  and  prejudice  was 
brought  upon  our  Nation,  even  to  the  endangering  the  total 
ruin  thereof. 

"  And  although  God  did,  by  a  most  mighty  and  strong  hand, 
and  that  in  a  wonderful  manner,  destroy  their  designs ;  yet 
it  is  apparent  that  the  same  ill-affected  spirit  still  remains; 
and  that  divers  Persons  of  great  quality  and  power,  who  were 
either  the  Contrivers,  Actors,  or  Abettors  of  the  late  unjust 
War  made  upon  the  Kingdom  of  England,  are  now  in  Scot- 
land ;  who  undoubtedly  do  watch  for  all  advantages  and 
opportunities  to  raise  dissensions  and  divisions  between  the 
Nations. 

"Now  forasmuch  as  I  am  commanded,  To  prosecute  the 
remaining  part  of  the  Army  that  invaded  the  Kingdom  of 
England,  wheresoever  it  should  go,  to  prevent  the  like  nris- 

:  Aii'l  considering  that  d Ivors  of  that  Army  are  retired 
into  Scotland,  and  that  some  of  the  heads  of  those  Malignants 
were  raising  new  forces  in  Scotland  to  carry  on  the  same  de- 
sign ;  and  that  they  will  certainly  be  ready  to  do  the  like  upon 
all  occasions  of  advantage  :  And  forasmuch  as  the  Kingdom  of 

i IK!  hath  lately  received  so  great  damage  by  the  failing 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland  in  not  suppressing  Malignants 
and  Tnrciiiliarirs  as  they  ought  to  have  done;  and  in  suffering 
Persons  to  be  put  iu  places  of  great  trust  in  the  Kingdom,  who 


374  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  5  Oct. 

by  their  interest  in  the  Parliament  and  the  Countries,  brought 
the  Kingdom  of  Scotland  so  far  as  they  could,  by  an  unjust 
Engagement,  to  invade  and  make  War  upon  their  Brethren  of 
England  : 

"  [Therefore,]  rny  Lords,  I  hold  myself  obliged,  in  prose- 
cution of  my  Duty  and  Instructions,  to  demand,  That  youi 
Lordships  will  give  assurance  in  the  name  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Scotland,  that  you  will  not  admit  or  suffer  any  that  have  been 
active  in,  or  consenting  to,  the  said  Engagement  against  Eng- 
land, or  have  lately  been  in  arms  at  Stirling  or  elsewhere  in 
the  maintenance  of  that  Engagement,  to  be  employed  in  any 
public  Place  or  Trust  whatsoever.  And  this  is  the  least  secu- 
rity I  can  demand.  I  have  received  an  Order  from  both  Houses 
of  the  Parliament  of  England,1  which  I  hold  fit  to  commu- 
nicate to  your  Lordships  ;  whereby  you  will  understand  the 
readiness  of  the  Kingdom  of  England  to  assist  you  who  were 
dissenters  from  that  Invasion ;  and  I  doubt  not  but  your  Lord- 
ships will  be  as  ready  to  give  such  farther  satisfaction  as  they 
in  their  wisdoms  shall  find  cause  to  desire. 

"  Your  Lordships'  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  a 

This  was  presented  on  Thursday  to  the  Dignitaries  sitting 
in  the  Laigh  Parliament-House  in  the  City  of  Edinburgh. 
During  which  same  day  came  "  the  Lord  Provost  to  pay  his 
respects  "  at  Moray  House  ;  came  "  old  Sir  William  Dick,"  an 
old  Provost  nearly  ruined  by  his  well-affected  Loans  of  Money 
in  these  Wars,  "  and  made  an  oration  in  name  of  the  rest ; " 
—  came  many  persons,  and  quality  carriages,  making  Moray 
House  a  busy  place  that  day ;  "  of  which  I  hope  a  good  fruit 
will  appear." 

Loudon  Cancellarius  and  Company,  from  the  Laigh  Parlia- 
ment-House, respond  with  the  amplest  assent  next  day :  8  and 

1  Votes  of  September  28th  ;  Commons  Journals,  vi.  37  :  "  received  the  day 
we  entered  Edinburgh  "  (Rushworth,  ubi  suprk). 

2  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  392,  §  19  :  Printed  by  order  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

8  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  392,  §  19. 


1648.  LETTER  LXXVIII     DALHOUSIE.  375 

on  the  morrow,  Saturday,  all  business  being  adjusted,  and 
Lambert  left  with  two  horse-regiinents  to  protect  the  Laigh 
Parliament-House  from  Lanarks  and  Malignauts,  —  "  when  we 
were  about  to  come  away,  several  coaches  were  sent  to  bring 
up  the  Lieutenant-General,  the  Earl  of  Leven  "  Governor  of 
the  Castle  and  Scotch  Commander-iu-Chief,  "  with  Sir  Arthur 
Haselrig  and  the  rest  of  the  Officers,  to  Edinburgh  Castle ; 
where  was  provided  a  very  sumptuous  Banquet,"  old  Leven 
doing  the  honors,  "  my  Lord  Marquis  of  Argyle  and  divers 
other  Lords  being  present  to  grace  the  entertainment.  At  our 
departure,  many  pieces  of  ordnance  and  a  volley  of  small  shot 
was  given  us  from  the  Castle ;  and  some  Lords  convoying  us 
out  of  the  City,  we  there  parted."  The  Lord  Provost  had 
•  I-  frayed  us,  all  the  while,  in  the  handsomest  manner.  We 
proceeded  to  Dalhousie,  the  Seat  of  the  Ramsays,  near  Dal- 
keith  :  on  the  road  towards  Carlisle  and  home,  —  by  Selkirk 
and  Hawick,  I  conclude.  Here  we  stay  till  Monday  morning, 
and  leave  orders,  and  write  Letters. 


LETTER  LXXVIIL 

A  PRIVATE  Note  in  behalf  of  "  this  Bearer,  Colonel  Robert 
Montgomery,"  now  hastening  up  to  Town  ;  with  whom  we 
shall  make  some  farther  acquaintance,  in  another  quarter,  by 
and  by.  Doubtless  the  request  was  complied  with. 


u  For  the  HonoroJjIf  \\'i  Ilium  Li'vihall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Jlonorable  House  of  Commons  :   These. 

"  DALIIOUSIE,  8th  October,  1648. 

"  SIR,  —  Upon  the  desire  of  divers  Noblemen  and  others  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  I  am  bold  to  become  a  suitor  to  you 
on  the  behalf  of  this  Gentleman,  the  Bearer,  Colonel  Robert 
Montgomery;  sbn-in-law1  to  the  Earl  of  Eglinton.  Wlx>sc 
faithfulness  to  you  in  the  late  troubles  may  render  him  worthy 

1  Mistake  nf  tlir  Lieutenant-General's  for  "son;"  —  "youngest  son/'  say 
the  Peerage  Books. 


376  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  9  Oct. 

of  a  far  greater  favor  than  I  shall,  at  this  time,  desire  for  him : 
for  I  can  assure  you,  that  there  is  not  a  Gentleman  of  that 
Kingdom  that  appeared  more  active  against  the  late  Invaders 
of  England  than  himself. 

11  Sir,  it 's  desired  that  you  would  please  to  grant  him  an 
Order  for  two  thousand  of  the  common  Prisoners  that  were 
of  Duke  Hamilton's  Army.  You  will  have  very  good  security 
that  they  shall  not  for  the  future  trouble  you  :  he  will  ease 
you  of  the  charge  of  keeping  them,  as  speedily  as  any  other 
way  you  can  dispose  of  them ;  besides  their  being  in  a  friend's 
hands,  so  as  there  need  be  no  fear  of  their  being  ever  em- 
ployed against  you. 

"  Sir,  what  favor  you  shall  please  to  afford  the  Gentleman 
will  very  much  oblige  many  of  your  friends  of  the  Scottish 
Nation  j  and  .particularly 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  1 


LETTER  LXXIX. 

THE  next,  of  Monday,  is  on  public  business ;  deliberately 
looking  before  and  after. 

"  To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  JZsquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Honorable  House  of  Commons :  These. 

"  DALHOUSIE,  9th  October,  1648. 

"  SIR,  —  In  my  last,  wherein  I  gave  you  an  account  of  my 
despatch  of  Colonel  Bright  to  Carlisle,  after  the  rendition  of 
Berwick,  I  acquainted  you  with  my  intentions  to  go  to  the 
head-quarters  of  my  horse  at  the  Earl  of  Winton's,  within  six 
miles  of  Edinburgh  ;  that  from  thence  I  might  represent  to 
the  Committee  of  Estates  what  I  had  farther  to  desire  in  your 
behalf. 

"  The  next  day  after  I  came  thither,  I  received  an  invitation 
from  the  Committee  of  Estates  to  come  to  Edinburgh  ,  they 

1  Tanner  MSS.  (in  Cary,  ii.  32). 


1648.  LETTER  LXXIX.    DALHOUSIE.  377 

sending  to  me  the  Lord  Kirkcudbright  and  Major-General 
Holboru  for  that  purpose ;  with  whom  I  went  the  same  day, 
being  Wednesday,  4th  of  this  instant  October.  We  fell  into 
consideration,  What  was  fit  farther  to  insist  upon.  And  being 
sensible  that  the  late  Agreement  between  the  Committee  of 
Estates  and  the  Earls  of  Crawford,  Glencairn,  and  Lanark, 
did  not  sufficiently  answer  my  instructions,  which  were,  To 
disenable  them  from  being  in  power  to  raise  new  troubles  to 
England :  —  therefore  I  held  it  my  duty,  Not  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  mere  disbanding  of  themj  but  considering  their 
power  and  interest,  I  thought  it  necessary  to  demand  con- 
cerning them  and  all  their  abettors,  according  to  the  contents 
of  the  Paper 1  here  enclosed. 

"  Wherein,  —  having  received  that  very  day  your  Votes  for 
giving  farther  assistance  [to  the  Well-affected  in  Scotland], 
I  did  in  the  close  thereof  acquaint  them  with  the  same ;  re- 
serving such  farther  satisfaction  to  be  given  by  the  Kingdom 
of  Scotland,  as  the  Parliament  of  England  should  in  their 
wisdom  see  cause  to  desire.  The  Committee  of  Estates  [had] 
sent  the  Earl  of  Cassilis,  Lord  Warriston,  and  two  Gentlemen 
more  to  me,  To  receive  what  I  had  to  offer  unto  them ;  — 
which  upon  Thursday  I  delivered.  Upon  Friday  I  received 
by  the  said  persons  this  enclosed  Answer,2  which  is  the 
Original  itself. 

"Having  proceeded  thus  far  as  a  Soldier,  and  I  trust,  by 
the  blessing  of  God,  not  to  your  disservice ;  and  having  laid 
the  business  before  you,  I  pray  God  direct  you  to  do  farther 
as  may  be  for  His  glory,  the  good  of  the  Nation  wherewith 
you  are  intrusted,  and  the  comfort  and  encouragement  of  the 
Saints  of  God  in  both  Kingdoms  and  all  the  World  over.  I 
do  think  the  affairs  of  Scotland  are  in  a  thriving  posture,  as 
to  the  interest  of  honest  men  :  and  [Scotland  is]  like  to  be  a 
better  neighbor  to  you  now  than  when  the  great  pretenders 
to  the  Covenant  and  Religion  and  Treaties,  —  I  mean  Duke 
Hamilton,  the  Earls  of  Lauderdale,  Traquair,  Carnegy,  and 
their  confederates, — had  the  power  in  their  hands.  I  dare 
[be  bold  to]  say  that  that  Party,  with  their  pretences,  had  no 

1  Letter  LXXVIL  »  Already  referred  to,  autwi,  ]..  370. 


378  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  90ct 

only,  through  the  treachery  of  some  in  England  (who  have 
cause  to  blush),  endangered  the  whole  State  and  Kingdom  of 
England ;  but  also  [had]  brought  Scotland  into  such  a  con- 
dition, as  that  no  honest  man  who  had  the  fear  of  God,  or  a 
conscience  of  Religion,  [and]  the  just  ends  of  the  Covenant 
and  Treaties,  could  have  a  being  in  that  Kingdom.  But  God, 
who  is  not  to  be  mocked  or  deceived,  and  is  very  jealous  when 
His  Name  and  Eeligion  are  made  use  of  to  carry  on  impious 
designs,  hath  taken  vengeance  of  such  profanity,  —  even  to 
astonishment  and  admiration.  And  I  wish  from  the  bottom 
of  my  heart,  it  may  cause  all  to  tremble  and  repent,  who  have 
practised  the  like,  to  the  blasphemy  of  His  Name,  and  the 
destruction  of  His  People  ;  so  as  they  may  never  presume  to 
do  the  like  again  !  And  I  think  it  is  not  unseasonable  for 
me  to  take  the  humble  boldness  to  say  thus  much  at  this 
time. 

"  All  the  Enemy's  Forces  in  Scotland  are  now  disbanded. 
The  Committee  of  Estates  have  declared  against  all  of  that 
Party's  sitting  in  Parliament.1  Good  Elections  are  [already] 
made  in  divers  places ;  of  such  as  dissented  from  and  opposed 
the  late  wicked  Engagement:  and  they  are  now  raising  a  force 
of  about  4,000  Horse  and  Foot  j  —  which  until  they  can  com- 
plete, they  have  desired  me  to  leave  them  two  Regiments  of 
Horse  and  two  Troops  of  Dragoons.  Which  accordingly  I 
have  resolved,  conceiving  I  had  warrant  by  your  late  Votes 
so  to  do ;  and  have  left  Major-General  Lambert  to  command 
them. 

"  I  have  received,  and  so  have  the  Officers  with  me,  many 
honors  and  civilities  from  the  Committee  of  Estates,  the  City 
of  Edinburgh,  and  Ministers ;  with  a  noble  entertainment ;  — 
which  we  may  not  own  as  done  to  us,  but  as  [done  to]  your 
servants.  I  am  now  marching  towards  Carlisle ;  and  I  shall 
give  you  such  farther  accounts  of  your  affairs  as  there  shall 
be  occasion.  I  am,  Sir, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." a 

1  The  Scotch  Parliament,  which  is  now  getting  itself  elected. 

8  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  392,  §  19  ;  see  Commons  Journals,  vi.  54. 


1648.  LETTER  LXXX.    PONTEFRACT.  379 

Cromwell,  at  Carlisle  on  the  14th,  has  received  delivery  of 
the  Castle  there,  for  which  good  news  let  the  Messenger  have 
ifilOO.1  Leaving  all  in  tolerable  order  in  those  regions,  the 
Lieutenant-General  hastens  into  Yorkshire  to  Pontefract  or 
Pomfret  Castle ; a  a  strong  place  which  had  been  surprised  in 
the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  is  stubbornly  defended ;  — sur- 
render being  a  very  serious  matter  now  ;  the  War  itself  being 
contrary  to  Law  and  Treaty,  and  as  good  as  Treason,  think 
some. 


LETTERS  LXXX.-LXXXVI. 

THE  Governor  of  Pontefract  Castle  is  one  Morris,  once  the 
Earl  of  Strafford's  servant  ;  a  desperate  man  :  this  is  the  Lieu- 
tenant-General's summons  to  him. 

LETTER  LXXX. 

"  For  the  Governor  of  Pontefract  Castle. 

"  [PONTEFRACT,]  9th  November,  1648. 

"Sin,  —  Being  come  hither  for  the  reduction  of  this  place, 
I  thought  fit  to  summon  you  to  deliver  your  Garrison  to  me, 
for  the  use  of  the  Parliament.  Those  gentlemen  and  soldiers 
with  you  may  have  better  terms  than  if  you  should  hold  it  to 
extremity.  I  expect  your  answer  this  day,  and  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

CKOMWKIJ*"* 


Governor  Morris  stiffly  refuses;  holds  out  yet  a  good  while, 
—  and  at  last  loses  his  head  at  York  assizes  by  the  business.4 
Royalism  is  getting  desperate  ;  has  taken  to  highway  robbery  ; 
is  assassinating,  and  extensively  attempting  to  assassinate.' 

>   Common*  Journal*,  20th  October,  1648. 

•  Appendix,  No.  14. 

•  Newspapers  (Cromwelliana,  p.  48)  ;  Rushworth,  vii.  1329. 

•  St.it..  Trial*.  *   Rush  worth,  TU.  1279  &c.,  1916, 


380  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  is  Nov. 

Two  weeks  ago;  Sunday,  29th  October,  a  Party  sallied  from 
this  very  Castle  of  Pontefract ;  rode  into  Doncaster  in  disguise, 
and  there,  about  five  in  the  afternoon,  getting  into  Colonel 
Rainsborough's  lodging,  stabbed  him  dead :  —  murder,  or  a 
very  questionable  kind  of  homicide ! 


LETTER  LXXXI. 

As  to  Pontefract  and  Governor  Morris,  here  are  some  perti- 
nent suggestions,  "  propositions,"  the  old  Pamphlet  calls  them, 
sent  "  in  a  Letter  from  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell  and  his 
Officers  ; "  which  are  "  read  in  the  House,"  and  straightway 
acted  upon,  to  a  certain  extent :  —  had  they  been  acted  upon 
in  full,  that  business  might  have  ended  sooner. 

tt  For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Committee  of  Lords  and  Commons 
sitting  at  Derby  House :  These  present. 

"  KNOTTINGLEY,  NEAR  PONTEFRACT, 
15th  November,  1648. 

"  MY  LORDS  AND  GENTLEMEN,  —  So  soon  as  I  came  into 
these  parts,  I  met  with  an  earnest  desire  from  the  Committee 
of  this  County  to  take  upon  me  the  charge  here,  for  the  redu- 
cing of  the  Garrison  of  Poutefract.  I  received  also  commands 
from  my  Lord  General  to  the  same  effect.  —  I  have  had  sight 
of  a  Letter  to  the  House  of  Commons  ;  wherein  things  are  so 
represented,  as  if  the  Siege  were  at  such  a  pass  that  the  prize 
were  already  gained.  In  consideration  whereof,  I  thought  fit 
to  let  you  know  what  the  true  state  of  this  Garrison  is ;  as 
also  the  condition  of  the  country,  that  so  you  may  not  think 
demands  for  such  things  as  would  be  necessary  unreason- 
able. 

"  My  Lords,  the  Castle  hath  been  victualled  with  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  or  forty  fat  cattle,  within  these  three  weeks  ; 
and  they  have  also  gotten  in,  as  I  am  credibly  informed,  salt 
enough  for  them  and  more.  So  that  I  apprehend  they  are 
victualled  for  a  twelvemonth.  The  men  within  are  resolved 


1B4H.  LETTER  LXXXI.    KNOTTINGLEY.  381 

to  endure  to  the  utmost  extremity;  expecting  no  mercy,  as 
indeed  they  deserve  none.  The  place  is  very  well  known  to 
be  one  of  the  strongest  inland  Garrisons  in  the  Kingdom  ;  well 
watered  ;  situated  upon  a  rock  in  every  part  of  it,  and  there- 
fore difficult  to  mine.  The  walls  very  thick  and  high,  with 
strong  towers ;  and  if  battered,  very  difficult  of  access,  by 
reason  of  the  depth  and  steepness  of  the  graft.  The  County 
is  exceedingly  impoverished ;  not  able  to  bear  free-quarter ; 
nor  well  able  to  furnish  provisions,  if  we  had  moneys.  The 
work  is  like  to  be  long,  if  materials  be  not  furnished  answer- 
able. I  therefore  think  it  my  duty  to  represent  unto  you  as 
followeth :  viz.  — 

"  That  moneys  be  provided  for  Three  complete  regiments  of 
Foot,  and  Two  of  Horse ;  —  [and  indeed]  that  money  be  pro- 
vided for  all  contingencies  which  are  in  view,  too  many  to  enu- 
merate. That  Five  Hundred  Barrels  of  powder,  [and]  Six  good 
Battering-guns,  with  Three  Hundred  shot  to  each  Gun,  be 
speedily  sent  down  to  Hull :  —  we  desire  none  may  be  sent 
less  than  demi-cannous.  We  desire  also  some  match  and 
bullet.  And  if  it  may  be,  we  should  be  glad  that  two  or 
three  of  the  biggest  Mortar-pieces  with  shells  may  likewise 
be  sent. 

"And  although  the  desires  of  such  proportions  may  seem 
mostly,  yet  I  hope  you  will  judge  it  good  thrift ;  especially  if 
you  consider  that  this  place  hath  cost  the  Kingdom  some  hun- 
dred thousands  of  pounds  already.  And  for  aught  I  know,  it 
may  cost  you  one  more,  if  it  be  trifled  withal ;  besides  the  dis- 
honor of  it,  and  what  other  danger  may  be  emergent,  by  its 
being  in  such  hands.  It 's  true,  here  are  some  two  or  three 
git  at  guns  in  Hull,  and  hereabouts ;  but  they  are  unservice- 
able :  and  your  Garrisons  in  Yorkshire  are  very  much  unsup- 
plied  at  this  time. 

"  T  have  not  as  yet  drawn  any  of  our  Foot  to  this  place ;  only 
I  make  use  of  Colonel  Fairfax's  and  Colonel  Malevrier's  Foot 
regiments;  and  keep  the  rest  of  the  guards  with  the  Horse;  — 
jnirjMising  to  bring  on  some  of  our  Foot  to-morrow.  The  rest 
—  these  jarta  Ix-in^  not  well  able  to  bear  them  —  are  a  little. 


382  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  15  Nov. 

dispersed  in  Lincoln  and  Nottingham  Shires,  for  some  re- 
freshment ;  which  after  so  much  duty  they  need,  and  a  little 
expect. 

"  And  indeed  I  would  not  satisfy  myself  nor  my  duty  to  you 
and  them,  To  put  the  poor  men,  at  this  season  of  the  year,  to 
lie  in  the  field  :  before  we  be  furnished  with  shoes,  stockings 
and  clothes,  for  them  to  cover  their  nakedness,  —  which  we 
hear  are  in  preparation,  and  would  l  be  speeded  :  —  and  until 
we  have  deal-boards  to  make  them  courts-of-guard,  and  tools 
to  cast  up  works  to  secure  them. 

"  These  things  I  have  humbly  represented  to  you ;  and  wait- 
ing for  your  resolution  and  command,  I  rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  a 

Due  Orders  of  the  House  in  consequence,  dated  Saturday, 
18th  November,  can  be  read  in  the  same  old  Pamphlet ; 3  — 
most  prompt  Orders,  giving  if  not  "  Five  Hundred  Barrels  of 
powder,"  yet  "  Two  Hundred  and  Fifty ; "  a  middle  term,  or 
compliance  half-way,  which  perhaps  is  as  much  as  one  could 
expect !  Pontefract  did  not  surrender  till  the  end  of  March 
next.4 

Meanwhile,  the  Royal  Treaty  in  Newport  comes  to  no  good 
issue,  and  the  Forty  Days  are  now  done  ;  the  Parliament  by 
small  and  smaller  instalments  prolongs  it,  still  hoping  beyond 
hope  for  a  good  issue.  The  Army,  sternly  watchful  of  it  from 
St.  Albans,  is  presenting  a  Eemonstrance,  That  a  good  issue 
lies  not  in  it ;  that  a  good  issue  must  be  sought  elsewhere  than 
in  it.  By  bringing  Delinquents  to  justice ;  and  the  CHIEF 
DELINQUENT,  who  has  again  involved  this  Nation  in  blood! 
To  which  doctrine,  various  petitioning  Counties  and  Parties, 
and  a  definite  minority  in  Parliament  and  England  generally, 
testify  their  stern  adherence,  at  all  risks  and  hazards  whatso- 
ever. 

1  Old  for  "should." 

2  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  394,  §  24. 
8  See  also  Commons  Journals,  vi.  81. 

•  "  22d  March  "  (Commons  Journals,  vi.  174). 


1648.  LETTER  LXXXII.    KNOTTINGLEY.  383 

LETTER  LXXXII. 

JENNER  Member  for  Cricklade,  and  Ashe  Member  for  West- 
bury  ;  these  two,  sitting  I  think  in  the  Delinquents'  Commit- 
tee at  Goldsmiths'  Hall, — seem  inclined  for  a  milder  course. 
Wherein  the  Lieutenant-General  does  by  no  means  agree  with 
the  said  Jenner  and  Ashe ;  having  had  a  somewhat  closer 
experience  of  the  matter  than  they! 

"  Colonel  Owen  "  is  a  Welsh  Delinquent ;  I  find  he  is  a  Sir 
John  Owen,  —  the  same  Sir  John  who  seized  my  Lord  Arch- 
bishop's Castle  of  Conway,  in  that  violent  manner  long  since.1 
A  violent  man,  now  got  into  trouble  enough ;  of  whom  there 
arises  life-and-death  question  by  and  by.  "  The  Governor  of 
Nottingham"  is  Colonel  Hutchinson,  whom  we  know.  Sir 
Miirmaduke  Langdale  we  also  know,  —  and  "  presume  you 
have  heard  what  is  become  of  him  ?  "  Sir  Marmaduke,  it  was 
rigorously  voted  on  the  6th  of  this  month,  is  one  of  the  "  Seven 
that  shall  be  excepted  from  pardon ; "  whom  the  King  himself, 
if  he  bargain  with  us,  shall  never  forgive.1  He  escaped  after- 
wards from  Nottingham  Castle,  by  industry  of  his  own. 

"  To  the  Honorable  my  honored  Friends  Robert  Jenner  and 
John  Ashe,  Esquires  \_at  London~\  :  These. 

"KXOTTINOLF.Y,  NEAR    POXTEFRACT, 

20th  November,  1G48. 

"  GFVTT.EMKN,  —  I  received  an  Order  from  the  Governor  of 
Nottingham,  directed  to  him  from  you,  To  bring  up  Colonel 
<  hven,  or  take  bail  for  his  coining  up  to  make  his  composition, 
In-  having  made  an  humble  Petition  to  the  Parliament  for  the 
same. 

"If  I  be  not  mistaken,  the  House  of  Commons  did  vote  all 

those  [persons]  Traitors  that  did  adhere  to,  or  bring  in,  the 

in  their  late  Invading  of   this   Kingdom  under  Duke 

Hamilton.     And  not  without  very  clear  justice;  this  being 

:i  more  prodigious  Treason  than  any  that  had  been  perfected 

In-fore;  because  the  former  quarrel  was  that  Englishmen  might 

1  Antea,  p.  274.  f  Commons  Juiirnals,  vi.  70. 


384  PART  IV.    SECOND    CIVIL  WAR.  90  Nor. 

rule  over  one  another ;  this  to  vassalize  us  to  a  foreign  Nation. 
And  their  fault  who  have  appeared  in  this  Summer's  business 
is  certainly  double  to  theirs  who  were  in  the  first,  because 
it  is  the  repetition  of  the  same  offence  against  all  the  wit- 
nesses that  God  has  borne,1  by  making  and  abetting  a  Second 
War. 

"  And  if  this  be  their  justice,2  and  upon  so  good  grounds,  I 
wonder  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  so  eminent  actors  should  so 
easily  be  received  to  compound.  You  will  pardon  mo  if  T  tell 
you  how  contrary  this  is  to  some  of  your  judgments  at  the  ren- 
dition of  Oxford :  though  we  had  the  Town  in  consideration,8 
and  [our]  blood  saved  to  boot;  yet  Two  Years  perhaps  was 
thought  too  little  to  expiate  their  offence.4  But  now,  when 
you  have  such  men  in  your  hands,  and  it  will  cost  you  nothing 
to  do  justice  ;  now  after  all  this  trouble  and  the  hazard  of 
a  Second  War,  —  for  a  little  more  money  5  all  offences  shall  be 
pardoned  ! 

"  This  Gentleman  was  taken  with  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale, 
in  their  flight  together  :  —  I  presume  you  have  heard  what  is 
become  of  him.  Let  me  remember  you,  that  out  of  the  [same] 
Garrison  was  fetched  not  long  since  (I  believe  while  we  were 
in  heat  of  action)  Colonel  Humphrey  Mathews,  than  whom 
this  Cause  we  have  fought  for  has  not  had  a  more  dangerous 
enemy ;  —  and  he  not  guilty  only  of  being  an  enemy,  but  he 

1  From  Naseby  downwards,  God,  in  the  battle-whirlwind,  seemed  to  speak 
and  witness  very  audibly. 

2  House  of  Commons's.  8  Town  as  some  recompense. 

*  Sentence  unintelligible  to  the  careless  reader,  so  hasty  is  it,  and  over- 
crowded with  meaning  in  the  original.  "  Give  me  leave  to  tell  you  that,  if  it 
were  contrary  to  some  of  yonr  judgments,  that  at  the  rendition  of  Oxford, 
though  we  had  the  Town  in  consideration,  and  blood  saved  to  boot ;  yet  Two 
Years  perhaps,"  &c.  —  Oxford  was  surrendered  20th-24th  June,  1G46  (antea, 
p.  234) ,  the  Malignants  found  there  were  to  have  a  composition,  not  exceed- 
ing Two  Years'  revenue  for  estates  of  inheritance  (Rushworth,  vi.  280-285),  — 
which  the  victorious  Presbyterian  Party,  belike  Jenner  and  Ashe  among  the 
rest,  had  exclaimed  against  as  too  lenient  a  procedure.  Very  different  now, 
when  the  new  Malignants,  though  a  doubly  criminal  set,  are  bone  of  their  own 
bone ! 

6  Goldsmiths'  Hall  has  a  true  feeling  for  Money ;  a  dimmer  one  for  Jus 
tice,  it  seems ! 


1648.  LETTER  LXXXH.    KXOTTIXGLEY.  385 

apostatized  from  your  Cause  and  Quarrel ;  having  been  a  Colo- 
nel, ii  not  more,  under  you,  and  [then]  the  desperatest  pro- 
moter of  the  Welsh  Rebellion  amongst  them  all !  And  how 
near  you  were  brought  to  ruin  thereby,  all  men  that  know 
anything  can  tell ;  *  and  this  man  was  taken  away  by  composi- 
tion, by  what  order  I  know  not. 

"  Gentlemen,  though  my  sense  does  appear  more  severe  than 
perhaps  you  would  have  it,  yet  give  me  leave  to  tell  you  I  find 
a  sense  among  the  Officers  concerning  such  things  as  [the 
treatment  of]  those  men,  to  amazement ;  —  which  truly  is  not 
so  much  to  see  their  blood  made  so  cheap,  as  to  see  such  mani- 
fest witnessings  of  God,  so  terrible  and  so  just,  no  more 
reverenced. 

"  I  have  directed  the  Governor  to  acquaint  the  Lord-General 
herewith  j  and  rest,  Gentlemen, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant 

[OLIVER  CROMWELL]."  2 

Here  is  a  sour  morsel  for  Jenner  and  Ashe ;  different  from 
what  they  were  expecting !  It  is  to  be  hoped  they  will  digest 
this  piece  of  admonition,  and  come  forth  on  the  morrow  two 
sadder  and  two  wiser  men.  For  Colonel  Owen,  at  all  events, 
there  is  clearly  no  outlook,  at  present,  but  sitting  reflective  in 
the  strong-room  of  Nottingham  Castle,  whither  his  bad  Genius 
has  led  him.  May  escape  beheading  on  this  occasion ;  but 
very  narrowly.  He  "  was  taken  with  Sir  Marmaduke  in  their 
flight  together :  "  one  of  the  confused  Welshmen  discomfited 
in  Juno  and  July  last,  who  had  fled  to  join  Hamilton,  and  be 
worse  discomfited  a  second  time.  The  House  some  days  ago 
hud  voted  that  "Sir  John  Owen,"  our  "Colonel  Owen,"  should 
get  off  with  "banishment;"  likewise  that  Lord  Capel,  the 
Earl  of  Holland,  and  other  capital  Delinquents  should  be 
*  banished  ;  "  and  even  that  James  Earl  of  Cambridge  (James 
Duke  of  Hamilton)  should  be  "fined  £100,000."  Such  votes 
are  not  unlikely  to  produce  "  a  sense  amongst  the  Officers," 
who  had  to  grapple  with  these  men,  as  with  devouring  dragons 

1  Witnww  fhepirtuw,  St.  Pagan's,  Pembroke  :  —  "  thia  man  "  in  Mathews. 
«  SI'-n.f  MSS.  151'J,  foL  94. 
wi.    xvu.  25 


386  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  20  Nov. 

lately,  life  to  life.  Such  votes  —  will  need  to  be  rescinded.1 
Such,  and  some  others !  For  indeed  the  Presbyterian  Party 
has  rallied  in  the  House  during  the  late  high  blaze  of  Royal- 
ism  ;  and  got  a  Treaty  set  on  foot  as  we  saw,  and  even  got  the 
Eleven  brought  back  again.  — 

Jenner  and  Ashe  are  old  stagers,  having  entered  Parliament 
at  the  beginning.  They  are  frequently  seen  in  public  busi- 
ness; assiduous  subalterns.  Ashe  sat  afterwards  in  Oliver's 
Parliaments.2  Of  this  Ashe  I  will  remember  another  thing : 
once,  some  years  ago,  when  the  House  was  about  thanking 
some  Monthly-fast  Preacher,  Ashe  said  pertinently,  "  What  is 
the  use  of  thanking  a  Preacher  who  spoke  so  low  that  nobody 
could  hear  him  ?  "  8 

Colonel  Humphrey  Mathews,  we  are  glad  to  discover,4  was 
one  of  the  persons  taken  in  Pembroke  Castle  by  Oliver  himself 
in  July  last :  brought  along  with  him,  on  the  march  towards 
Preston,  and  left,  as  the  other  Welsh  Prisoners  were,  at  Not- 
tingham ;  — out  of  which  most  just  durance  some  pragmatical 
official,  Ashe,  Jenner,  or  another,  "by  what  order  I  know  not," 
has  seen  good  to  deliver  him  ;  him,  "  the  desperatest  promoter 
of  the  Welsh  Rebellion  amongst  them  all."  Such  is  red-tape 
even  in  a  Heroic  Puritanic  Age!  No  wonder  "the  Officers 
have  a  sense  of  it,"  amounting  even  "to  amazement."  Our 
blood  that  we  have  shed  in  the  Quarrel,  this  you  shall  account 
as  nothing,  since  you  so  please ;  but  these  "  manifest  witness- 
ings  of  God,  so  terrible  and  so  just,"  —  are  they  not  witness- 
ings  of  God  ;  are  they  mere  sports  of  chance  ?  Ye  wretched 
infidel  red-tape  mortals,  what  will  or  can  become  of  you  ?  By 
and  by,  if  this  course  hold,  it  will  appear  that  "  you  are  no 
Parliament ;  "  that  you  are  a  nameless  unbelieving  rabble,  with 
the  mere  title  of  Parliament,  who  must  go  about  your  business 
else-whither,  with  soldiers'  pikes  in  your  rearward !  — 

This  Lieutenant-General  is  not  without  temper,  says  Mr. 
Maidston :  "  temper  exceeding  fiery,  as  I  have  known ;  yet  the 

1  Passed,  10th  November,  1648  (Commons  Journals,  vi.  3)  ;  repealed,  13th 
December  (with  a  Declaration;  Somei-t  Tracts,  v.  167). 

2  Parliamentai-y  History,  xxi.  3.  •  D'Ewes  MSS.  p.  414. 
*  Cromwelliana,  pp.  41,  4$ 


1648.  LETTER  LXXXIII.    KNOTTINGLEY.  387 

flame  of  it  kept  down  for  most  part,  or  soon  allayed  ;  —  and 
naturally  compassionate  towards  objects  in  distress,  even  to 
an  effeminate  measure.  Though  God  had  made  him  a  heart 
wherein  was  left  little  room  for  any  fear  but  what  was  due  to 
God  Himself,  yet  did  he  exceed  in  tenderness  towards  suf- 
ferers," *  —  yes,  and  in  rigor  against  infidel  quacks  and  god- 
less detestable  persons,  which  is  the  opposite  phasis  of  that, 
he  was  by  no  means  wanting! 


LETTER  LXXXIII. 

"  ALL  the  Regiments  here  have  petitioned  my  Lord  General 
against  the  Treaty  [at  Newport],  and  for  Justice  and  a  Settle- 
ment of  the  Kingdom.  They  desired  the  Lieutenant-General 
to  recommend  their  Petition ;  which  he  hath  done  in  the  Let- 
ter following ; "  —  which  is  of  the  same  date,  and  goes  in  the 
same  bag  with  that  to  Jenuer  and  Ashe,  just  given. 

"  For  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General  Faifax  [at  St.  Allans : 

These]. 

u  KKOTTIHGLEY,  20th  November,  1648. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  I  find  in  the  Officers  of  the  Regiments  a  very 
great  sense  of  the  sufferings  of  this  poor  Kingdom ;  and  in 
them  all  a  very  great  zeal  to  have  impartial  Justice  done  upon 
Offenders.  And  I  must  confess,  I  do  in  all,  from  my  heart, 
concur  with  them ;  and  I  verily  think  and  am  persuaded  they 
are  things  which  God  puts  into  our  hearts. 

"  I  shall  not  need  to  offer  anything  to  your  Excellency :  I 
know,  God  teaches  you;  and  that  He  hath  manifested  His 
presence  so  to  yon  as  that  you  will  give  glory  to  Him  in  the 
?yos  of  all  the  world.  I  held  it  my  duty,  having  received 
these  Petitions  and  Letters,  and  being  [so]  desired  by  the 
franiers  thereof,  —  to  present  them  to  you.  The  good  Lord 

's  I.«-tf«-r  r..  U'iuthrup  (Tlmrloe,  i.  766). 


388  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL  WAR.  20  Nov. 

work  His  will  upon  your  heart,  enabling  you  to  it ;  and  the 
presence  of  Almighty  God  go  along  with  you  !  Thus  prays, 
my  Lord, 

"Your  most  humble  and  faithful  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

This  same  day,  Monday,  20th  November,  1648,  the  Army 
from  St.  Albans,  by  Colonel  Ewer  and  a  Deputation,  presents 
its  humble  unanimous  "  Remonstrance  "  to  the  House ;  craving 
that  the  same  be  taken  "into  speedy  and  serious  considera- 
tion." 2  It  is  indeed  a  most  serious  Document ;  tending  to  the 
dread  Unknown  !  Whereupon  ensue  "  high  debates,"  Whether 
we  shall  take  it  into  consideration  ?  Debates  to  be  resumed 
this  day  week.  The  Army,  before  this  day  week,  moves  up 
to  Windsor ;  will  see  a  little  what  consideration  there  is.  New- 
port Treaty  is  just  expiring;  Presbyterian  Royalism,  on  the 
brink  of  desperate  crisis,  adds  still  two  days  of  life  to  it. 


LETTER  LXXXIV. 

THE  Army  came  to  Windsor  on  Saturday  the  25th  ;  on  which 
same  day  Oliver,  from  Knottingley,  is  writing  a  remarkable 
Letter,  the  last  of  the  series,  to  Hammond  in  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
who  seems  to  be  in  much  strait  about  "that  Person  "  and  futile 
Treaty,  now  under  his  keeping  there. 

First,  however,  read  this  Note,  of  like  date,  on  a  local  mat- 
ter :  one  of  many  Notes  which  a  vigilant  Lieutenant-General, 
be  where  he  may,  has  to  importune  the  Governing  Powers 
with.  Hull  Garrison  and  Governor  Overton,  like  most  garri- 
sons and  persons,  are  short  of  pay.  Grocers'  Hall,  Haber- 
dashers' Hall,  or  some  section  of  the  Finance  Department, 
ought  absolutely  to  take  thought  of  it. 

1  Rnshworth,  vii.  1339. 

8  Commons  Journals,  vi.  81  ;  Remonstrance  itself  in  Rushworth,  vii.  1330. 


IMS.  LETTER  LXXXIV.    KNOTTINGLEY.  389 

"For  my  noble  Friend  Thomas  St.  Nicholas,  Esquire  [These, 
at  London]. 

''  KNOTTINGLEY,  25th  November,  1648. 

"  SIR,  —  I  suppose  it 's  not  unknown  to  you  how  much  the 
Country  is  in  arrear  to  the  Garrison  of  Hull ;  —  as  likewise 
how  probable  it  is  that  the  Garrison  will  break,  unless  some 
speedy  course  be  taken  to  get  them  money ;  the  soldiers  at  the 
present  being  ready  to  mutiny,  as  not  having  money  to  buy 
them  bread;  and  without  money  the  stubborn  Townspeople 
will  not  trust  them  for  the  worth  of  a  penny. 

"  Sir,  I  must  beg  of  you  that,  as  you  tender  the  good  of  the 
Country,  so  far  as  the  security  of  that  Garrison  is  motioned, 
you  would  give  your  assistance  to  the  helping  of  them  to  their 
money  which  the  Country  owes  them.  The  Governor  will 
apply  himself  to  you,  either  in  person  or  by  letter.  I  pray 
you  do  for  him  herein  as  in  a  business  of  very  high  conse- 
quence. I  am  the  more  earnest  with  you,  as  having  a,  very 
deep  sense  how  dangerous  the  event  may  be,  of  their  being 
neglected  in  the  matter  of  their  pay.  I  rest  upon  your  favor 
herein  ;  —  and  subscribe  myself,  Sir, 

"  Your  very  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

Hull  Garrison  does  not  "  break  : "  doubtless  St.  Nicholas,  a 
chief  Clerk,  of  weight  in  his  department,  did  what  he  could. 
A  Kentish  man  this  St.  Nicholas,  if  any  one  could  be  sup- 
posed to  care  what  he  was;  came  to  be  Recorder  of  Canter- 
bury, and  even  refractory  Member  for  Canterbury ;  *  has  his 
seat,  for  the  present,  in  the  Grocers'-Hall  region,  among  the 
budgets  or  "  bottomless  bags,"  as  Independency  Walker  calls 
them.  And  now  for  the  remarkable  Letter  contemporaneous 
with  this:  — 

1  KimWs  (anonymons)  Life  of  Cromwell  (4th  edition.  London,  1741), 
p,  92  :  Not  giveu  in  tho  1st  edition  ;  no  notice  whence. 

8  Whitlocke,  September,  1656  (2d  edition,  p.  648);  Parliamentary  Hutory, 
xxi.  8 ;  and  Common*  Journalt,  vii.  65O,  7jy 


390  PART    IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  26  Nov. 

LETTER  LXXXV. 

K  To  Colonel  Robert  Hammond :  These. 

"  [KNOTTINGLEY,  NEAR  PONTEFRACT,] 
25th  November,  1648. 

"DEAR  EOBIN,  — No  man  rejoiceth  more  to  see  a  line  froin 
thee  than  myself.  I  know  thou  hast  long  been  under  trial. 
Thou  shalt  be  no  loser  by  it.  All  [things]  must  work  for  the 
best. 

"  Thou  desirest  to  hear  of  my  experiences.  I  can  tell  thee  : 
I  am  such  a  one  as  thou  didst  formerly  know,  having  a  body 
of  sin  and  death ;  but  I  thank  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord  there  is  no  condemnation,  though  much  infirmity ;  and 
I  wait  for  the  redemption.  And  in  this  poor  condition  I 
obtain  mercy,  and  sweet  consolation  through  the  Spirit.  And 
find  abundant  cause  every  day  to  exalt  the  Lord,  and  abase 
flesh,  —  and  herein  5  I  have  some  exercise. 

"  As  to  outward  dispensations,  if  we  may  so  call  them  :  we 
have  not  been  without  our  share  of  beholding  some  remarkable 
providences,  and  appearances  of  the  Lord.  His  presence  hath 
been  amongst  us,  and  by  the  light  of  His  countenance  we  have 
prevailed.2  We  are  sure,  the  good-will  of  Him  who  dwelt  in 
the  Bush  has  shined  upon  us ;  and  we  can  humbly  say,  We 
know  in  whom  we  have  believed ;  who  can  and  will  perfect 
what  remaineth,  and  us  also  in  doing  what  is  well-pleasing  in 
His  eyesight. 

"  I  find  some  trouble  in  your  spirit ;  occasioned  first,  not 
only  by  the  continuance  of  your  sad  and  heavy  burden,  as  you 
call  it,  but  [also]  by  the  dissatisfaction  you  take  at  the  ways 
of  some  good  men  whom  you  love  with  your  heart,  who 
through  this  principle,  That  it  is  lawful  for  a  lesser  part,  if  in 
the  right,  to  force  [a  numerical  majority]  &c. 

"To  the  first :  Call  not  your  burden  sad  or  heavy.  If  your 
Father  laid  it  upon  you,  He  intended  neither.  He  is  the 
Father  of  lights,  from  whom  comes  every  good  and  perfect 

1  "  and  iti  the  latter  respect  at  least."  a  At  Preston,  &c. 


1648.  LETTKK   LXXXV.    KNOTTINGLEY.  391 

gift;  who  of  His  own  will  begot  us,  and  bade  us  count  it  all 
joy  when  such  tilings  befall  us  ;  they  being  for  the  exercise  of 
faith  and  patience,  whereby  in  the  end  we  shall  be  made  perfect 
(James  i.). 

"Dear  Robin,  our  fleshly  reasonings  ensnare  us.  These 
make  us  say,  '  heavy/  '  sad/  '  pleasant/  '  easy.'  Was  there 
not  a  little  of  this  when  Robert  Hammond,  through  dissatis- 
faction too,  desired  retirement  from  the  Army,  and  thought 
ot  quiet  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  ?  *  Did  not  God  find  him  out 
there  ?  I  believe  he  will  never  forget  this.  —  And  now  I  per- 
ceive he  is  to  seek  again  ;  partly  through  his  sad  and  heavy 
burden,  and  partly  through  his  dissatisfaction  with  friends' 
actings. 

"Dear  Robin,  thou  and  I  were  never  worthy  to  be  door- 
keepers in  this  Service.  If  thou  wilt  seek,  seek  to  know  the 
mind  of  God  in  all  that  chain  of  Providence,  whereby  God 
brought  thee  thither,  and  that  Person  to  thee ;  how,  before 
and  since,  God  has  ordered  him,  and  affairs  concerning  him  : 
and  then  tell  me,  Whether  there  be  not  some  glorious  and  high 
meaning  in  all  this,  above  what  thou  hast  yet  attained  ?  And, 
laying  aside  thy  fleshly  reason,  seek  of  the  Lord  to  teach  thee 
what  that  is  ;  and  He  will  do  it.  I  dare  be  positive  to  say,  It 
is  not  that  the  wicked  should  be  exalted,  that  God  should  so 
appear  as  indeed  He  hath  done.2  For  there  is  no  peace  to 
them.  No,  it  is  set  upon  the  hearts  of  such  as  fear  the  Lord, 
and  we  have  witness  upon  witness,  That  it  shall  go  ill  with 
them  and  their  partakers.  I  say  again,  seek  that  spirit  to 
teach  thee ;  which  is  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  understand- 
ing, the  spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  of  wisdom  and  of  the  fear 
of  the  Lord.  That  spirit  will  close  thine  eyes  and  stop  thine 
ears,  so  that  thou  shalt  not  judge  by  them;  but  thou  shalt 
judge  for  the  meek  of  the  Earth,  and  thou  shalt  be  made  able 
to  do  accordingly.  The  Lord  direct  thee  to  that  which  is 
well-pleasing  in  His  eyesight. 

"  As  to  thy  dissatisfaction  with  friends'  actings  upon  that 

1  6th  Sfpt»Mnli«T  "f  t'"1  {•  V.-ar. 

•r  other  purposes  that  God  has  so  manifest**!  Hiimmlf  as,  in  these  trana- 
action*  of  oon,  lie  Luia 


392  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  35  Nov. 

supposed  principle,  I  wonder  not  at  that.  If  a  man  take  not 
his  own  burden  well,  he  shall  hardly  others' ;  especially  if 
involved  by  so  near  a  relation  of  love  and  Christian  brother- 
hood as  thou  art.  I  shall  not  take  upon  me  to  satisfy  ;  but  I 
hold  myself  bound  to  lay  my  thoughts  before  so  dear  a  friend. 
The  Lord  do  His  own  will. 

"  You  say :  '  God  hath  appointed  authorities  among  the 
nations,  to  which  active  or  passive  obedience  is  to  be  yielded. 
This  resides  in  England  in  the  Parliament.  Therefore  active 
or  passive  resistance.'  &c. 

"  Authorities  and  powers  are  the  ordinance  of  God.  This 
or  that  species  is  of  human  institution,  and  limited,  some  with 
larger,  others  with  stricter  bands,  each  one  according  to  its 
constitution.  [But]  I  do  not  therefore  think  the  Authorities 
may  do  anything,1  and  yet  such  obedience  be  due.  All  agree 
that  there  are  cases  in  which  it  is  lawful  to  resist.  If  so, 
your  ground  fails,  and  so  likewise  the  inference.  Indeed,  dear 
Robin,  not  to  multiply  words,  the  query  is,  Whether  ours  be 
such  a  case  ?  This  ingenuously  is  the  true  question. 

"  To  this  I  shall  say  nothing,  though  I  could  say  very  much ; 
but  only  desire  thee  to  see  what  thou  findest  in  thy  own  heart 
to  two  or  three  plain  considerations.  First,  Whether  Salus 
Populi  be  a  sound  position  ?  3  Secondly,  Whether  in  the  way 
in  hand,*  really  and  before  the  Lord,  before  whom  conscience 
has  to  stand,  this  be  provided  for ;  —  or  if  the  whole  fruit  of 
the  War  is  not  like  to  be  frustrated,  and  all  most  like  to  turn 
to  what  it  was,  and  worse  ?  And  this,  contrary  to  Engage- 
ments, explicit  Covenants  with  those 4  who  ventured  their  lives 
upon  those  Covenants  and  Engagements,  without  whom  per- 
haps, in  equity,  relaxation  ought  not  to  be  ?  Thirdly,  Whether 
this  Army  be  not  a  lawful  Power,  called  by  God  to  oppose  and 
fight  against  the  King  upon  some  stated  grounds ;  and  being 
in  power  to  such  ends,  may  not  oppose  one  Name  of  Authority, 
for  those  ends,  as  well  as  another  Name,  —  since  it  was  not  the 

1  Whatsoever  they  like. 

2  "  The  safety  of  the  people  the  supreme  law : "  is  that  a  true  doctrine  or  a 
false  one  ? 

3  By  this  Parliamentary  Treaty  with  the  King.  *  Ua  soldiers. 


1648.  LETTER  LXXXV.    KNOTTINGLEY.  393 

outward  Authority  summoning  them  that  by  its  power  made 
the  quarrel  lawful,  but  the  quarrel  was  lawful  iu  itself  ?  If 
so,  it  may  be,  acting  will  be  justified  in  foro  humano.  —  But 
truly  this  kind  of  reasonings  may  be  but  fleshly,  either  with 
or  against:  only  it  is  good  to  try  what  truth  may  be  in  them. 
And  the  Lord  teach  us. 

"  My  dear  Friend,  let  us  look  into  providences ;  surely  they 
mean  somewhat.  They  hang  so  together ;  have  been  so  con- 
stant, so  clear,  unclouded.  Malice,  swoln  malice  against  God's 
people,  now  called  '  Saints/  to  root  out  their  name ;  —  and  yet 
they  [these  poor  Saints],  getting  arms,  and  therein  blessed 
with  defence  and  more !  —  I  desire,  he  that  is  for  a  principle 
of  suffering  *  would  not  too  much  slight  this.  I  slight  not  him 
who  is  so  minded :  but  let  us  beware  lest  fleshly  reasoning 
see  more  safety  in  making  use  of  this  principle  than  in  acting! 
Who  acts,  if  he  resolve  not  through  God  to  be  willing  to  part 
with  all  ?  Our  hearts  are  very  deceitful,  on  the  right  and  on 
the  left. 

"  What  think  you  of  Providence  disposing  the  hearts  of  so 
many  of  God's  people  this  way,  —  especially  in  this  poor  Army, 
wherein  the  great  God  has  vouchsafed  to  appear !  I  know  not 
one  Officer  among  us  but  is  on  the  increasing  haud.3  And  let 
me  say,  it  is  after  much  patience, — here  in  the  North.  We 
trust,  the  same  Lord  who  hath  framed  our  minds  in  our  act- 
ings is  with  us  in  this  also.  And  all  contrary  to  a  natural 
tendency,  and  to  those  comforts  our  hearts  could  wish  to  enjoy 
as  well  as  others.  And  the  difficulties  probably  to  be  encoun- 
tered with,  and  the  enemies :  —  not  few ;  even  all  that  is  glo- 
rious in  this  world.  Appearance  of  united  names,  titles  and 
authorities  [all  against  us] ;  —  and  yet  not  terrified  [we]  ;  only 
desiring  to  fear  our  great  God,  that  we  do  nothing  against  His 
will.  Truly  this  ia  our  condition.* 

1  Faflrire  obedience. 

*  Come  or  coming  over  to  this  opinion. 

*  The  incorrect  original,  rushing  on  in  an  eager  nngrammatical  manner, 
were  it  not  that  common  readers  might  miss  the  meaning  of  it,  would  please 
me  better;  at  any  rate  I  subjoin  it  here  as  somewhat  characteristic:  "And 
It- 1  me  sajr  it  ia  hero  iu  the  North  aft«r  much  patiouce,  wo  trust  the  same  Lord 


394  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL  WAR.  25  Nov. 

"  And  to  conclude.  We  in  this  Northern  Army  were  in  a 
waiting  posture  ;  desiring  to  see  what  the  Lord  would  lead  us 
to.  And  a  Declaration l  is  put  out,  at  which  many  are  shaken : 
—  although  we  could  perhaps  have  wished  the  stay  of  it  till 
after  the  Treaty,  yet  seeing  it  is  conie  out,  we  trust  to  rejoice 
in  the  will  of  the  Lord,  waiting  His  farther  pleasure.  —  Dear 
llobin,  beware  of  men ;  look  up  to  the  Lord.  Let  Him  be  free 
to  speak  and  command  in  thy  heart.  Take  heed  of  the  things 
I  fear  thou  hast  reasoned  thyself  into;  and  thou  shalt  be 
able  through  Him,  without  consulting  flesh  and  blood,  to  do 
valiantly  for  Him  and  His  people. 

"  Thou  mentionest  somewhat  as  if,  by  acting  against  such 
opposition  as  is  like  to  be,  there  will  be  a  tempting  of  God. 
Dear  Robin,  tempting  of  God  ordinarily  is  either  by  acting 
presumptuously  in  carnal  confidence,  or  in  unbelief  through 
diffidence :  both  these  ways  Israel  tempted  God  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  He  was  grieved  by  them.  Not  the  encountering  [of] 
difficulties,  therefore,  makes  us  to  tempt  God ;  but  the  acting 
before  and  without  faith.2  If  the  Lord  have  in  any  measure 
persuaded  His  people,  as  generally  Ho  hath,  of  the  lawfulness, 
nay  of  the  duty,  —  this  persuasion  prevailing  upon  the  heart 
is  faith ;  and  acting  thereupon  is  acting  in  faith ;  and  the  more 
the  difficulties  are,  the  more  the  faith.  And  it  is  most  sweet 
that  he  who  is  not  persuaded  have  patience  towards  them  that 
are,  and  judge  not :  and  this  will  free  thee  from  the  trouble 
of  others'  actings,  which,  thou  sayest,  adds  to  thy  grief.  Only 
let  me  offer  two  or  three  things,  and  I  have  done. 

"  Dost  thou  not  think  this  fear  of  the  Levellers  (of  whom 
there  is  no  fear)  'that  they  would  destroy  Nobility'  [&c.],  has 
caused  some  to  take  up  corruption,  and  find  it  lawful  to  make 
this  ruining  hypocritical  Agreement,  on  one  part  ?  8  Hath  not 

who  hath  framed  our  minds  in  our  actings,  is  with  us  in  this  also.  And  this 
contrary  to  a  natural  tendency,  and  to  those  comforts  our  hearts  could  wish 
to  enjoy  with  others.  And  the  difficulties  probably  to  be  encountered  with, 
and  the  enemies,  not  few,  even  all  that  is  glorious  in  this  world,  with  appear- 
ance of  united  names,  titles  and  authorities,  and  yet  not  terrified,  only  "  &c. 

1  Remonstrance  of  the  Army,  presented  by  Kwer  on  Monday  last 

8  Very  true,  my  General,  —  then,  now,  and  always ! 

8  Hollow  Treaty  at  Newport. 


1648.  LETTER  LXXXV      KNOTTINGLEY.  395 

this  biased  even  some  good  men  ?  I  will  not  say,  the  thing 
they  fear  will  come  upon  them ;  but  if  it  do,  they  will  them- 
selves bring  it  upon  themselves.  Have  not  some  of  our  friends, 
by  their  passive  principle  (which  I  judge  not,  only  I  think  it 
liable  to  temptation  as  well  as  the  active,  and  neither  of  them 
good  but  as  we  are  led  into  them  of  God,  and  neither  of  them 
to  be  reasoned  into,  because  the  heart  is  deceitful),  —  been 
occasioned  to  overlook  what  is  just  and  honest,  and  to  think 
the  people  of  God  may  have  as  much  or  more  good  the  one 
way  than  the  other  ?  Good  by  this  Man,  —  against  whom  the 
Lord  hath  witnessed ;  and  whom  thou  knowest !  Is  this  so  in 
their  hearts  ;  or  is  it  reasoned,  forced  in  ? l 

"  Robin,  I  have  done.  Ask  we  our  hearts,  Whether  we  think 
that,  after  all,  these  dispensations,  the  like  to  which  many  gen- 
erations cannot  afford,  —  should  end  in  so  corrupt  reasonings 
of  good  men ;  and  should  so  hit  the  designings  of  bad  ?  Think- 
est  thou,  in  thy  heart,  that  the  glorious  dispensations  of  God 
point  out  to  this  ?  Or  to  teach  His  people  to  trust  in  Him, 
and  to  wait  for  better  things,  —  when,  it  may  be,  better  are 
sealed  to  many  of  their  spirits  ?  a  And  I,  as  a  poor  looker-on, 
I  had  rather  live  in  the  hope  of  that  spirit  [which  believes 
that  God  doth  so  teach  us]  and  take  my  share  with  them, 
expecting  a  good  issue,  than  be  led  away  with  the  others. 

"This  trouble  I  have  been  at,  because  my  soul  loves  thee, 
and  I  would  not  have  thee  swerve,  or  lose  any  glorious  oppor- 
tunity the  Lord  puts  into  thy  hand.  The  Lord  be  thy  coun- 
sellor. Dear  Robin,  I  rest  thine, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

Colonel  Hammond,  the  ingenuous  young  man  whom  Oliver 
much  loves,  did  not  receive  this  Letter  at  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
whither  it  was  directed ;  young  Colonel  Hammond  is  no  longer 
tin  TO.  On  Monday,  the  27th,  there  came  to  him  Colonel  Ewer, 

1  I  think  it  in  "reasoned  "  in,  and  by  bad  arguments  too,  your  Excellency! 
The  inner  heart  of  the  men,  in  real  contact  with  the  inner  heart  of  the  matter, 
had  little  to  do  with  all  that :  —  alas,  wot  there  erer  any  such  "  contact "  with 
the  real  truth  of  any  matter,  on  the  part  of  nnch  men  ! 

*  Already  indubitably  sure  to  many  of  them. 

•  Birch,  p.  101 ;  ends  the  volume. 


396  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.  27  Nor, 

he  of  the  Remonstrance ;  Colonel  Ewer  with  new  force,  with 
an  Order  from  the  Lord  General  and  Army-Council  that  Colo- 
nel Hammond  do  straightway  repair  to  Windsor,  being  wanted 
at  head-quarters  there.  A  young  Colonel,  with  dubitations  such 
as  those  of  Hammond's,  will  not  suit  in  that  Isle  at  present. 
Ewer,  on  the  Tuesday  night,  a  night  of  storm  and  pouring 
rain,  besets  his  Majesty's  lodgings  in  the  Town  of  Newport 
(for  his  Majesty  is  still  on  parole  there),  with  strange  soldiers, 
in  a  strange  state  of  readiness,  the  smoke  of  their  gun- 
matches  poisoning  the  air  of  his  Majesty's  apartment  itself ; 

—  and  on  the  morrow  morning  at  eight  of  the  clock,  calls  out 
his  Majesty's  coach  ;  moves  off  with  his  Majesty  in  grim  reti- 
cence and  rigorous  military  order,  to  Hurst  Castle,  a  small 
solitary  stronghold  on  the  opposite  beach  yonder.1 

For,  at  London,  matters  are  coming  rapidly  to  a  crisis.  The 
resumed  Debate,  "  Shall  the  Army  Remonstrance  be  taken  into 
consideration  ?  "  does  not  come  out  affirmative ;  on  the  con- 
trary, on  Thursday,  the  30th,  it  comes  out  negative  by  a  Major- 
ity of  Ninety:  "No,  we  will  not  take  it  into  consideration." 

—  "  No  ?  "     The  Army  at  Windsor,  thereupon,  spends  again 
"a  Day  in  Prayer."     The  Army  at  Windsor  has  decided  on 
the  morrow  that  it  will  march  to  London ;  —  marches,  arrives 
accordingly,  on  Saturday,  December   2d;    quarters   itself  in 
Whitehall,  in  St.  James's;  "and  other  great  vacant  Houses 
in  the  skirts  of  the  City  and  Villages  about,  no  offence  be- 
ing given  anywhere."  a    In  the  drama  of  Modern  History  one 
knows  not  any  graver,  more  noteworthy  scene ;  —  earnest  as 
very  Death  and  Judgment.     They  have  decided  to  have  Jus- 
tice, these  men ;  to  see  God's  Justice  done,  and  His  judgments 
executed  on  this  Earth.     The  abysses  where  the  thunders  and 
the  splendors  are  bred,  —  the  reader  sees  them  again  laid  bare ; 
and  black  Madness  lying  close  to  the  Wisdom  which  is  bright- 
est and  highest :  —  and  owls  and  godless  men  who  hate  the 
lightning  and  the  light,  and  love  the  mephitic  dusk  and  dark- 
ness, are  no  judges  of  the  actions  of  heroes !     "  Shedders  of 
blood  ? "    Yes,  blood  is  occasionally  shed.     The  healing  Sur- 

1  Colonel  Cook's  Narrative,  in  Rushworth,  vii.  1344. 
a  Rnshworth,  vii.  1350. 


1648.  LETTER  LXXXV.    KNOTTINGLEY.  397 

geon,  the  sacrificial  Priest,  the  august  Judge  pronouncer  of 
God's  oracles  to  men,  these  and  the  atrocious  Murderer,  are 
alike  shedders  of  blood;  and  it  is  an  owl's  eye  that,  except 
for  the  dresses  they  wear,  discerns  no  difference  in  these  !  — 
Let  us  leave  the  owl  to  his  hootings ;  let  us  get  on  with  our 
Chronology  and  swift  course  of  events. 

On  Monday,  1th  December,  the  House,  for  the  last  time, 
takes  "  into  farther  debate  "  the  desperate  question,  Whether 
his  Majesty's  concessions  in  that  Treaty  of  Newport  are  a 
ground  of  settlement  ?  —  debates  it  all  Monday  ;  has  debated 
it  all  Friday  and  Saturday  before.  Debates  it  all  Monday, 
"  till  five  o'clock  next  morning ;  "  at  five  o'clock  next  morning, 
decides  it,  Yea.  By  a  Majority  of  Forty-six,  —  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-nine  to  Eighty-three,  —  it  is  at  five  o'clock  on 
Tuesday  morning  decided,  Yea,  they  are  a  ground  of  settle- 
ment. The  Army  Chiefs  and  the  Minority  consult  together, 
in  deep  and  deepest  deliberation,  through  that  day  and  night ; 
not,  I  suppose,  without  Prayer ;  and  on  the  morrow  morning 
this  is  what  we  see  :  — 

Wednesday,  6th  December,  1648,  "  Colonel  Rich's  regiment  of 
horse  and  Colonel  Pride's  regiment  of  foot  were  a  guard  to 
the  Parliament;  and  the  City  Trainbands  were  discharged" 
from  that  employment.1  Yes,  they  were  !  Colonel  Rich's  horse 
stand  ranked  in  Palace-yard,  Colonel  Pride's  foot  in  Westmin- 
ster Hall  and  at  all  entrances  to  the  Commons  House,  this  day : 
and  in  Colonel  Pride's  hand  is  a  written  list  of  names,  names 
of  the  chief  among  the  Hundred  and  Twenty-nine ;  and  at  his 
side  is  my  Lord  Grey  of  Groby,  who,  as  this  Member  after 
that  comes  up,  whispers  or  beckons,  "  He  is  one  of  them :  he 
cannot  enter ! "  and  Pride  gives  the  word,  "  To  the  Queen's 
Court ; "  and  Member  after  Member  is  marched  thither,  Forty- 
one  of  them  this  day;  and  kept  there  in  a  state  bordering 
on  rabidity,  ;usking,  By  what  Law  ?  and  ever  again,  By  what 
Law  ?  Is  there  a  color  or  faintest  shadow  of  Law,  to  be  found 
in  any  of  the  Books,  Year-books,  Rolls  of  Parliament,  Brac- 
tous,  Fletas,  Cokes  upon  Lyttletou,  for  this  ?  Hugh  Peters 

1  Kiuhworth,  vii.   1353,  —  BOO  Whitlocke  (2d  edition,  p.  360),    Walker's 
,  ic. 


398  PART  IV.    SECOND   CIVIL   WAR.  6  Dec. 

visits  them ;  has  little  comfort,  no  light  as  to  the  Law ;  con- 
fesses, "  It  is  by  the  Law  of  Necessity  ;  truly,  by  the  Power 
of  the  Sword." 

It  must  be  owned  the  Constable's  baton  is  fairly  down,  this 
day;  overborne  by  the  Power  of  the  Sword,  and  a  Law  not 
to  be  found  in  any  of  the  Books.  At  evening  the  distracted 
Forty-one  are  marched  to  Mr.  Duke's  Tavern  hard  by,  a 
"  Tavern  called  Hell ; "  and  very  imperfectly  accommodated 
for  the  night.  Sir  Symonds  D'Ewes,  who  has  ceased  taking 
notes  long  since  ;  Mr.  William  Prynne,  louder  than  any  in  the 
question  of  Law ;  Waller,  Massey,  Harley,  and  other  remnants 
of  the  old  Eleven,  are  of  this  unlucky  Forty-one ;  among  whom 
too  we  count  little  Clement  Walker  "  in  his  gray  suit  with  his 
little  stick," l  —  asking  in  the  voice  of  the  indomitablest  terrier 
or  Blenheim  cocker,  "By  what  Law  ?  I  ask  again,  By  what 
Law  ?  "  Whom  no  mortal  will  ever  be  able  to  answer.  Such 
is  the  far-famed  Purging  of  the  House  by  Colonel  Pride. 

This  evening,  while  the  Forty-one  are  getting  lodged  in  Mr. 
Duke's,  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell  came  to  Town.  Ponte- 
fract  Castle  is  not  taken ;  he  has  left  Lambert  looking  after 
that,  and  come  up  hither  to  look  after  more  important  things. 

The  Commons  on  Wednesday  did  send  out  to  demand  "  the 
Members  of  this  House  "  from  Colonel  Pride  ;  but  Pride  made 
respectful  evasive  answer ;  —  could  not,  for  the  moment,  com- 
ply with  the  desires  of  the  Honorable  House.  On  the  Thurs- 
day Lieutenant-General  Cromwell  is  thanked ;  and  Pride's 
Purge  continues  :  new  men  of  the  Majority  are  seized ;  others 
scared  away  need  no  seizing ;  —  above  a  Hundred  in  all ;  *  who 
are  sent  into  their  countries,  sent  into  the  Tower ;  sent  out 
kof  our  way,  and  trouble  us  no  farther.  The  Minority  has  now 
become  Majority ;  there  is  now  clear  course  for  it,  clear  reso- 
lution there  has  for  some  time  back  been  in  it.  What  its 
resolution  was,  and  its  action  that  it  did  in  pursuance  thereof, 
"an  action  not  done  in  a  corner,  but  in  sight  of  all  the  Na- 
tions," and  of  God  who  made  the  Nations,  we  know,  and  the 
whole  world  knows  !  — 

1  List  in  Rushworth,  p.  1355. 

1  Liat  in  Soiners  Tracts,  vi.  37  ;  —  verj  iuvorrect,  w  all  the  Lists  jure. 


IMS         LETTER  LXXXVI.  LONDON.         391) 


LETTER  LXXXVI. 

DUTCH  Dorislaus,  the  learned  Doctor,  late  Judge-Advocate, 
employed  in  many  weighty  things,  and  soon  to  be  employed 
in  the  weightiest,  wants  now  a  very  small  accommodation 
which  is  in  the  gift  of  certain  Cambridge  people.  A  busy 
Lieutenant-General,  while  the  world-whirlwind  is  piping  loud, 
has  to  write  for  him  this  small  Note  withal :  — 

4 

u  To  the  Right  Worshipful  the  Master  and  Fellows  of  Trinity 
Hall  in   Cambridge :    These. 

"  [LONDON,]  18th  December,  1648. 

"  GhnrouBMBN,  —  I  am  given  to  understand  that  by  the  late 
decease  of  Dr.  Duck,  his  Chamber  hath  become  vacant  in  the 
Dm -tors  Commons  [here];  —  to  which  Dr.  Dorislaus  now  de- 
si  reth  to  be  your  tenant :  who  hath  done  service  unto  the 
Parliament  from  the  beginning  of  these  Wars,  and  hath  been 
constantly  employed  by  the  Parliament  in  many  weighty 
affairs;  and  especially  of  late,  beyond  the  seas,  with  the 
Stut «'s  General  of  the  United  Provinces. 

"  1 1'  you  please  to  prefer  him  before  any  other,  paying  rent 
and  line  to  your  College,  I  shall  take  it  as  a  courtesy  at 
your  hands  ;  whereby  you  will  oblige, 

"  Your  assured  friend  and  servant, 

"OLIVER  CKOMWELL."  * 

Whether  Dorislaus  got  Duck's  Chamber,  we  shall  not  ask ; 
li'-in-.r,  ::oinf  three  weeks  hence,  employed  as  Advocate  in  nil- 
King's  Trial,  and  shortly  after  assassinated  at  the  Hague  for 
that  work,2  it  proved  to  be  of  no  importance  to  Dorislaus. 
The  loud  world-whirlwind  pij>es  as  before. 

>  Triuity-Hall  MSS.  in  r,i, ,,/„•/,/./.•  Partfoliu  (Lou don,  1840),  ii. 390 
M  Autea,  p.  27y ;  Wood,  iii. 


400  PART  IV.    SECOND    CIVIL    WAR.  29  Jan. 


DEATH-WARRANT. 

THE  Trial  of  Charles  Stuart  falls  not  to  be  described  in  this 
place  ;  the  deep  meanings  that  lie  in  it  cannot  be  so  much  as 
glanced  at  here.  Oliver  Cromwell  attends  in  the  High  Court 
of  Justice  at  every  session  except  one;  Fairfax  sits  only  in 
the  first.  Ludlow,  Whalley,  Walton,  names  known  to  us,  are 
also  constant  attendants  in  that  High  Court,  during  that 
long-memorable  Month  of  January,  1649.  The  King  is  thrice 
brought  to  the  Bar ;  refuses  to  plead,  comports  himself  with 
royal  dignity,  with  royal  haughtiness,  strong  in  his  divine 
right ;  "  smiles  "  contemptuously,  "  looks  with  an  austere  coun- 
tenance ; "  —  does  not  seem,  till  the  very  last,  to  have  fairly  be- 
lieved that  they  would  dare  to  sentence  him.  But  they  were 
men  sufficiently  provided  with  daring ;  men,  we  are  bound  to 
see,  who  sat  there  as  in  the  Presence  of  the  Maker  of  all  men, 
as  executing  the  judgments  of  Heaven  above,  and  had  not  the 
fear  of  any  man  or  thing  on  the  Earth  below.  Bradshaw  said 
to  the  King,  "  Sir,  you  are  not  permitted  to  issue  out  in  these 
discoursings.  This  Court  is  satisfied  of  its  authority.  No 
Court  will  bear  to  hear  its  authority  questioned  in  that  man- 
ner." —  "  Clerk,  read  the  Sentence  ! "  — 

And  so,  under  date  Monday,  29th  January  1648-9,  there 
is  this  stern  Document  to  be  introduced ;  not  specifically  of 
Oliver's  composition ;  but  expressing  in  every  letter  of  it  the 
conviction  of  Oliver's  heart,  in  this,  one  of  his  most  important 
appearances  on  the  stage  of  earthly  life. 

"  To  Colonel  Francis  Hacker,  Colonel  Huncks,  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Phayr,  and  to  every  of  them. 

"  At  the  High  Court  of  Justice  for  the  Trying 
and  Judging  of  Charles  Stuart,  King  of 
England,  29th  January,  1648. 

w  WHEREAS  Charles  Stuart,  King  of  England,  is  and  stand- 
eth  convicted,  attainted  and  condemned  of  High  Treason  and 
other  high  Crimes ;  aud  Sentence  upon  Saturday  last  was  pro- 
nounced against  him  by  this  Court,  To  be  put  to  death  by  M*e 


1648  DEATH-WARRANT  401 

severing  of  his  head  from  his  body ;  of  which  Sentence  exe- 
cution yet  remaineth  to  be  done  :  — 

"  These  are  therefore  to  will  and  require  you  to  see  the  said 
Sentence  executed,  in  the  open  Street  before  Whitehall,  upon 
the  morrow,  being  the  Thirtieth  day  of  this  instant  month  of 
January,  between  the  hours  of  Ten  in  the  morning  and  Five 
in  the  afternoon,  with  full  effect.  And  for  so  doing,  this  shall 
be  your  warrant. 

"  And  these  are  to  require  all  Officers  and  Soldiers,  and 
others  the  good  People  of  this  Nation  of  England,  to  be  assist- 
ing unto  you  in  this  service. 

"  Given  under  our  hands  and  seals, 
"  JOHN  BRADSHAW. 
THOMAS  GREY  [LORD  GROBY]. 
OLIVER  CROMWELL. 
[and  Fifty-six  others.]"  * 

"  Tetrce  bettuce,  ac  molossis  suis  ferociores,  Hideous  monsters, 
more  ferocious  than  their  own  mastiffs  !  "  shrieks  Saumaise ; a 
shrieks  all  the  world,  in  unmelodious  soul-confusing  diapason 
of  distraction,  —  happily  at  length  grown  very  faint  in  our 
day.  The  truth  is,  no  modern  reader  can  conceive  the  then 
atrocity,  ferocity,  unspeakability  of  this  fact.  First,  after  long 
reading  in  the  old  dead  Pamphlets  does  one  see  the  magnitude 
of  it.  To  be  equalled,  nay  to  be  preferred  think  some,  in  point 
of  horror,  to  "  the  Crucifixion  of  Christ."  Alas,  in  these  irrev- 
erent times  of  ours,  if  all  the  Kings  of  Europe  were  cut  in 
pieces  at  one  swoop,  and  flung  in  heaps  in  St.  Margaret's 
Church-yard  on  the  same  day,  the  emotion  would,  in  strict 
arithmetical  truth,  be  small  in  comparison !  We  know  it  not, 
this  atrocity  of  the  English  Regicides ;  shall  never  know  it. 
I  reckon  it  perhaps  the  most  daring  action  any  Body  of  Men 
to  be  met  with  in  History  ever,  with  clear  consciousness,  de- 
in..-rately  set  themselves  to  do.  Dread  Phantoms,  glaring 
sujHirnal  on  you,  —  when  once  they  are  quelled  and  their 

1  Rtuhworth,  rii.  1426;  Nakou's  Trial  of  King  C'Aor/ej  (London,  1684), 
Pbelpcw's  Trial  of  Ac.  &c. 

•  Balmaati  Defennu  H»ji«  (Sumj>lil>iw  regiia,  1650),  p.  6. 

TOL.    XVII  M 


402  PART  IV.    SECOND  CIVIL  WAR.        90  Jan.  1648. 

light  snuffed  out,  none  knows  the  terror  of  tho  Phantom ! 
The  Phantom  is  a  poor  paper-lantern  with  a  candle-end  in  it, 
which  any  whipster  dare  now  beard. 

A  certain  Queen  in  some  South-Sea  Island,  I  have  read  in 
Missionary  Books,  had  been  converted  to  Christianity  ;  did 
not  any  longer  believe  in  the  old  gods.  She  assembled  her 
people ;  said  to  them,  "  My  faithful  People,  the  gods  do  not 
dwell  in  that  burning-mountain  in  the  centre  of  our  Isle. 
That  is  not  God ;  no,  that  is  a  common  burning-mountain,  — 
mere  culinary  fire  burning  under  peculiar  circumstances.  See, 
I  will  walk  before  you  to  that  burning-mountain ;  will  empty 
my  wash-bowl  into  it,  cast  my  slipper  over  it,  defy  it  to  the 
uttermost,  and  stand  the  consequences  !  "  —  She  walked  ac- 
cordingly, this  South-Sea  Heroine,  nerved  to  the  sticking- 
place;  her  people  following  in  pale  horror  and  expectancy: 
she  did  her  experiment ;  —  and,  I  am  told,  they  have  truer 
notions  of  the  gods  in  that  Island  ever  since  !  Experiment 
which  it  is  now  very  easy  to  repeat,  and  very  needless.  Honor 
to  the  Brave  who  deliver  us  from  Phantom-dynasties,  in  South- 
Sea  Islands  and  in  North  ! 

This  action  of  the  English  Regicides  did  in  effect  strike  a 
damp  like  death  through  the  heart  of  Flunkyism  universally 
in  this  world.  Whereof  Flunkyism,  Cant,  Cloth-worship,  or 
whatever  ugly  name  it  have,  has  gone  about  incurably  sick 
ever  since ;  and  is  now  at  length,  in  these  generations,  very 
rapidly  dying.  The  like  of  which  action  will  not  be  needed 
for  a  thousand  years  again.  Needed,  alas  —  not  till  a  new 
genuine  Hero-worship  has  arisen,  has  perfected  itself;  and 
had  time  to  degenerate  into  a  Flunkyism  and  Cloth-worship 
again  1  Which  I  take  to  be  a  very  long  date  indeed. 

Thus  ends  the  Second  Civil  War.  In  Regicide,  in  a  Com- 
monwealth and  Keepers  of  the  Liberties  of  England.  In 
punishment  of  Delinquents,  in  abolition  of  Cobwebs ;  —  if  it 
•be  possible,  in  a  Government  of  Heroism  and  Veracity ;  at 
lowest,  of  Anti-Flunkyism,  Anti-Cant,  and  the  endeavor  after 
Heroism  and  Veracity. 


PAET   V. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND. 
1649. 

LETTEES  LXXXVII.-XCVL 

ON  Tuesday,  30th  January,  1648-9,  it  is  ordered  in  the  Com- 
mons House,  "  That  the  Post  be  stayed  until  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, ten  of  the  clock ; "  and  the  same  afternoon,  the  King's 
Execution  having  now  taken  place,  Edward  Dendy,  Sergeant- 
at-Arms,  with  due  trumpeters,  pursuivants  and  horse-troops, 
notifies,  loud  as  he  can  blow,  at  Cheapside  and  elsewhere, 
openly  to  all  men,  That  whosoever  shall  proclaim  a  new  King, 
Charles  Second  or  another,  without  authority  of  Parliament, 
in  this  Nation  of  England,  shall  be  a  Traitor  and  suffer  death. 
For  which  service,  on  the  morrow,  each  trumpeter  receives 
"ten  shillings"  of  the  public  money,  and  Sergeant  Dendy 
himself — shall  see  what  he  will  receive.1  And  all  Sheriffs, 
Mayors  of  Towns  and  such  like  are  to  do  the  same  in  their  re- 
spective localities,  that  the  fact  be  known  to  every  one. 

After  which  follow,  in  Parliament  and  out  of  it,  such 
debatings,  committee-ings,  consultings  towards  a  Settlement 
of  this  Nation,  as  the  reader  can  in  a  dim  way  sufficiently 
fancy  for  himself  on  considering  the  two  following  facts. 

First,  That  on  February  13M,  Major  Thomas  Scott,  an 
honorable  Member  whom  we  shall  afterwards  know  better, 
limits  in  his  Report  OF  Ordinance  for  a  COUNCIL  OF  STATE,  to 
be  henceforth  the  Executive  among  us ;  which  Council,  to  the 

1  Common*  Journal*,  vi.  136;  Scobell's  Acti  and  UrJinanctt  (London,  IftfiR. 
1667).  ii.  3 


404  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.  i  Feb. 

number  of  Forty-one  Persons,  is  thereupon  nominated  by 
Parliament ;  and  begins  its  Sessions  at  Derby  House  on  the 
17th.  Bradshaw,  Fairfax,  Cromwell,  Whitlocke,  Harry  Marten, 
Ludlow,  Vane  the  Younger,  and  others  whom  we  know,  are  of 
this  Council. 

Second,  That,  after  much  adjustment  and  new-modelling, 
new  Great  Seals,  new  Judges,  Sergeant's-maces,  there  comes 
out,  on  May  19th,  an  emphatic  Act,  brief  as  Sparta,  in  these 
words :  "  Be  it  declared  and  enacted  by  this  present  Parlia- 
ment, and  by  the  authority  of  the  same :  That  the  People  of 
England,  and  of  all  the  dominions  and  territories  thereunto 
belonging,  are  and  shall  be,  and  are  hereby  constituted,  made, 
established  and  confirmed  to  be,  A  COMMONWEALTH  OR  FKEE- 
STATE  ;  and  shall  from  henceforth  be  governed  as  a  Common- 
wealth and  Free-State,  —  by  the  Supreme  Authority  of  this 
Nation  the  Representatives  of  the  People  in  Parliament,  and 
by  such  as  they  shall  appoint  and  constitute  officers  and  minis- 
ters under  them  for  the  good  of  the  People ;  and  that  with- 
out any  King  or  House  of  Lords."1  —  What  modelling  and 
consulting  has  been  needed  in  the  interim,  the  reader  shall 
conceive. 

Strangely  enough,  among  which  great  national  transactions 
the  following  small  family -matters  again  turn  up;  asserting 
that  they  too  had  right  to  happen  in  this  world,  and  keep 
memory  of  themselves,  —  and  show  how  a  Lieutenant-General's 
mind,  busy  pulling  down  Idolatrous  Kingships  and  setting 
up  Eeligious  Commonwealths,  has  withal  an  idle  eldest  Son  to 
marry  !  — 

There  occurred  "  a  stick,"  as  we  saw  some  time  ago,2  in  this 
Marriage-Treaty :  but  now  it  gathers  life  again ;  —  and,  not  to 
agitate  the  reader's  sympathies  overmuch,  we  will  say  at  once 
that  it  took  effect  this  time ;  that  Richard  Cromwell  was 
actually  wedded  to  Dorothy  Mayor,  at  Hursley,  on  Mayday, 
1649 ; 8  and,  one  point  fairly  settled  at  last !  —  But  now  mark 
farther  how  Anne,  second  daughter  of  the  House  of  Hursley, 

1  Scobell,  ii.  30 ;  Commons  Journals,  1 9th  May. 

"-  Letter  LVI.  antea  p.  298.  8  Noble,  i.  188. 


1049.  LETTER  LXXXVII.    LONDON.  405 

came  to  be  married  not  long  after  to  "  John  Diineh  of  Pusey 
in  Berkshire  ;  "  which  Dunch  of  Pusey  had  a  turn  for  collect- 
ing Letters.  How  Dunch,  groping  about  Hursley  in  subse- 
quent years,  found  "Seventeen  Letters  of  Cromwell,"  and 
collected  thorn,  and  laid  them  up  at  Pusey ;  how,  after  a  cen- 
tury or  so,  Horace  Walpole,  likewise  a  collector  of  Letters, 
got  his  eye  upon  them ;  transcribed  them,  imparted  them  to  dull 
Harris.1  From  whom,  accordingly,  here  they  still  are  and 
continue.  This  present  fascicle  of  Ten  is  drawn  principally 
from  the  Pusey  stock;  the  remainder  will  introduce  them- 
selves in  due  course. 

LETTER  LXXXVII. 

COLONEL  NORTON,  "  dear  Dick,"  was  purged  out  by  Pride ; 
lazy  Dick  and  lazy  Frank  Eussel  were  both  purged  out,  or 
scared  away,  and  are  in  the  lists  of  the  Excluded.  Dick,  we 
infer,  is  now  somewhat  estranged  from  Cromwell;  probably 
both  Dick  and  Frank :  Frank  returned ;  Dick  too,  though  in 
a  fitful  manner.  And  so,  there  being  now  no  "  dear  Norton  "  on 
the  spot,  the  Lieutenaut-Geueral  applies  to  Mr.  Robinson,  the 
pious  Preacher  at  Southampton,  of  whom  we  transiently  heard 
already ;  —  a  priest  and  counsellor,  and  acting  as  such,  to  all 
parties. 

"  For  my  very  loving  Friend  Mr.  Robinson,  Preacher  at 
Southampton:  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  1st  Febrnary,  1648. 

"SiR,  — I  thank  you  for  your  kind  Letter.  As  to  the  busi- 
you  mention,  I  desire  to  use  this  plainness  witli  you. 

"  When  the  last  overture  was,  between  me  and  Mr.  Mayor, 
liy  tin-  kiinliiivs  of  Colonel  Norton,  —  after  the  meeting  I  had 
with  Mr  M.i\"!  :it  r'unilum,  I  desired  the  Colonel  (finding,  as 
I  thought,  s.'iue  scruples  in  Mr.  Mayor),  To  know  >l  him 
v.hrtluT  liis  iniinl  \v:is  free  to  the  tiling  <>r  not.  Colonel 
Norton  ^avr  me  this  account.  That  Mr  Mayor,  by  reason  of 
some  matters  as  they  then  stood,  was  not  very  free  thereunto. 

1  Harris,  p.  504. 


406  PAT?T  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  iFeb. 

Whereupon  I  did  acquiesce,  submitting  to  the  providence  of 
God. 

"  Upon  your  reviving  of  the  business  to  ine,  and  your  Letter, 
I  think  fit  to  return  you  this  answer,  and  to  say  in  plainness 
of  spirit  to  you :  That,  upon  your  testimony  of  the  Gentle- 
woman's worth,  and  the  common  report  of  the  piety  of  the 
Family,  I  shall  be  willing  to  entertain  the  renewing  of  the 
motion,  upon  such  conditions  as  may  be  to  mutual  satisfaction. 
Only  I  think  that  a  speedy  resolution"  will  be  very  convenient 
to  both  parties.  The  Lord  direct  all  to  His  glory. 

"  I  desire  your  prayers  therein  ;  and  rest, 

"Your  very  affectionate  friend, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

"February  1st,"  —  it  is  Thursday;  the  King  was  executed 
on  Tuesday :  Robinson  at  Southampton.  I  think,  must  have 
been  writing  at  the  very  time. 

On  Tuesday  night  last,  a  few  hours  after  the  King's  Execu- 
tion, Marquis  Hamilton  had  escaped  from  Windsor,  and  been 
retaken  in  Southwark  next  morning,  Wednesday  morning. 
"  Knocking  at  a  door,"  he  was  noticed  by  three  troopers ; 
who  questioned  him,  detected  him ; 2  and  bringing  him  to  the 
Parliament  Authorities,  made  £40  apiece  by  him.  He  will 
be  tried  speedily,  by  a  new  High  Court  of  Justice ;  he  and 
others. 


PASS. 

u  To  all  Officers  and  Soldiers  and  all  Persons  whom  these  may 

concern. 

"WHEREAS  John  Stanley  of  Dalegarth,  in  the  county  of 
Cumberland,  Esquire,  hath  subscribed  to  his  Composition, 
and  paid  and  secured  his  Fine,  according  to  the  direction  of 
Parliament : 

1  Harris,  p.  5O4  ;  one  of  the  seventeen  Letters  found  at  Pnsey. 
*  Cromivelliana,  p.  51. 


1849.  PASS.  407 

"These  are  to  require  you  to  permit  and  suffer  him  and  his 
servants  quietly  to  pass  into  Dalegarth  abovesaid,  with  their 
horses  and  swords,  and  to  forbear  to  molest  or  trouble  him  or 
any  of  his  Family  there  ;  without  seizing  or  taking  away  any 
of  his  horses,  or  other  goods  or  estate  whatsoever ;  and  to  per- 
mit and  suffer  him  or  auy  of  his  Family,  at  any  time,  to  pass 
to  any  place,  about  his  or  their  occasions  ;  without  offering  any 
injury  to  him  or  any  of  his  Family,  either  at  Dalegarth,  or  in 
his  or  their  travels :  As  you  will  answer  your  contempt  at  your 
utmost  perils. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  this  2d  of  February,  1648. 

"OLIVER  CUOMWELL."* 

Oliver's  seal  of  "  six  quarterings  "  is  at  the  top.  Of  course 
only  the  seal  and  signature  are  specially  his  :  but  this  one  Pass 
may  stand  here  as  the  sample  of  many  that  were  then  circu- 
lating, —  emblem  of  a  time  of  war,  distress,  uncertainty  and 
danger,  which  then  was. 

The  2d  of  February  is  Friday.  Yesterday,  Thursday,  there 
was  question  in  the  House  of  "many  Gentlemen  from  the 
Northern  Counties,  who  do  attend  about  Town  to  make  their 
compositions,"  and  of  what  is  to  be  done  with  them.2  The 
late  business  that  ended  in  Preston  Fight  had  made  many  new 
delinquents  in  those  parts ;  whom  now  we  see  painfully  with 
pale  faces  dancing  attendance  in  Goldsmiths'  Hall,  —  not  to 
say  knocking  importunately  at  doors  in  the  gray  of  the  morn- 
ing, in  danger  of  their  life !  Stanley  of  Dalegarth  has  happily 
got  his  composition  finished,  his  Pass  signed  by  the  Lieutenant- 
General ;  and  may  go  home,  with  subdued  thankfulness,  in  a 
whole  skin.  Dalegarth  Hall  is  still  an  estate  or  farm,  in 
the  southern  extremity  of  Cumberland ;  on  the  Esk  river,  in 
the  Raven^liuss  district:  not  far  from  that  small  Lake  which 
Tourists  go  to  see  under  the  name  of  Devock  Water.  Quiet 
life  to  Stanley  there ! 

1  Jefferaon's  History  and  Antiquitiet  of  AUerdale  Ward,  CvmbcrUind  (Car- 
Hale,  1842),  p.  284. 

*  Comment  Juwnali,  in  die. 


408  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN    IRELAND.  laFeb. 


LETTER  LXXXVIII. 

u  For  my  very  worthy  friend  Richard  Mayor,  Esq :  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  12th  February,  1648. 

"  SIR,  —  I  received  some  intimations  formerly,  and  by  the 
last  return  from  Southampton  a  Letter  from  Mr.  Robinson, 
concerning  the  reviving  of  the  last  year's  motion  touching  my 
Son  and  your  Daughter.  Mr.  Robinson  was  also  pleased  to 
send  enclosed  in  his  a  Letter  from  you,  bearing  date  the  5th  of 
this  instant  February,  wherein  I  find  your  willingness  to  enter- 
tain any  good  means  for  the  completing  of  that  business. 

"From  whence  I  take  encouragement  to  send  my  Son  to 
wait  upon  you;  and  by  him  to  let  you  know,  That  my  de- 
sires are,  if  Providence  so  dispose,  very  full  and  free  to  the 
thing,  —  if,  upon  an  interview,  there  prove  also  a  freedom 
in  the  young  persons  thereunto.  What  liberty  you  will  give 
herein,  I  wholly  submit  to  you. 

"  I  thought  fit,  in  my  Letter  to  Mr.  Robinson,  to  mention 
somewhat  of  expedition  ;  because  indeed  I  know  not  how  soon 
I  may  be  called  into  the  field,  or  other  occasions  may  remove 
me  from  hence  ;  having  for  the  present  some  liberty  of  stay  in 
London.  The  Lord  direct  all  to  His  glory.  I  rest,  Sir, 
"  Your  very  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

Thomas  Scott  is  big  with  the  Council  of  State  at  present ; 
he  produces  it  in  the  House  to-morrow  morning,  13th  February ; 
and  the  List  of  actual  Councillors,  as  we  said,  is  voted  the  next 
day. 

There  is  also  frequent  debate  about  Ireland  2  in  these  days, 
and  what  is  to  be  done  for  relief  of  it ;  the  Marquis  of  Ormond, 
furnished  with  a  commission  from  the  Prince,  who  now  calls 
himself  Charles  II.,  reappeared  there  last  year ;  has,  with  end- 
less patience  and  difficulty,  patched  up  some  kind  of  alliance 
with  the  Papists,  Nuncio  Papists  and  Papists  of  the  Pale ;  and 

1  Harris,  p.  505  ;  one  of  the  Pusey  seventeen. 
3  Cromwelliana,  14th  February,  &c. 


1849.  ORDER  409 

so  far  as  numbers  go,  looks  very  formidable.  Ono  does  not 
know  how  soon  one  "  may  be  called  into  the  field."  However, 
there  will  several  things  turn  up  to  be  settled  first. 


ORDER. 

Ox  the  Saturday,  17th  February,  1648  9,  more  properly  on 
Monday,  19th,  the  Council  of  State  first  met,  to  constitute 
itself  and  begin  despatch  of  business.1  Cromwell  seems  to 
have  bvcn  their  first  President.  At  first  it  had  been  decided 
that  they  should  have  no  constant  President ;  but  after  a 
time,  the  inconveniences  of  such  a  method  were  seen  into,  and 
Bradshaw  was  appointed  to  the  office. 

The  Minute-book  of  this  Council  of  State,  written  in  the 
clear  old  hand  of  Walter  Frost,  still  lies  complete  in  the  State- 
Paper  Office ;  as  do  the  whole  Kecords  of  the  Committee  of 
Both  Kingdoms,  of  the  Committee  of  Sequestrations  in  Gold- 
smiths' Hall,  and  many  other  Committees  and  officialities  of 
the  Period.  By  the  long  labor  of  Mr.  Lemon,  these  waste 
Documents,  now  gathered  into  volumes,  classed,  indexed, 
methodized,  have  become  singularly  accessible.  Well  read, 
the  thousandth  or  perhaps  ten-thousandth  part  of  them  well 
excerpted,  and  the  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  parts  well 
forgotten,  much  light  for  what  is  really  English  History  might 
still  be  gathered  there.  Alas,  if  the  half-million  of  money,  or 
but  the  twentieth  part  of  it,  wasted  in  mere  stupidities  upon 
the  old-parchment  Record  Commission,  had  been  expended 
upon  wise  labors  here !  —  But  to  our  "  Order." 

Sir  Oliver  Fleming,  a  most  gaseous  but  indisputable  histori- 
cal Figure,  of  uncertain  genesis,  uncertain  habitat,  glides 
through  the  old  Books  as  "Master  of  the  Ceremonies,"  — 
master  of  one  knows  not  well  what.  In  the  end  of  1643  he 
clearly  is  nominated  "  Master  of  the  CYremonics  "  by  Parliament 
itself ; *  and  glides  out  and  in  ever  after,  presiding  over  "  Dutch 

1   Common!  Journals,  vi.  146. 

1  9d  November,  1643,  Comtiwnt  Journal*,  iii.  299. 


410  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.  aa  F«U 

Ambassadors,"  "  Swedish  Ambassadors  "  and  such  like,  to  the 
very  end  of  the  Protectorate.  A  Blessed  Restoration,  of  course, 
relieved  him  from  his  labors.  He,  for  the  present,  wants  to 
see  some  Books  in  the  late  Royal  Library  of  St.  James's.  This 
scrap  of  paper  still  lies  in  the  British  Museum :  — 

"  To  the  Keeper  of  the  Library  of  St.  James's. 

"These  are  to  will  and  require  you,  upon  sight  hereof,  to 
deliver  unto  Sir  Oliver  Fleming,  or  to  whom  he  shall  appoint, 
two  or  three  such  Books  as  he  shall  choose,  of  which  there  is 
a  double  copy  in  the  Library  :  to  be  by  him  disposed  [of]  as 
there  shall  be  direction  given  him  by  the  Council.  Of  which 
you  are  not  to  fail,  and  for  which  this  shall  be  your  war- 
rant. 

"  Given  at  the  Council  of  State,  this  22d  day  of  February, 
1648. 

"  In  the  name,  and  signed  by  Order  of  the  Council  of 
State  appointed  by  Authority  of  Parliament, 
"  OLIVER  CROMWELL 
(Prceses  pro  tern/pore)."*- 

There  is  already  question  of  selling  the  late  King's  goods, 
crown-jewels,  plate,  and  "  hangings,"  under  which  latter  title, 
we  suppose,  are  included  his  Pictures,  much  regretted  by  the 
British  connoisseur  at  present.  They  did  not  come  actually 
to  market  till  July  next.2 


LETTER  LXXXIX. 

REVEREND  Mr.  Stapylton,  of  whom  we  heard  once  before 
in  Edinburgh,  has  been  down  at  Hursley  with  Mr.  Richard ; 
Miss  Dorothy  received  them  with  her  blushes,  with  her  smiles ; 
the  elder  Mayors  with  "  many  civilities  : "  and  the  Marriage- 
treaty,  as  Mr.  Stapylton  reports,  promises  well. 

1  Additional  Ayscough  MSS.  12,098. 

2  Scobell,  Part  ii.  46,  the  immense  Act  of  Parliament  for  sale  of  them. 


IMS.  LETTER  LXXXIX.    LONDON.  411 

"  For  my  very  worthy  Friend  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire : 
These. 

"  [LONDON,]  26th  February,  1648. 

"  SIR,  —  I  received  yours  by  Mr.  Stapylton ;  together  with 
an  account  of  the  kind  reception  and  the  many  civilities 
afforded  [to]  them,1  —  especially  to  my  Son,  in  the  liberty 
given  him  to  wait  upon  your  worthy  Daughter.  The  report 
of  whose  virtue  and  godliness  has  so  great  a  place  in  my 
heart,  that  I  think  fit  not  to  neglect  anything,  on  my  part, 
which  may  consummate  a  close  of  the  business,  if  God  please 
to  dispose  the  young  ones'  hearts  thereunto,  and  other  suitable 
ordering  [of]  affairs  towards  mutual  satisfaction  appear  in  the 
dispensation  of  Providence. 

"  For  which  purpose,  and  to  the  end  matters  may  be  brought 
to  as  near  an  issue  as  they  are  capable  of,  —  not  being  at  lib- 
erty, by  reason  of  public  occasions,  to  wait  upon  you,  nor 
your  health,  as  I  understand,  permitting  it,  —  I  thought  fit  to 
send  this  Gentleman,  Mr.  Stapylton,  instructed  with  my  mind, 
to  see  how  near  we  may  come  to  an  understanding  one  of 
another  therein.  And  although  I  could  have  wished  the  con- 
sideration of  things  had  been  between  us  two,  it  being  of  so 
near  concernment,  —  yet  Providence  for  the  present  not  allow- 
ing, I  desire  you  to  give  him  credence  on  my  behalf. 

"  Sir,  all  things  which  yourself  and  I  had  in  conference,  at 
Farnham,  do  not  occur  to  my  memory,  through  multiplicity 
of  business  intervening.  I  hope  I  shall  with  a  very  free 
heart  testify  my  readiness  to  that  which  may  be  expected 
from  me. 

"  I  have  no  more  at  present :  but  desiring  the  Lord  to  order 
this  affair  to  His  glory  and  the  comfort  of  His  servants, 
I  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

1  To  Richard  Cromwell  and  him. 

1  Harris,  p.  505  ;  oue  of  the  1'uaey  seventeen ;  Signature  only  is  in  Crom- 
well's hand. 


412  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.          8  March. 

LETTER  XC. 

THIS  Thursday,  8th  March,  1648-9,  they  are  voting  and 
debating  in  a  thin  House,  hardly  above  sixty  there,  Whether 
Duke  Hamilton,  Earl  Holland,  Lords  Capel,  Goring,  and  Sir 
John  Owen, — our  old  friend  "Colonel  Owen"  of  Nottingham 
Castle,  Jenner  and  Ashe's  old  friend,1  —  are  to  die  or  to  live  ? 

They  have  been  tried  in  a  new  High  Court  of  Justice,  and 
all  found  guilty  of  treason,  of  levying  war  against  the  Su- 
preme Authority  of  this  Nation.  Shall  they  be  executed ; 
shall  they  be  respited?  The  House,  by  small  Majorities, 
decides  against  the  first  three ;  decides  in  favor  of  the  last ; 
and  as  to  Goring,  the  votes  are  equal,  —  the  balance-tongue 
trembles,  "  Life  or  Death ! "  Speaker  Lenthall  says,  Life.2 

Meanwhile,  small  private  matters  also  must  be  attended  to. 

u  For  my  very  worthy  Friend  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire :  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  8th  March,  1648. 

"  SIB,  —  Yours  I  have  received ;  and  have  given  further 
instructions  to  this  Bearer,  Mr.  Stapylton,  to  treat  with  you 
about  the  business  in  agitation,  between  your  Daughter  and 
my  Son. 

"  I  am  engaged 8  to  you  for  all  your  civilities  and  respects 
already  manifested.  I  trust  there  will  be  a  right  understand- 
ing between  us,  and  a  good  conclusion :  and  though  I  cannot 
particularly  remember  the  things  spoken  of  at  Farnham  to 
which  your  Letter  seems  to  refer  me,  yet  I  doubt  not  but  I 
have  sent  the  offer  of  such  things  now  as  will  give  mutual 
satisfaction  to  us  both.  My  attendance  upon  public  affairs 
will  not  give  me  leave  to  come  down  unto  you  myself ;  I  have 
sent  unto  you  this  Gentleman  with  my  mind. 

"  I  salute  Mrs.  Mayor,  though  unknown,  with  the  rest  of 
your  Family.  I  commit  you,  with  the  progress  of  the  Busi- 
ness, to  the  Lord ;  and  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  assured  friend  to  serve  you, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

1  Letter  LXXXII.  p.  86.  2  Commons  Journals,  vi.  159. 

8  obliged.  *  Harris,  p.  506 ;  one  of  the  seventeen. 


IS  19. 


LETTER  XC.    LONDON.  413 


On  the  morrow  morning,  poor  versatile  Hamilton,  poor  ver- 
satile Holland,  with  the  Lord  Cupel  who  the  first  of  all  in  this 
Parliament  rose  to  complain  of  Grievances,  meet  their  death 
in  Palace-yard.  The  High  Court  was  still  sitting  in  West- 
minster Hall  as  they  passed  through  "from  Sir  Robert  Cot- 
ton's house."  Hamilton  lingered  a  little,  or  seemed  to  linger, 
in  the  Hall;  still  hopeful  of  reprieve  and  fine  of  £100,000: 
but  the  Earl  of  Denbigh,  his  brother-in-law,  a  Member  of  the 
Council  of  State,  stept  up  to  him;  whispered  in  his  ear;  —  the 
poor  Duke  walked  on.  That  is  the  end  of  all  his  diplomacies ; 
liis  Scotch  Army  of  Forty  Thousand,  his  painful  ridings  to 
Uttoxeter,  and  to  many  other  places,  have  all  issued  here.  The 
Earl  of  Lanark  will  now  be  Duke  of  Hamilton  in  Scotland: 
may  a  better  fate  await  him! 

The  once  gay  Earl  of  Holland  has  been  "  converted  "  some 
days  ago,  as  it  were  for  the  nonce,  —  poor  Earl !  With  regard 
to  my  Lord  Capel  again,  who  followed  last  in  order,  he  be- 
haved,  says  Bulstrode,  "much  after  the  manner  of  a  stout 
Roman.  He  had  no  Minister  with  him,  nor  showed  any  sense 
of  death  approaching ;  but  carried  himself  all  the  time  he  was 
upon  the  scaffold  with  that  boldness  and  resolution  as  was  to 
be  admired.  He  wore  a  sad-colored  suit,  his  hat  cocked  up, 
and  his  cloak  thrown  under  one  arm ;  he  looked  towards  the 
people  at  his  first  coming  up,  and  put  off  his  hat  in  manner  of 
a  salute ;  he  had  a  little  discourse  with  some  gentlemen,  and 
passed  up  and  down  in  a  careless  posture."  l  Thus  died  Lord 
!,  the  first  who  complained  of  Grievances:  in  seven  years' 
there  are  such  changes  for  a  man;  and  the  first  acts  of 
his  Drama  little  know  what  the  last  will  be  !  — 

This  new  High  Court  of  Justice  is  one  of  some  Seven  or 
Eight  that  sat  in  those  years,  and  were  greatly  complained  of 
by  Constitutional  persons  Nobody  ever  said  that  they  decided 
contrary  to  evidence ,  but  they  were  not  the  regular  Judges. 
Th»-y  took  the  I'urliament's  law  as  good,  without  consulting 
Fleta  and  Kracton  about  it  They  consisted  of  learned  Ser- 
geants and  <>thrr  wri^hty  persons  nominated  by  the  Parliament) 
usually  in  j,r<xxl  numbers,  for  the  occasion. 

i'    J-u  (the  _fir*t  of  ihe  two  pagoa  380  which  there  are). 


414  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN    IN   IRELAND.         u  March, 

Some  weeks  hence,  drunken  Foyer  of  Pembroke  and  the 
confused  Welsh  Colonels  are  tried  by  Court  Martial ;  Poyer, 
Powel,  Laughern  are  found  to  merit  death.  Death  however 
shall  be  executed  only  upon  one  of  them ;  let  the  other  two 
be  pardoned :  let  them  draw  lots  which  two.  "  In  two  of  the 
lots  was  written,  Life  given  by  God  ;  the  third  lot  was  a  blank. 
The  Prisoners  were  not  willing  to  draw  their  own  destiny ; 
but  a  child  drew  the  lots,  and  gave  them:  and  the  lot  fell 
to  Colonel  Poyer  to  die." 1  He  was  shot  in  Covent  Gar- 
den ;  died  like  a  soldier,  poor  confused  Welshman ;  and  so 
ended. 

And  with  these  executions,  the  chief  Delinquents  are  now 
got  punished.  The  Parliament  lays  up  its  axe  again;  will- 
ing to  pardon  the  smaller  multitude,  if  they  will  keep  quiet 
henceforth. 


LETTER  XCI. 

"For  my  worthy  Friend  Dr.  Love,  Master  of  Benet  College, 
\_Cambridge\  :    These. 

"  [LONDON,]  14th  March,  1648. 

u  SIB,  —  I  understand  one  Mrs.  Nutting  is  a  suitor  unto  you, 
on  the  right  of  her  Son,  about  the  renewing  of  a  Lease  which 
holds  of  your  College.  The  old  interest  I  have  had  makes  me 
presume  upon  your  favor.  I  desire  nothing  but  what  is  just ; 
leaving  that  to  your  judgment ;  and  beyond  which  I  neither 
now  nor  at  any  time  shall  move.  If  I  do,  denial  shall  be  most 
welcome  and  accepted  by,  Sir, 

"  Your  affectionate  servant, 

"OLIVER  C  ROM  WELL."2 

This  is  not  the  Christopher  Love  who  preached  at  Uxbridge 
during  the  Treaty  there  in  1644 ;  who  is  now  a  minister  in 
London,  and  may  again  come  before  us ;  this  is  a  Cambridge 

1  Whitlocke,  21st  April,  1649.  2  Lansdown  MSS-  1236,  fol.  83. 


1649.  LETTER  XCT.    LONDON.  415 

"  Dr.  Love,"  of  whom  I  know  nothing.  Oliver,  as  we  may 
gather,  had  befriended  him  in  the  old  Cambridge  days ;  nothing 
hard  had  befallen  him  during  the  reform  of  that  University  in 
1644.  Probably  in  Baker's  Manuscripts  it  might  be  ascer- 
tained in  what  year  he  graduated,  where  he  was  born,  where 
buried ;  but  nothing  substantial  is  ever  likely  to  be  known  of 
him,  —  or  is  indeed  necessary  to  be  known.  "  Mrs.  Nutting  " 
and  he  were  evidently  children  of  Adam,  breathing  the  vital 
air  along  with  Oliver  Cromwell ;  and  Oliver,  on  occasion,  en- 
deavored to  promote  justice  and  kindness  between  them ;  and 
they  remain  two  "  shadows  of  small  Names."  l 

Yesterday,  Tuesday,  13th  March,  there  was  question  in  the 
Council  of  State  about  "  modelling  of  the  forces  that  are  to  go 
to  Ireland ;  "  and  a  suggestion  was  made,  by  Fairfax  probably, 
who  had  the  modelling  to  do,  that  they  would  model  much 
better  if  they  knew  first  under  what  Commander  they  were 
to  go."  It  is  thought  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell  will  be 
the  man. 

On  which  same  evening,  furthermore,  one  discerns  in  a  faint 
but  an  authentic  manner,  certain  dim  gentlemen  of  the  highest 
authority,  young  Sir  Harry  Vane  to  appearance  one  of  them, 
repairing  to  the  lodging  of  one  Mr.  Milton,  "  a  small  house  in 
1 1« ilborn  which  opens  backwards  into  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields;" 
to  put  an  official  question  to  him  there  !  Not  a  doubt  of  it 
they  saw  Mr.  John  this  evening.  In  the  official  Book  this  yet 
stands  legible :  — 

"Die  Martis,  13°  Marti!,  1G48."  "That  it  is  referred  to  the 
same  Committee,"  Whitlocke,  Vane,  Lord  Lisle,  Earl  of  Den- 
bigh, Harry  Marten,  Mr.  Lisle,  "or  any  two  of  them,  to  spi-;ik 
with  Mr.  Milton,  to  know,  Whether  he  will  be  employed  as 
Secretary  for  the  Foreign  Languages  ?  and  to  report  to  the 
Council."1  I  have  authority  to  say,  that  Mr.  Milton,  thus 
unexpectedly  applied  to,  consents ;  is  formally  appointed  on 

1  Cooper'n  Annnlt,  iii.  I'M  l/itlory  of  Corput-Chritti  College  (dun 

\  1753),  pp.  143-154.  —  Mn».  Nutting,  it  appears,  succeeded  (Cambridge 
M>    i*nr»  me). 

drr-Book  of  the  Council  of  Stale  (in  the  State-Paper  Office),  i.  86. 
•  Ibid.;  Todd'fl  Life  of  Mtiton  (London,  1826).  pp.  96,  108-123. 


416  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.        14  March, 

Thursday  next ;  makes  his  proof-shot,  "  to  the  Senate  of  Ham- 
burgh," 1  about  a  week  hence ;  —  and  gives,  and  continues  to 
give,  great  satisfaction  to  that  Council,  to  me,  and  to  the  whole 
Nation  now,  and  to  all  Nations  !  Such  romance  lies  in  the 
State-Paper  Office. 

Here,  however,  is  another  Letter  on  the  Hursley  Business, 
of  the  same  date  as  Letter  XCI.  ;  which  must  also  be  read.  I 
do  not  expect  many  readers  to  take  the  trouble  of  representing 
before  their  minds  the  clear  condition  of  "  Mr.  Ludlow's  lease," 
of  « the  £250,"  "  the  £150  "  &c.  in  this  abstruse  affair  :  but 
such  as  please  to  do  so,  will  find  it  all  very  straight  at  last. 
We  observe,  Mr.  Mayor  has  a  decided  preference  for  "  my  ould 
land  ;  "  land  that  I  inherited,  or  bought  by  common  contract, 
instead  of  getting  it  from  Parliament  for  Public  Services! 
In  fact,  Mr.  Mayor  seems  somewhat  of  a  sharp  man  :  but 
neither  has  he  a  dull  man  to  deal  with,  —  though  a  much 
bigger  one. 


LETTER  XCII. 

[For  my  worthy  Friend  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  Hursley : 

These.'] 

"  [LONDON,]  14th  March,  1648. 

"  SIB,  —  I  received  your  Paper  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  Stapyl- 
ton.  I  desire  your  leave  to  return  my  dissatisfaction  there- 
with. I  shall  not  need  to  premise  how  much  I  have  desired 
(I  hope  upon  the  best  grounds)  to  match  with  you.  The  same 
desire  still  continues  in  me,  if  Providence  see  it  fit.  But  I 
may  not  be  so  much  wanting  to  myself  nor  family  as  not  to 
have  some  equality  of  consideration  towards  it.a 

"  I  have  two  young  Daughters  to  bestow,  if  God  give  them 

1  Senatus  Populusque  Angllcanus  Amplissimo  Civitatis  ffamburgensis  Senatui, 
Sulutem.  (In  Milton's  Lilerce  Senatus  Anglicani,  this  Jirst  Letter  to  the  Ham- 
burgers is  not  given.) 

8  "  it "  is  not  the  family,  hut  the  match. 


1W9.  LETTER  XCli.    LONDON. 

life  and  opportunity.  According  to  your  Offer,  I  have  noth- 
ing for  them  ;  nothing  at  all  in  hand.  If  my  Son  die,  what 
consideration  is  there  to  me  ?  And  yet  a  jointure  parted  with 
[on  my  side].  If  she  die,  there  is  [on  your  side]  little  [money 
parted  with]  ;  [even]  if  you  have  an  heir  male,  [there  is]  but 
£3,000,  [and]  without  time  ascertained.1 

"  As  for  these  things  [indeed],  I  doubt  not  but,  by  one 
interview  between  you  and  myself,  they  might  be  accommo- 
dated to  mutual  satisfaction ;  and  in  relation  to  these,  I  think 
we  should  hardly  part,  or  have  many  words,  so  much  do  I 
desire  a  closure  with  you.  But  to  deal  freely  with  you  :  the 
settling  of  the  Manor  of  Hursley,  as  you  propose  it,  sticks  so 
much  with  me,  that  either  I  understand  you  not,  or  else  it 
much  fails  my  expectation.  As  you  offer  it,  there  is  £400  per 
annum  charged  upon  it.  For  the  £150  to  your  Lady,  for  her 
life,  as  a  jointure,  I  stick  not  at  that :  but  the  £250  per  annum 
until  Mr.  Ludlow's  Lease  expires,  the  tenor  whereof  I  know 
not,  and  so  much  of  the  £250  per  annum  as  exceeds  that 
Lease  in  annual  value  for  some  time  also  after  the  expiration 
of  the  said  Lease,1  —  give  such  a  maim  to  the  Manor  of 
Hursley  as  indeed  renders  the  rest  of  the  Manor  very  incon- 
siderable. 

"  Sir,  if  I  concur  to  deny  myself  in  point  of  present  moneys, 
as  also  in  the  other  things  mentioned,  as  aforesaid,  I  may  and 
do  expect  the  Manor  of  Hursley  to  be  settled  without  any 
charge  upon  it,  after  your  decease,  saving  your  Lady's  jointure 
of  £150  per  annum,  —  which  if  you  should  think  fit  to  in- 
crease, I  should  not  stand  upon  it.  Your  own  Estate  is  best 
known  to  you  :  but  surely  your  personal  Estate,  being  free  for 
you  to  dispose,  will,  with  some  small  matter  of  addition,  beget 
a  nearness  of  equality,  —  if  I  hear  well  from  others.  And  if 

1  Sw  Letter  L  VI.  antea,  p.  298. 

•  "  Lnrllow'u  Lease, "  &c.  is  not  very  plain.  The  "  tenor  of  Lndlow's  Lease," 
is  still  less  known  to  us  than  it  was  to  the  Lieutenant-General !  Than  much 
il dear :  250  +  100  =  4OO  |HmiuU  are  to  be  paid  off  liurslcy  Manor  by  Kirlmpl 
and  his  Wife,  which  pivesa  sail  "maim  "  to  it.  When  Ludlow's  Lease  falls 
in,  there  will  be  somo  increment  of  benefit  to  the  Manor ;  but  we  are  to  derive 
no  advantage  from  that,  we  are  still  to  pay  the  aurplM  "for  some  time 
•ftcr." 

rot    xvn.  27 


418  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.         14  March. 

the  difference  were  not  very  considerable,  I  should  not  insist 
upon  it. 

"What  you  demand  of  me  is  very  high  in  all  points.  I 
am  willing  to  settle  as  you  desire  in  everything ;  saving  for 
maintenance  £400  per  annum,  £300  per  annum?-  I  would 
have  somewhat  free,  to  be  thanked  by  them  for.  The  £300 
per  annum,  of  my  old  land2  for  a  jointure,  after  my  Wife's 
decease,  I  shall  settle;  and  in  the  mean  time  [a  like  sum] 
out  of  other  lands  at  your  election :  and  truly,  Sir,  if  that  be 
not  good,  neither  will  any  lands,  I  doubt.  I  do  not  much 
distrust,  your  principles  in  other  things  have  acted8  you 
towards  confidence.  You  demand  in  case  my  Son  have  none 
issue  male  but  only  daughters,  then  the  [Cromwell  Lands] 
in  Hantshire,  Monmouth-  and  Gloucestershire  to  descend  to 
these  daughters,  or  else  £3,000  apiece.  The  first  would  be 
most  unequal ;  the  latter  [also]  is  too  high.  They  will  be 
well  provided  for  by  being  inheritrixes  of  their  Mother ;  and 
I  am  willing  [that]  £2,000  apiece  be  charged  upon  those 
lands  [for  them]. 

"Sir,  I  cannot  but  with  very  many  thanks  acknowledge 
your  good  opinion  of  me  and  of  my  Son ;  as  also  your  great 
civilities  towards  him ;  and  your  Daughter's  good  respects, 
—  whose  goodness,  though  known  to  me  only  at  a  distance 
and  by  the  report  of  others,  I  much  value.  And  indeed  that 
causeth  me  so  cheerfully  to  deny  myself  as  I  do  in  the  point  of 
moneys,  and  so  willingly  to  comply  in  other  things.  But  if 
I  should  not  insist  as  above,  I  should  in  a  greater  measure 
than  were  meet  deny  both  my  own  reason  and  the  advice  of 
my  friends ;  which  I  may  not  do.  Indeed,  Sir,  I  have  not 
closed  with  a  far  greater  Offer  of  estate ;  but  chose  rather 
to  fix  here :  I  hope  I  have  not  been  wanting  to  Providence 
in  this. 

1  Means,  in  its  desperate  haste:  "except  that  instead  of  £400  per  annum 
for  maintenance,  we  must  say  .£300." 

2  Better  than  Parliament-land,  thinks  Mayor!     Oliver  too  prefers  it  for 
his  Wife  ;  hut  thinks  all  land  will  have  a  chance  to  go,  if  that  go. 

3  actuated  or  impelled. 


1649.  LETTER  XCIII.    LONDON.  419 

"I  have  made  myself  plain  to  you.  Desiring  you  will 
make  my  Son  thr  messenger  of  your  pleasure  and  resolution 
herein  as  speedily  as  with  conveniency  you  may,  I  take  leave, 
and  rest, 

"Your  affectionate  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  I  desire  my  service  may  be  presented  to  your  Lady  and 
Daughters."  1 

On  the  morrow,  which  is  Thursday,  the  15th,  day  also  of 
John  Milton's  nomination  to  be  Secretary,  Lieutenaut-General 
Cromwell  was  nominated  Commander  for  Ireland ;  satisfactory 
appointments  both. 


LETTER  XCIII. 

THE  Lieutenant-General  is  in  hot  haste  to-day ;  sends  a  brief 
Letter  "  by  your  Kinsman,"  consenting  to  almost  everything. 
—  Mayor,  as  we  saw  before,  decidedly  prefers  "  my  ould  land  " 
to  uncertain  Parliamentary  land.  Oliver  (see  last  Letter) 
offered  to  settle  the  £300  of  jointure  upon  his  old  land,  after 
his  Wife's  decease ;  he  now  agrees  that  half  of  it,  £150,  shall 
be  settled  directly  out  of  the  old  land,  and  the  other  half  out 
of  what  Parliamentary  land  Mayor  may  like  best.  —  The 
Letter  breathes  haste  in  every  line;  but  hits,  with  a  linn 
knock,  in  Cromwell's  way,  the  essential  nails  on  their  head, 
as  it  hurries  on. 

"  Your  Kinsman,"  who  carries  this  Letter,  turns  out  by  and 
by  to  be  a  Mr.  Barton ;  a  man  somewhat  particular  in  his 
ways  of  viewing  matters ;  unknown  otherwise  to  all  men. 
The  Lieutenant  General  getting  his  Irish  Appointment  con- 
firmed in  Parliament,  and  the  conditions  of  it  settled,1  is 
naturally  very  busy. 

1  Harris,  p    5O7;  Dunrh'a  Pnsey  seventeen. 
*  Crumtorllitinn  .          ••mwna  Journal*,  Ac. 


420  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN    IRELAND.         25  March, 

"  For  my  worthy  Friend  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  Hursley  : 

These. 

"  [LONDON,]  25th  March,  1649. 

"SiR, —  You  will  pardon  the  brevity  of  these  lines;  the 
haste  I  am  in,  by  reason  of  business,  occasions  it.  To  testify 
the  earnest  desire  I  have  to  see  a  happy  period  to  this  Treaty 
between  us,  I  give  you  to  understand, 

"That  I  agree  to  £150  per  annum  out  of  the  £300  per 
annum  of  my  old  land  for  your  Daughter's  jointure,  and  the 
other  £150  where  you  please.  [Also]  £400  for  present  main- 
tenance where  you  shall  choose;  either  in  Hantshire,  Glou- 
cester- or  Monmouthshire.  Those  lands  [to  be]  settled  upon 
my  Son  and  his  heirs  male  by  your  Daughter;  and  in  case 
of  daughters,  only  £2,000  apiece  to  be  charged  upon  those 
lauds. 

"  [On  the  other  hand]  £400  per  annum  free,1  to  raise  por- 
tions for  my  two  daughters.  I  expect  the  Manor  of  Hurslej 
to  be  settled  upon  your  Daughter  and  her  heirs,  the  heirs 
of  her  body.  Your  Lady  a  jointure  of  £150  per  annum  out 
of  it.  For  compensation  to  your  younger  Daughter,  I  agree 
to  leave  it  in  your  power,  after  your  decease,  to  charge  it 
with  as  much  as  will  buy  in  the  Lease  of  the  farm  at  Ailing- 
ton2  by  a  just  computation.  I  expect,  so  long  as  they  [the 
young  couple]  live  with  you,  their  diet,  as  you  expressed ; 
or  in  case  of  voluntary  parting  [from  you],  £150  per  annum. 
[You  are  to  give]  £3,000  in  case  you  have  a  Son;8  to  be 
paid  in  two  years  next  following.  In  case  your  Daughter 
die  without  issue,  —  £1,000  within  six  months  [of  the  mar- 
riage]. 

"  Sir,  if  this  satisfy,  I  desire  a  speedy  resolution.  I  should 
the  rather  desire  so  because  of  what  your  Kinsman  can 

1  Means,  "  shall  be  settled  on  Richard  and  his  Wife,  that  I  may  be  left 
free." 

2  "Ludlow's  Lease,"  I  fancy.     Anne  Mayor,  "your  younger  Daughter," 
married  Dunch  of  Pusey ;  John  Dunch,  to  whom  we  owe  these  seventeen 
Letters.     See  also  Letter  27th  August,  1657. 

3  Grandson,  i.e. :  in  the  next  sentence  "  die"  means  more  properly  live. 


1849.  LETTER  XCIII.    LONDON.  421 

satisfy  you  in.  The  Lord  bless  you  and  yonr  Family,  to 
whom  I  desire  my  affections  and  service  may  be  presented. 
I  rest, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 1 

Your  Kinsman  can  in  part  satisfy  you  what  a  multiplicity 
of  business  we  are  in :  modelling  the  Army  for  Ireland ;  — 
which  indeed  is  a  most  delicate  dangerous  operation,  full  of 
difficulties  perhaps  but  partly  known  to  your  Kinsman! 

For,  in  these  days,  John  Lilburn  is  again  growing  very 
noisy;  bringing  out  Pamphlets,  EnglantVs  New  Chains  Dis- 
covered, in  several  Parts.  As  likewise  The  Hunting  of  the 
Foxes  from,  Triploe  Heath  to  Whitehall  by  five  Small  Beagles* 
—  the  tracking  out  of  Oliver  Cromwell  and  his  Grandees, 
onward  from  their  rendezvous  at  Royston  or  Triploe,  all  the 
way  to  their  present  lodgment  in  "Whitehall  and  the  seat  of 
authority.  "  Five  small  Beagles,"  five  vociferous  petitionary 
Troopers,  of  the  Levelling  species,  who  for  their  high  carriage 
and  mutinous  ways  have  been  set  to  "  ride  the  wooden  horse  " 
lately.  Do  military  men  of  these  times  understand  the  wooden 
horse  ?  He  is  a  mere  triangular  ridge  or  roof  of  wood,  set  on 
four  sticks,  with  absurd  head  and  tail  superadded ;  and  you 
ride  him  barebacked,  in  face  of  the  world,  frequently  with 
muskets  tied  to  your  feet,  —  in  a  very  uneasy  manner!  To 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Lilburn  and  these  small  Beagles  it  is 
manifest  we  are  getting  into  New  Chains,  not  a  jot  better  than 
the  old;  and  certainly  Foxes  ought  to  be  hunted  and  tracked. 
Three  of  the  Beagles,  the  best-nosed  and  loudest-toned,  by 
names  Richard  Overton,  William  Walwyn,  Thomas  Prince, — 
these,  with  Lieutenant-Colonel  Lilburn,  huntsman  of  the  pack, 
are  shortly  after  this  lodged  in  the  Tower  ;  *  "  committed  to 
the  Lieutenant,"  to  be  in  mild  but  safe  keeping  with  that  offi- 
cer. There  is,  in  fact,  a  very  dangerous  leaven  in  the  Army, 
and  in  the  Levelling  Pnblie  :it  present,  which  thinks  with 

1  Harm,  p.  508  ;  one  of  the  seventeen. 

1  (Jiveu  in  Somrr*  Tracts,  vi   44-60. 

•  27th  March,  llth  April,  ICl'J  (Common*  Joumali,  in  diehu). 


122  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.          30  March, 

itself:  God's  enemies  having  been  fought  down,  chief  Delin- 
quents all  punished,  and  the  Godly  Party  made  triumphant, 
why  does  not  some  Millennium  arrive  ? 


LETTER  XCIV. 

"  COMPENSATION,"  here  touched  upon,  is  the  "  compensation 
to  your  younger  Daughter  "  mentioned  in  last  Letter ;  burden 
settled  on  Hursley  Manor,  "  after  your  decease,"  "  to  buy  in  the 
Lease  of  Allington  Farm."  Mayor  wants  it  another  way ; 
which  "  seems  truly  inconvenient,"  and  in  brief  cannot  be. 

u  For  my  worthy  Friend  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  Hursley  : 

These. 

"  [LONDON,]  30th  March,  1649. 

"  SIR,  —  I  received  yours  of  the  28th  instant.  I  desire  the 
matter  of  compensation  may  be  as  in  my  last  to  you.  You 
propose  another  way ;  which  seems  to  me  truly  inconvenient. 

"  I  have  agreed  to  all  other  things,  as  you  take  me,  and 
that  rightly,  repeating  particulars  in  your  Paper.  The  Lord 
dispose  this  great  Business  (great  between  you  and  me)  for 
good. 

"You  mention  to  send  by  the  Post  on  Tuesday.1  I  shall 
speed  things  here  as  I  may.  I  am  designed  for  Ireland,  which 
will  be  speedy.  I  should  be  very  glad  to  see  things  settled 
before  I  go,  if  the  Lord  will.  My  service  to  all  your  Family. 
I  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  affectionate  servant 

[OLIVER  CROMWELL]."  8 


LETTER  XCV. 

WHO  the  Lawyer,  or  what  the  "  arrest "  of  him  is,  which  oc- 
casions new  expense  of  time,  I  do  not  know.  On  the  whole, 
one  begins  to  wish  Richard  well  wedded ;  but  the  settlements 
do  still  a  little  stick,  and  we  must  have  patience. 

1  The  30th  of  March  is  Friday ;  Tuesday  is  the  3d  of  April. 

2  Harris,  p.  508. 


1848.  LETTEK  XCV.    LONDON.  423 

"For  my  worthy  Friend  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  Hursley:- 

These. 

"[LONDON,]  6th  April,  1649. 

"  SIB,  —  I  received  your  Papers  enclosed  in  your  Letter ; 
although  I  know  not  how  to  make  so  good  use  of  them  as 
otherwise  might  have  been,  to  have  saved  expense  of  time,  if 
the  arrest  of  your  Lawyer  had  not  fallen  out  at  this  time. 

"  I  conceive  a  draught,  to  your  satisfaction,  by  your  own 
Lawyer,  would  have  saved  much  time ;  which  to  me  is  pre- 
cious. I  hope  you  will  send  some  [one]  up,  perfectly  in- 
structed. I  shall  endeavor  to  speed  what  is  to  be  done  on  my 
part ;  not  knowing  how  soon  I  may  be  sent  down  towards  my 
charge  for  Ireland.  And  I  hope  to  perform  punctually  with 
you. 

"  Sir,  my  Son  had  a  great  desire  to  come  down  and  wait 
upon  your  Daughter.  I  perceive  he  minds  that  more  than  to 
attend  to  business  here.1  I  should  be  glad  to  see  him  settled, 
and  all  things  finished  before  I  go.  I  trust  not  to  be  want- 
ing therein.  The  Lord  direct  all  our  hearts  into  His  good 
pleasure.  I  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  affectionate  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL 

"  My  service  to  your  Lady  and  Family."  a 

There  is  much  to  be  settled  before  I  can  "be  sent  down  to 
my  charge  for  Ireland."  The  money  is  not  yet  got; — and 
the  Army  has  ingredients  difficult  to  model.  Next  week,  a 
Parliamentary  Committee,  one  of  whom  is  the  Lieutenant- 
General,  and  another  is  Sir  Harry  Vane,  have  to  go  to  the 
City,  and  try  if  they  will  lend  us  £120,000  for  this  business. 
Much  speaking  in  the  Guildhall  there,  in  part  by  Cromwell.' 
The  City  will  lend  ;  and  now,  if  the  Army  were  once  modelled, 
and  ready  to  march  —  ? 

1  The  dog !  •  Harris,  p.  509. 

'  12th  April,  1649,  Nevrspapen  (in  CVomwe&ona,  p.  55). 


424  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.          15  April, 

LETTER  XCVI. 

HERE,  at  any  rate,  is  the  end  of  the  Marriage-treaty,  —  not 
even  Mr.  Barton,  with  his  peculiar  ways  of  viewing  matters, 
shall  now  delay  it  long. 

"  For  my  worthy  Friend  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire :  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  15th  April,  1649. 

"SiR, — Your  Kinsman  Mr.  Barton  and  myself,  repairing 
to  our  Counsel,  for  the  perfecting  of  this  Business  so  much 
concerning  us,  did,  upon  Saturday  this  15th  of  April,  draw 
our  Counsel  to  a  meeting :  where,  upon  consideration  had  of 
my  Letter  to  yourself  expressing  my  consent  to  particulars, 
which  [Letter]  Mr.  Barton  brought  to  your  Counsel  Mr.  Hales 
of  Lincoln's  Inn ; J  —  upon  the  reading  that  which  expresseth 
the  way  of  your  settling  Hursley,  ycrur  Kinsman  expressed  a 
sense  of  yours  contrary  to  the  Paper  in  my  hand,  as  also  to 
that  under  your  hand  of  the  28th  of  March,  which  was  the 
same  as  mine  as  to  that  particular. 

"In2  that  which  I  myself  am  to  do,  I  know  nothing  of 
doubt,  but  do  agree  it  all  to  your  Kinsman's  satisfaction. 
Nor  is  there  much  material  difference  [between  us],  save  in 
this,  —  wherein  both  my  Paper  sent  by  you  to  your  Counsel, 
and  yours  of  the  28th,  do  in  all  literal  and  all  equitable  con- 
struction agree,  viz. :  To  settle  an  Estate  in  fee-simple  upon 
your  Daughter,  after  your  decease ;  which  Mr.  Barton  affirms 
not  to  be  your  meaning,  —  although  he  has  not  (as  to  me) 
formerly  made  this  any  objection ;  nor  can  the  words  bear 
it ;  nor  have  I  anything  more  considerable  in  lieu  of  what  I 
part  with  than  this.  And  I  have  appealed  to  yours  or  any 
Counsel  in  England,  whether  it  be  not  just  and  equal  that  I 
insist  thereupon. 

"  And  this  misunderstanding  —  if  it  be  yours,  as  it  is  your 

1  "  Hales  "  ia  the  future  Judge  Hale. 

2  A  mere  comma  here,  instead  of  new  paragraph ;  greatly  obscuring  the 
sense ;  —  "  as  to  that  particular,  and  I  know  nothing  of  doubt  in  that  which 
I  am  to  doe,  but  doe  agree  itt  all,"  &c. 


LETTER  XCVI.  LONDON.  425 

Kinsman's  —  put  a  stop  to  the  Business  5  so  that  our  Counsel 
could  not  proceed,  until  your  pleasure  herein  were  known. 
Wherefore  it  was  thought  fit  to  desire  Mr.  Barton  to  have  re- 
course to  you  to  kuow  your  mind ;  he  alleging  he  had  no  author- 
ity to  understand  that  expression  so,  but  the  contrary  ;  —  which 
was  thought  not  a  little  strange,  even  by  your  own  Counsel. 

"  I  confess  I  did  apprehend  we  should  be  incident  to  mis- 
takes, treating  at  such  a  distance ;  —  although  I  may  take  the 
boldness  to  say,  there  is  nothing  expected  from  me  but  I  agree 
to  it  to  your  Kinsman's  sense  to  a  tittle. 

"Sir,  I  desired  to  know  what  commission  your  Kinsman  had 
to  help  this  doubt  by  an  expedient ;  —  who  denied  to  have  any  ; 
but  did  think  it  were  better  for  you  to  part  with  some  money, 
and  keep  the  power  in  your  own  hand  as  to  the  land,  to  dispose 
thereof  as  you  should  see  cause.  Whereupon  an  overture  was 
made,  and  himself  and  your  Counsel  desired  to  draw  it  up ;  the 
effect  whereof  this  enclosed  Paper  contains.  And  although  I 
should  not  like  change  of  agreements,  yet  to  show  how  much 
I  desire  the  perfecting  of  this  Business,  if  you  like  thereof 
(though  this  be  far  the  worse  bargain),  I  shall  submit  there- 
unto ;  your  Counsel  thinking  that  things  may  be  settled  this 
way  with  more  clearness  and  less  intricacy.  There  is  mention 
made  of  £900  per  annum  to  be  reserved :  but  it  comes  to  but 
about  £800;  my  lands  in  Glamorganshire  being  but  little 
above  £400  per  annum  ;  and  the  [other]  £400  per  annum  out 
of  my  Manor  in  Gloucester-  and  Monmouthshire.  I  wish  a 
clear  understanding  may  be  between  us;  truly  I  would  not 
willingly  mistake.  Desiring  to  wait  upon  Providence  in  this 
Business,  I  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"I  desire  my  service  may  be  presented  to  your  Lady  and 
Daughters." l 

This  is  the  last  of  the  Marriage-treaty.  Mr.  Barton,  whom 
-  no  Counsel  iu  England  "  could  back,  was  of  course  disowned 

1   lUrria,  p.  509. 


426  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN  IRELAND.          15  April, 

in  his  overzeal ;  the  match  was  concluded j  solemnized  1st  May, 
1649.1 

Richard  died  12th  July,  1712,  at  Cheshunt,  age  86  ;  2  his  Wife 
died  5th  January  1676-6,  at  Hursley,  and  is  buried  there,  — 
where,  ever  after  Richard's  Deposition,  and  while  he  travelled 
on  the  Continent,  she  had  continued  to  reside.  In  pulling  clown 
the  old  Hursley  House,  above  a  century  since,  when  the  Estate 
had  passed  into  other  hands,  there  was  found  in  some  crevice 
of  the  old  walls  a  rusty  lump  of  metal,  evidently  an  antiquity  ; 
which  was  carried  to  the  new  Proprietor  at  Winchester  j  who 
sold  it  as  "  a  Roman  weight,"  for  what  it  would  bring.  When 
scoured,  it  turned  out,  —  or  is  said  by  vague  Noble,  quoting 
vague  "  Vertue,"  "  Hughes's  Letters,"  and  Ant.  Soc.  (Antiqua- 
rian Society),  to  have  turned  out,  —  to  be  the  Great  Seal  of  the 
Commonwealth.3  If  the  Antiquaries  still  have  it,  let  them  be 
chary  of  it. 


THE    LEVELLERS. 

WHILE  Miss  Dorothy  Mayor  is  choosing  her  wedding-dresses, 
and  Richard  Cromwell  is  looking  forward  to  a  life  of  Arcadian 
felicity  now  near  at  hand,  there  has  turned  up  for  Richard's 
Father  and  other  parties  interested,  on  the  public  side  of 
things,  a  matter  of  very  different  complexion,  requiring  to  be 
instantly  dealt  with  in  the  interim.  The  matter  of  the  class 
called  Levellers ;  concerning  which  we  must  now  say  a  few 
words. 

In  1647,  as  we  saw,  there  were  Army  Adjutators  ;  and  among 
some  of  them  wild  notions  afloat,  as  to  the  swift  attainability 
of  Perfect  Freedom  civil  and  religious,  and  a  practical  Millen- 
nium on  this  Earth ;  notions  which  required,  in  the  Rendez- 
vous at  Corkbushfield,  "  Rendezvous  of  Ware,"  as  they  oftenest 
call  it,  to  be  very  resolutely  trodden  out.  Eleven  chief  muti- 
neers were  ordered  from  the  ranks  in  that  Rendezvous ;  were 

1  Noble,  i.  188.  2  Ibid.  i.  176,  188. 

3  Ibid.  i.  195.  Bewildered  Biography  of  the  Mayors,  "  Majors  or  Alaijon," 
ibid.  ii.  436-440. 


1649.  THE  LEVELLERS.  427 

condemned  by  swift  Court-Martial  to  die ;  and  Trooper  Arnold, 
one  of  them,  was  accordingly  shot  there  and  then ;  which 
extinguished  the  mutiny  for  that  time.  War  since,  and  Jus- 
tice on  Delinquents,  England  made  a  Free  Commonwealth,  and 
such  like,  have  kept  the  Army  busy  :  but  a  deep  republican 
leaven,  working  all  along  among  these  men,  breaks  now  again 
into  very  formidable  development.  As  the  following  brief 
glimpses  and  excerpts  may  satisfy  an  attentive  reader  who 
will  spread  them  out,  to  the  due  expansion,  in  his  mind. 
Take  first  this  glimpse  into  the  civil  province  ;  and  discern, 
with  amazement,  a  whole  submarine  world  of  Calvinistic  Sans- 
culottism,  Five-point  Charter  and  the  Rights  of  Man,  threaten- 
ing to  emerge  almost  two  centuries  before  its  time ! 

"  The  Council  of  State,"  says  Whitlocke,1  just  while  Mr.  Bar- 
ton is  boggling  about  the  Hursley  Marriage-settlements,  "  has 
intelligence  of  certain  Levellers  appearing  at  St.  Margaret's 
Hill,  near  Cobham"  in  Surrey,  and  at  St.  George's  Hill,"  in  the 
same  quarter  :  "  that  they  were  digging  the  ground,  and  sow- 
ing it  with  roots  and  beans.  One  Everard,  once  of  the  Army, 
who  terms  himself  a  Prophet,  is  the  chief  of  them : "  one 
Winstanley  is  another  chief.  "  They  were  thirty  men,  and 
s;ii<l  that  they  should  be  shortly  four  thousand.  They  invited 
all  to  come  in  and  help  them ;  and  promised  them  meat,  drink, 
and  clothes.  They  threaten  to  pull  down  park  pales,  and  to 
lay  all  open ;  and  threaten  the  neighbors  that  they  will  shortly 
make  them  all  come  up  to  the  hills  and  work."  These  infatu- 
ated persons,  beginning  a  new  era  in  this  headlong  manner  on 
the  chalk  hills  of  Surrey,  are  laid  hold  of  by  certain  Justices, 
"  by  the  country  people,"  and  also  by  "  two  troops  of  horse  ;  " 
and  complain  loudly  of  such  treatment ;  appealing  to  all  men 
whether  it  l>e  fair.8  This  is  the  account  they  give  of  them- 
selves when  brought  before  the  General  some  days  afterwards : 

"  April  20th,  1649.  Everard  and  Winstanley,  the  chief  of 
those  that  digged  at  St.  George's  Hill  in  Surrey,  came  to  the 

1  17th  April,  1 649,  p:  384. 

*  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  427,  §  6  (Declaration  of  the  bloody  and 
nnrhristian  Acting  of  William  Star,  &*.-.  in  oppoaitiuu  to  ttiooe  that  dig  upon. 
GcorgivHill  iu  Surrey  J  ,  ib.  IH>.  418,  f  5,  Ac. 


428  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  20  April. 

General  and  made  a  large  declaration,  to  justify  their  proceed- 
ings. Everard  said,  He  was  of  the  race  of  the  Jews,"  as  most 
men,  called  Saxon  and  other,  properly  are ;  "  That  all  the  Lib- 
erties of  the  People  were  lost  by  the  coming  in  of  William  the 
Conqueror ;  and  that,  ever  since,  the  People  of  God  had  lived 
under  tyranny  and  oppression  worse  than  that  of  our  Fore- 
fathers under  the  Egyptians.  But  now  the  time  of  deliver- 
ance was  at  hand ;  and  God  would  bring  His  People  out  of  this 
slavery,  and  restore  them  to  their  freedom  in  enjoying  the 
fruits  and  benefits  of  the  Earth.  And  that  there  had  lately 
appeared  to  him,  Everard,  a  vision ;  which  bade  him,  Arise  and 
dig  and  plough  the  Earth,  and  receive  the  fruits  thereof.  That 
their  intent  is  to  restore  the  Creation  to  its  former  condition. 
That  as  God  had  promised  to  make  the  barren  land  fruitful,  so 
now  what  they  did,  was  to  restore  the  ancient  Community  of 
enjoying  the  Fruits  of  the  Earth,  and  to  distribute  the  benefit 
thereof  to  the  poor  and  needy,  and  to  feed  the  hungry  and 
clothe  the  naked.  That  they  intend  not  to  meddle  with  any 
man's  property,  nor  to  break  down  any  pales  or  enclosures,"  in 
spite  of  reports  to  the  contrary ;  "  but  only  to  meddle  with  what 
is  common  and  untilled,  and  to  make  it  fruitful  for  the  use  of 
man.  That  the  time  will  suddenly  be,  when  all  men  shall  will- 
ingly come  in  and  give  up  their  lands  and  estates,  and  submit 
to  this  Community  of  Goods." 

These  are  the  principles  of  Everard,  Winstanley,  and  the 
poor  Brotherhood,  seemingly  Saxon,  but  properly  of  the  race 
of  the  Jews,  who  were  found  dibbling  beans  on  St.  George's 
Hill,  under  the  clear  April  skies  in  1649,  and  hastily  bringing 
in  a  new  era  in  that  manner.  "  And  for  all  such  as  will  come 
in  and  work  with  them,  they  shall  have  meat,  drink,  and 
clothes,  which  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  the  life  of  man :  and 
as  for  money,  there  is  not  any  need  of  it ;  nor  of  clothes  more 
than  to  cover  nakedness."  For  the  rest,  "  That  they  will  not 
defend  themselves  by  arms,  but  will  submit  unto  authority, 
and  wait  till  the  promised  opportunity  be  offered,  which  they 
conceive  to  be  at  hand.  And  that  as  their  forefathers  lived  in 
tents,  so  it  would  be  suitable  to  their  condition  now  to  live  in 
the  same. 


1649.  THE  LEVELLERS.  429 

"While  they  were  before  the  General,  they  stood  with  their 
hats  on ;  and  being  demanded  the  reason  thereof,  they  said, 
Because  he  was  but  their  fellow-creature.  Being  asked  the 
meaning  of  that  phrase,  Give  honor  to  whom  honor  is  due,  — 
they  said,  Your  mouths  shall  be  stopped  that  ask  such  a 
question."  l 

Dull  Bulstrode  hath  "  set  down  this  the  more  largely  because 
it  was  the  beginning  of  the  appearance  "  of  an  extensive  level- 
ling doctrine,  much  to  be  "  avoided  "  by  judicious  persons,  see- 
ing it  is  "a  weak  persuasion."  The  germ  of  Quakerism  and 
much  else  is  curiously  visible  here.  But  let  us  look  now  at 
the  military  phasis  of  the  matter ;  where  "  a  weak  persuasion" 
mounted  on  cavalry  horses,  with  sabres  and  fire-arms  in  its 
hand,  may  become  a  very  perilous  one. 

Friday,  20th  April,  1649.  The  Lieutenant-General  has  con- 
sented to  go  to  Ireland;  the  City  also  will  lend  money;  and 
now  this  Friday  the  Council  of  the  Army  meets  at  Whitehall 
to  decide  what  regiments  shall  go  on  that  service.  "  After  a 
solemn  seeking  of  God  by  prayer,"  they  agree  that  it  shall  be 
by  lot :  tickets  are  put  into  a  hat,  a  child  draws  them :  the 
regiments,  fourteen  of  foot  and  fourteen  of  horse,  are  decided 
on  in  this  manner.  "  The  officers  on  whom  the  lot  fell,  in  all 
the  twenty -eight  regiments,  expressed  much  cheerfulness  at 
the  decision."  The  officers  did  :  —  but  the  common  men  are 
by  no  means  all  of  that  humor.  The  common  men,  blown 
upon  by  Lilburn  and  his  five  small  Beagles,  have  notions 
about  England's  new  Chains,  about  the  Hunting  of  Foxes 
from  Triploe  Heath,  and  in  fact  ideas  concerning  the  capa- 
bility that  lies  in  man  and  in  a  free  Commonwealth,  which 
are  of  the  most  alarming  description. 

Thursday,  26th  April.  This  night,  at  the  Bull  in  Bishops- 
gate,  there  has  an  alarming  mutiny  broken  out  in  a  troop  of 
Whalley's  regiment  there.  Whalley's  men  are  not  allotted 
for  Ireland  :  but  they  refuse  to  quit  London,  as  they  are  or- 
dered ;  they  want  this  and  that  first :  they  seize  their  colors 
from  the  Cornet,  who  is  lodged  at  the  Bull  there:  — the  Gen- 
eral and  the  Lieutenant-General  have  to  hasten  thither ;  quell 

'  WhiUocke,j>.884. 


430  PARTY.    CAMPAIGN    IN    IRELAND.  as  April, 

them,  pack  them  forth  on  their  march ;  seizing  fifteen  of  them 
first,  to  be  tried  by  Court-Martial.  Tried  by  instant  Court- 
Martial,  five  of  them  are  found  guilty,  doomed  to  die,  but  par- 
doned ;  and  one  of  them,  Trooper  Lockyer,  is  doomed  and  not 
pardoned.  Trooper  Lockyer  is  shot,  in  Paul's  Church-yard,  on 
the  morrow.  A  very  brave  young  man,  they  say ;  though  but 
three-and-twenty,  "  he  has  served  seven  years  in  these  Wars," 
ever  since  the  Wars  began.  "  Religious  "  too,  "  of  excellent 
parts  and  much  beloved ; "  —  but  with  hot  notions  as  to  human 
Freedom,  and  the  rate  at  which  the  millenniums  are  attainable, 
poor  Lockyer  !  He  falls  shot  in  Paul's  Church-yard  on  Friday, 
amid  the  tears  of  men  and  women.  Paul's  Cathedral,  we  re- 
mark, is  now  a  Horse-guard ;  horses  stamp  in  the  Canons'  stalls 
there :  and  Paul's  Cross  itself,  as  smacking  of  Popery,  where  in 
fact  Alablaster  once  preached  flat  Popery,  is  swept  altogether 
away,  and  its  leaden  roof  melted  into  bullets,  or  mixed  with 
tin  for  culinary  pewter.  Lockyer's  corpse  is  watched  and 
wept  over,  not  without  prayer,  in  the  eastern  regions  of  the 
City,  till  a  new  week  come ;  and  on  Monday,  this  is  what  we 
see  advancing  westward  by  way  of  funeral  to  him. 

"  About  one  hundred  went  before  the  Corpse,  five  or  six  in 
a  file ;  the  Corpse  was  then  brought,  with  six  trumpets  sound- 
ing a  soldier's  knell ;  then  the  Trooper's  Horse  came,  clothed 
all  over  in  mourning,  and  led  by  a  footman.  The  Corpse  was 
adorned  with  bundles  of  Rosemary,  one  half  stained  in  blood ; 
and  the  Sword  of  the  deceased  along  with  them.  Some  thou- 
sands followed  in  rank  and  file  :  all  had  seagreen-and-black 
Ribbon  tied  on  their  hats  and  to  their  breasts :  and  the  women 
brought  up  the  rear.  At  the  new  Church-yard  in  Westminster, 
some  thousands  more  of  the  better  sort  met  them,  who  thought 
not  fit  to  march  through  the  City.  Many  looked  upon  this 
funeral  as  an  affront  to  the  Parliament  and  Army ;  others 
called  these  people  '  Levellers ; '  but  they  took  no  notice  of 
any  one's  sayings." 1 

That  was  the  end  of  Trooper  Lockyer :  six  trumpets  wailing 
stern  music  through  London  streets;  Rosemaries  and  Sword 
half  dipt  in  blood ;  funeral  of  many  thousands  in  seagreen 

1  Whitlocke,  p.  385. 


1649.  THE  LEVELLERS.  431 

Ribbons  and  black:  —  testimony  of  a  weak  persuasion  now 
looking  somewhat  perilous.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Lilburn  and 
his  five  small  Beagles,  now  in  a  kind  of  loose  arrest  under  the 
Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  make  haste  to  profit  by  the  general 
emotion ;  publish  on  the  1st  of  May  l  their  "  Agreement  of  the 
People,"  —  their  Bentham-Sieyes  Constitution  ;  Annual  very 
exquisite  Parliament,  and  other  Lilburn  apparatus ;  whereby 
the  Perfection  of  Human  Nature  will  with  a  maximum  of 
rapidity  be  secured,  and  a  millennium  straightway  arrive, 
sings  the  Lilburn  Oracle. 

May  9/A.  Richard  Cromwell  is  safe  wedded;  Richard's 
Father  is  reviewing  troops  in  Hyde  Park,  "seagreen  colors  in 
some  of  their  hats."  The  Lieutenant-General  speaks  earnestly 
to  them.  Has  not  the  Parliament  been  diligent,  doing  its 
l>est?  It  has  punished  Delinquents;  it  has  voted,  in  these 
very  days,  resolutions  for  dissolving  itself  and  assembling 
future  Parliaments.3  It  has  protected  trade ;  got  a  good  Navy 
afloat.  You  soldiers,  there  is  exact  payment  provided  for  you. 
Martial  Law  ?  Death,  or  other  punishment,  of  Mutineers  ? 
Well !  Whoever  cannot  stand  Martial  Law  is  not  fit  to  be  a 
soldier:  his  best  plan  will  be  to  lay  down  his  arms;  he  shall 
Invf  his  ticket,  and  get  his  arrears  as  we  others  do,  —  we  that 
still  mean  to  fight  against  the  enemies  of  England  and  this 
Cause.*  —  One  trooper  showed  signs  of  insolence;  the  Lien- 
t«  1 1. nit-General  suppressed  him  by  rigor  and  by  clemency  ;  the 
rnen  ribbons  were  torn  from  such  hats  as  had  them.  The 
humor  of  the  men  is  not  the  most  perfect  This  Review  was 
on  Wednesday:  Lilburn  and  his  five  small  Beagles  are,  on 
S:it unlay,  committed  close  Prisoners  to  the  Tower,  each  rigor- 
mi  ly  to  a  cell  of  his  own. 

It  is  high  time.  For  now  the  flame  has  caught  the  ranks  of 
tin-  Army  itself,  in  Oxfordshire,  in  Gloucestershire,  at  Salis- 
bury when-  hi-ad-quartor.*;  an1;  and  rapidly  there  is,  on  all 
hands,  a  dangerous  conflagration  blazing  out.  In  Oxfordshire, 
<>nr  Captain  Thompson,  not  known  to  us  before,  has  burst  from 
tnv  quarters  at  Itanlmry,  with  a  party  of  two  hundred,  in  these 

1   WhitWke's  date,  p.  885.  *  15th  April,  1649,  Common*  Jnunalt. 

•  Newspapers  (in  (.'romwtUitina,  p.  56). 


432  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  uitay, 

•ame  days  ;  has  sent  forth  his  England's  Standard  Advanced  • 1 
insisting  passionately  on  the  New  Chains  we  are  fettered  with  ; 
indignantly  demanding  swift  perfection  of  Human  Freedom, 
justice  on  the  murderers  of  Lockyer  and  Arnald ;  —  threaten- 
ing that  if  a  hair  of  Lilburn  and  the  five  small  Beagles  be  hurt, 
he  will  avenge  it  "  seventy -and-seven  fold."  This  Thompson's 
Party,  swiftly  attacked  by  his  Colonel,  is  broken  within  the 
week ;  he  himself  escapes  with  a  few,  and  still  roves  up  and 
down.  To  join  whom,  or  to  communicate  with  Gloucestershire 
where  help  lies,  there  has,  in  the  interim,  open  mutiny,  "  above 
a  thousand  strong,"  with  subalterns,  with  a  Cornet  Thompson 
brother  of  the  Captain,  but  without  any  leader  of  mark,  broken 
out  at  Salisbury  :  the  General  and  Lieutenant-General,  with 
what  force  can  be  raised,  are  hastening  thitherward  in  all 
speed.  Now  were  the  time  for  Lieutenant-Colonel  Lilburn  ; 
now  or  never  might  noisy  John  do  some  considerable  injury 
to  the  Cause  he  has  at  heart :  but  he  sits,  in  these  critical 
hours,  fast  within  stone  walls  ! 

Monday,  14th  May.  All  Sunday  the  General  and  Lieutenant- 
General  marched  in  full  speed,  by  Alton,  by  Andover,  towards 
Salisbury ;  the  mutineers,  hearing  of  them,  start  northward 
for  Buckinghamshire,  then  for  Berkshire ;  the  General  and 
Lieutenant-General  turning  also  northward  after  them  in  hot 
chase.  The  mutineers  arrive  at  Wantage ;  make  for  Oxford- 
shire by  Newbridge  ;  find  the  Bridge  already  seized ;  cross 
higher  up  by  swimming;  get  to  Burford,  very  weary,  and 
"  turn  out  their  horses  to  grass  ; "  —  Fairfax  and  Cromwell 
still  following  in  hot  speed,  "a  march  of  near  fifty  miles" 
that  Monday.  What  boots  it  ?  there  is  no  leader,  noisy  John 
is  sitting  fast  within  stone  walls !  The  mutineers  lie  asleep 
in  Burford,  their  horses  out  at  grass  ;  the  Lieutenant-General, 
having  rested  at  a  safe  distance  since  dark,  bursts  into  Burford 
as  the  clocks  are  striking  midnight.  He  has  beset  some  hun- 
dreds of  the  mutineers,  "  who  could  only  fire  some  shots  out 
of  windows ; "  —  has  dissipated  the  mutiny,  trodden  down  the 
Levelling  Principle  out  of  English  affairs  once  more.  Here 
is  the  last  scene  of  the  business  ;  the  rigorous  Court-Martial 

1  Giren  in  Walker's  History  of  Independency,  part  ii.  168;  dated  6th  May. 


1649.  THE   LEVELLERS.  433 

having  now  sat ;  the  decimated  doomed  Mutineers  being  placed 
on  the  leads  of  the  Church  to  see  :  — 

Thursday,  17tk  May.  "This  day  in  Burford  Church-yard, 
Cornet  Thompson,  brother  to  Thompson  the  chief  leader,  was 
brought  to  the  place  of  execution  ;  and  expressed  himself  to 
this  purpose  :  That  it  was  just  what  did  befall  him ;  that  God 
did  not  own  the  ways  he  went ;  that  he  had  offended  the  Gen- 
eral :  he  desired  the  prayers  of  the  people ;  and  told  the  sol- 
diers who  were  appointed  to  shoot  him,  that  when  he  held  out 
his  hands,  they  should  do  their  duty.  And  accordingly  he 
was  immediately,  after  the  sign  given,  shot  to  death.  Next 
after  him  was  a  Corporal,  brought  to  the  same  place  of  execu- 
tion ;  where,  looking  upon  his  fellow-mutineers,  he  set  his 
hack  against  the  wall ;  and  bade  them  who  were  appointed  to 
shoot,  '  Shoot ! '  and  died  desperately.  The  third,  being  also 
a  Corporal,  was  brought  to  the  same  place ;  and  without  the 
least  acknowledgment  of  error,  or  show  of  fear,  he  pulled  off 
his  doublet,  standing  a  pretty  distance  from  the  wall;  and 
bade  the  soldiers  do  their  duty  ;  looking  them  in  the  face  till 
they  gave  fire,  not  showing  the  least  kind  of  terror  or  fearful- 
ness  of  spirit."  —  So  die  the  Leveller  Corporals  ;  strong  they, 
after  their  sort,  for  the  Liberties  of  England  j  resolute  to  the 
very  death.  Misguided  Corporals !  But  History,  which  has 
wept  for  a  misguided  Charles  Stuart,  and  blubbered,  in  the 
most  copious  helpless  manner,  near  two  centuries  now,  whole 
floods  of  brine,  enough  to  salt  the  Herring-fishery,  —  will  not 
refuse  these  poor  Corporals  also  her  tributary  sigh.  With 
Arnald  of  the  Rendezvous  at  Ware,  with  Lockyer  of  the  Bull 
in  Bishopsgate,  and  other  misguided  martyrs  to  the  Liberties 
of  England  then  and  since,  may  they  sleep  well ! 
•  Cornet  Dean,  who  now  came  forward  as  the  next  to  be  shot, 
"  expressed  penitence ; "  got  pardon  from  the  General :  and 
there  was  no  more  shooting.  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell 
went  into  the  Church,  called  down  the  Decimated  of  the  Muti- 
neers ;  rebuked,  admonished ;  said,  The  General  in  his  mercy 
h:i'l  forgiven  them.  Misguided  men,  would  you  ruin  this 
Cause,  which  marvellous  Providences  have  so  confirmed  to  ua 
the  Cause  of  God  ?  Go,  repent ;  and  rebel  no  more,  lest 

TOL.    XVII.  '..'•* 


434  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND,  17  May, 

a  worse  thing  befall  you !  "  They  wept,"  says  the  old  News- 
paper ;  they  retired  to  the  Devizes  for  a  time ;  were  then 
restored  to  their  regiments,  and  marched  cheerfully  for  Ire- 
land. —  Captain  Thompson,  the  Cornet's  brother,  the  first  of 
all  the  Mutineers,  he  too,  a  few  days  afterwards,  was  fallen  in 
with  in  Northamptonshire,  still  mutinous :  his  men  took  quar- 
ter ;  he  himself  "  fled  to  a  wood ; "  fired  and  fenced  there,  and 
again  desperately  fired,  declaring  he  would  never  yield  alive ; 
—  whereupon  "  a  Corporal  with  seven  bullets  in  his  carbine  " 
ended  Captain  Thompson  too ;  and  this  formidable  conflagra- 
tion, to  the  last  glimmer  of  it,  was  extinct. 

Sansculottism,  as  we  said  above,  has  to  lie  submerged  for 
almost  two  centuries  yet.  Levelling,  in  the  practical  civil  or 
military  provinces  of  English  things,  is  forbidden  to  be.  In 
the  spiritual  provinces  it  cannot  be  forbidden;  for  there  it 
everywhere  already  is.  It  ceases  dibbling  beans  on  St.  George's 
Hill  near  Cobham ;  ceases  galloping  in  mutiny  across  the  Isis 
to  Burford  ;  —  takes  into  Quakerisms,  and  kingdoms  which  are 
not  of  this  world.  My  poor  friend  Dryasdust  lamentably  tears 
his  hair  over  the  "  intolerance  "  of  that  old  Time  to  Quakerism 
and  such  like.  If  Dryasdust  had  seen  the  dibbling  on  St. 
George's  Hill,  the  threatened  fall  of  "  park  pales,"  and  the 
gallop  to  Burford,  he  would  reflect  that  Conviction  in  an  ear- 
nest age  means,  not  lengthy  Spouting  in  Exeter  Hall,  but 
rapid  silent  Practice  on  the  face  of  the  Earth;  and  would 
perhaps  leave  his  poor  hair  alone. 

On  Thursday  night,  17th  of  the  month,  the  General,  Lieu- 
tenant-General, and  chief  Officers  arrive  at  Oxford ;  lodge  in 
All-Souls  College ;  head-quarters  are  to  be  there  for  some  days. 
Solemnly  welcomed  by  the  reformed  University ;  bedinnered, 
bespeeched  ;  made  Doctors,  Masters,  Bachelors,  or  what  was 
suitable  to  their  ranks,  and  to  the  faculties  of  this  reformed 
University.  Of  which  high  doings,  degrees  and  convocation- 
dinners,  and  eloquence  by  Proctor  Zanchy,  we  say  nothing, — 
being  m  haste  for  Ireland.  This  small  benefit  we  have  from 
the  business  :  Anthony  Wood,  in  his  crabbed  but  authentic 
way,  has  given  us  biographical  sketches  of  all  these  Graduates; 
biographies  very  lean,  very  perverse,  but  better  than  are  com- 


1649.  THE  LEVELLERS.  435 

monly  going  then,  and  in  the  fatal  scarcity  not  quite  without 
value.1 

Neither  do  we  speak  of  the  thanking  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons ;  or  of  the  general  Day  of  Thanksgiving  for  London, 
which  is  Thursday,  the  7th  June  (the  day  for  England  at 
large  being  Thursday,  21st),»  —  and  of  the  illustrious  Dinner 
which  the  City  gave  the  Parliament  and  Officers,  and  all  the 
Dignitaries  of  England,  when  Sermon  was  done.  It  was  at 
Grocers'  Hall,  this  City  dinner ;  really  illustrious.  Dull  Bui- 
strode,  Keeper,  or  one  of  the  Keepers,  of  the  Commonwealth 
Groat  Seal,  was  there,  —  Keeper  of  that  lump  of  dignified 
metal,  found  since  all  rusty  in  the  wall  at  Hursley  :  and  my 
Lord  of  Pembroke,  an  Earl  and  Member  of  the  Council  of 
State,  "speaking  very  loud,"  as  his  manner  was,  insisted  that 
illustrious  Bulstrode  should  take  place  above  him.  I  have 
given  place  to  Bishop  Williams  when  he  was  Keeper  ;  and  the 
Commonwealth  Great  Seal  is  as  good  as  any  King's  ever  was  ; 
—  illustrious  Bulstrode,  take  place  above  me  :  so  !  *  "  On 
almost  every  dish  was  enamelled  a  bandrol  with  the  word 
Welcome.  No  music  but  that  of  drum  and  trumpet;"  no  bal- 
derdash, or  almost  none,  of  speech  without  meaning ;  "  no 
drinking  of  healths  or  other  incivility :  "  —  drinking  of  healths ; 
a  kind  of  invocation  or  prayer,  addressed  surely  not  to  God, 
in  that  humor ;  probably  therefore  to  the  Devil,  or  to  the 
Heathen  gods ;  which  is  offensive  to  the  well-constituted  mind. 
Four  hundred  pounds  were  given  to  the  Poor  of  London,  that 
they  also  might  dine.4  — 

And  now  for  Bristol  and  the  Campaign  in  Ireland. 

1  Wood's  Alhfwr,  iv.  (Fatti,  n.  127-155) :  the  Graduates  of  Saturday,  19th 
May,  1649,  are,  Fairfax,  p.  148;  Cromwell,  p.  152;  Colonels  Srrojv,  Grosve- 
nor,  Sir  l/nnl,,.**  Waller,  IngoliMnj,  Hum  son,  Gaff",  Okey ;  Adjutant-General 
Sedascue,  Scoutmaster  Kowe  :  and  of  Monday,  21st,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Cotbet,  p.  140;  Juhu  Rush  worth,  Cornet  ./••//<•»•,  p.  138: — of  whom  those 
marked  here  in  Italics  have  l»i..irri|.!ii.--  worth  looking  at  for  an  instant. 

1   Common*  Journal*,  26th  May,  1649. 

'   \Vhitl.H-k.     j,   :••.! 

.  pp.  59.  40). 


436  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  10  July, 


LETTERS  XCVII.-CIL 

Tuesday,  Wth  July,  1649.  "  This  evening,  about  five  of  the 
clock,  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  began  his  journey ;  by 
the  way  of  Windsor,  and  so  to  Bristol.  He  went  forth  in  that 
state  and  equipage  as  the  like  hath  hardly  been  seen ;  him- 
self in  a  coach  with  six  gallant  Flanders  mares,  whitish  gray  ; 
divers  coaches  accompanying  him  ;  and  very  many  great  Offi- 
cers of  the  Army  ;  his  Life-guard  consisting  of  eighty  gal- 
lant men,  the  meanest  whereof  a  Commander  or  Esquire,  in 
stately  habit ;  —  with  trumpets  sounding,  almost  to  the  shak- 
ing of  Charing  Cross,  had  it  been  now  standing.  Of  his  Life- 
guard many  are  Colonels ;  and,  believe  me,  it 's  such  a  guard  as 
is  hardly  to  be  paralleled  in  the  world.  And  now  have  at  you, 
my  Lord  of  Ormond  !  You  will  have  men  of  gallantry  to  en- 
counter ;  whom  to  overcome  will  be  honor  sufficient,  and  to  be 
beaten  by  them  will  be  no  great  blemish  to  your  reputation. 
If  you  say,  Caesar  or  Nothing :  they  say,  A  Republic  or  Noth- 
ing. The  Lord  Lieutenant's  colors  are  white."  * 

Thus  has  Lord-Lieutenant  Cromwell  gone  to  the  Wars  in 
Ireland.  But  before  going,  and  while  just  on  the  eve  of  going, 
he  has  had  the  following,  among  a  multiplicity  of  other  busi- 
nesses, to  attend  to. 

LETTER  XCVH. 

BARNABAS  O'BRYEN,  Sixth  Earl  of  Thomond,  Twentieth- 
and-odd  King  of  Thomond,  a  very  ancient  Irish  dignitary  of 
the  Limerick  regions,  whom  it  were  still  worth  while  to  con- 
ciliate, has  fallen  into  "  straits,"  distresses ;  applies  to  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  to  help  him  a  little.  The  Lord  Lieutenant 
thinks  his  case  good ;  forwards  it  with  recommendation  to 
Harrington,  of  the  Council  of  State,  the  proper  official  person 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,p.  62). 


1*40,          LETTER  XCVII.  LONDON. 

in  such  matters.  Note,  this  is  by  no  means  Harrington  of  the 
Oceana,  this  "  Sir  James  ;  "  this  is  Member  ("  recruiter  ")  for 
Rutlandshire,  and  only  a  distant  cousin  of  the  Oceana's. 

What  the  Earl  of  Thomond's  case  was,  as  we  have  not  seen 
the  "  enclosed  "  statement  of  it,  shall  remain  somewhat  vague 
to  us.  Thomond  had  not  joined  the  Irish  Massacre  in  1641  : 
but  neither  would  he  join  against  it  ;  he  apologized  to  the 
King's  Lieutenant  on  that  occasion,  said  he  had  no  money, 
no  force  ;  retired  with  many  apologetic  bows  into  England  to 
the  King  himself  ;  leaving  his  unmoneyed  Castle  of  Bunratty 
to  the  King's  Lieutenant,  —  who  straightway  found  some 
£2,000  of  good  money  lying  hidden  in  it,  and  cheerfully  ap- 
propriated the  same.  I  incline  to  think,  it  may  be  for  this 
two  thousand  and  odd  pounds,  to  have  it  acknowledged  as  a 
debt  and  allowed  on  the  Earl  of  Peterborough's  estate,  that 
the  poor  Earl,  "  in  the  modesty  of  his  desires,"  is  now  plead- 
ing. For  he  has  been  in  active  Royalist  services  since  that 
passive  one  ;  in  Ormond  Wars,  cessations,  sequestrations,  is  a 
much-mulcted,  impoverished  man.  And  as  for  the  Earl  of 
iVterborough  his  son-in-law,  he  was  one  of  poor  Earl  Hol- 
land's people  in  that  fatal  futile  rising  of  St.  Neot's,  last 
year  ;  and  is  now  wandering  in  foreign  parts,  in  a  totally 
ruined  condition.  Readers  who  are  curious  may  follow  the 
indications  in  the  note.1  Earl  Thomond's  modest  desire  was 
allowed.  Bunratty  Castle,  where  that  £2,000  was  found  "  bur- 
ied in  the  walls,"  is  now  quite  deserted  by  the  Thomonds  ;  is 
now  "  the  largest  Police-Barrack  "  in  those  Limerick  regions. 


[For  the  Honorable  Sir  Jn/m's  Harrington,  Knight,  of  the 
Council  of  State:  These."] 

"  [LONDON,]  9th  July,  1649. 

"  SIR,  —  You  see  by  this  Enclosed,  how  great  damage  the 

F.nl  nl  Tin.  iiiond  hath  sustained  by  these  Troubles,  and  what 

tniis  In1  :md  his  family  are  reduced  unto  by  reason  thereof. 

Y'»u  see  the  modesty  of  his  desires  to  be  such  as  may  well 

1  Lndlow,  i.  21  ;  Whitlooke  (2dedit.),  p.  420,  see  also  p.  201  ;  Common* 
Journal*,  vi.  L'T'.t,  44J  (15th  August,  1649  ami  23d  July,  1650);  Collins'.-*  Peer- 
aye,  ii.  216;  Ac.  Ac. 


438  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  lOJuly, 

merit  consideration.  I  am  confident,  that  which  he  seeks  is 
not  so  much  for  advantage  of  himself,  as  out  of  a  desire  to 
preserve  his  son-in-law  the  Earl  of  Peterborough's  fortune  and 
family  from  ruin. 

"If  the  result  of  the  favor  of  the  House  fall  upon  him, 
although  but  in  this  way,  it 's  very  probable  it  will  oblige  his 
Lordship  to  endeavor  the  peace  and  quiet  of  this  Common- 
wealth. Which  will  be  no  disservice  to  the  State  ;  —  perhaps 
of  more  advantage  than  the  extremity  of  his  Fine.  Besides, 
you  showing  your  readiness  to  do  a  good  office  herein  will 
very  much  oblige,  Sir, 

"  Your  affectionate  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CKOMWELL."  1 


LETTER  XCVIII. 

HERE  likewise  is  a  Letter  which  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  in 
still  greater  haste,  now  in  the  very  act  of  departing,  has  had 
to  write,  —  on  behalf  of  his  "  Partner  "  or  fellow  Member  for 
Cambridge  ;  which  likewise  the  reader  is  to  glance  at,  before 
going :  — 

"  For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire. 

"  [LONDON,]  10th  July,  1649. 

"  SIR,  —  I  beseech  you,  upon  that  score  of  favor,  if  I  be  not 
too  bold  to  call  it  friendship,  which  I  have  ever  had  from 
you,  let  me  desire  you  to  promote  my  Partner's  humble 
suit  to  the  House ;  and  obtain,  as  far  as  possibly  you  may, 
some  just  satisfaction  for  him.  I  know  his  sufferings  -for 
the  Public  have  been  great,  besides  the  loss  of  his  calling  by 
his  attendance  here.  His  affections  have  been  true  and  con- 
stant ;  and,  I  believe,  his  decay  great  in  his  Estate.  It  will 
be  justice  and  charity  to  him  ;  and  I  shall  acknowledge  it  as 
a  favor  to, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."  2 

1  Tanner  MSS.  (in  Gary,  ii.  150). 

2  Harris,  p.  516  ;  Harleian  MSS   no  6988  —collated,  and  exact. 


1949.  LETTER  XCVIII.    LONDON.  439 

John  Lowry,  Esquire,  is  Oliver's  fellow  Member  for  Cam- 
bridge. What  Lowry's  "  losses,"  "  estate,"  "  calling,"  or  his- 
tory in  general  were,  remains  undiscoverable.  One  might  guess 
that  he  had  been  perhaps  a  lawyer,  some  call  him  a  "  chandler  " 
or  trader,1  of  Puritan  principles,  and  fortune  already  easy. 
He  did  not  sit  in  the  short  Parliament  of  1640,  as  Oliver  had 
done ;  Oliver's  former  "  Partner,"  one  Meautys  as  we  men- 
tioned already,  gave  place  to  Lowry  when  the  new  Election 
happened. 

Lowry  in  1645  was  Mayor  of  Cambridge.  Some  contro-1 
versy  as  to  the  Privileges  of  the  University  there,  which  was 
now  reformed  according  to  the  Puritan  scheme,  had  arisen 
with  the  Town  of  Cambridge  :  a  deputation  of  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity men,  with  "  Mi1.  Vines  "  at  their  head,  comes  up  with 
a  Petition  to  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  4th  of  August, 
1645 ;  reporting  that  they  are  like  to  be  aggrieved,  that  the 
"  new  Mayor  of  Cambridge  will  not  take  the  customary  oaths," 
in  respect  to  certain  privileges  of  the  University ;  and  pray- 
ing the  House,  in  a  bland  and  flattering  way,  to  protect  them. 
The  House  answers :  "  Yours  is  the  University  which  is  under 
the  protection  of  this  House  ; "  Oxford,  still  in  the  King's 
hands,  being  in  a  very  unreformed  state:  "this  House  can 
see  no  learning  now  in  the  Kingdom  but  by  your  eyes ; "  — 
certainly  you  shall  be  protected  !  —  Counter-Petitions  come 
from  Lowry  and  the  Corporation ;  but  we  doubt  not  the  Uni- 
versity was  protected  in  this  controversy,  and  Gown  made 
good  against  Town.3  What  the  controversy  specially  was,  or 
what  became  of  it,  let  no  living  man  inquire.  Lowry  here 
vanishes  into  thick  night  again  ;  nowhere  reappears  till  in  this 
Letter  of  Cromwell's. 

Letter  written,  as  its  date  bears,  on  the  very  day  when  he 
set  out  towards  Bristol,  to  take  the  command  in  Ireland,  "  loth 
July,  1041),  about  live  in  the  afternoon."  In  some  Committee- 
room,  or  other  such  locality,  in  the  thick  press  of  business, 
Lowry  had  contrived  to  make  his  way  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant, 
and  to  get  this  Lettrr  out  of  him.  Which  indeed  proved  very 

1  Cooper's  A  nnnlt  of  Cambridge. 

'  §«e  Commune  JournaU,  vi  229,  241. 


440  PARTY.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  19 July, 

helpful.  For  on  that  day  week,  the  17th  of  July,  1049,  we  find 
as  follows :  "  The  humble  Petition  of  John  Lowry,  Esquire, 
was  this  day  read.  Ordered,  That  the  sum  of  three  hundred 
pounds  be  allowed  unto  the  said  Mr.  John  Lowry,  for  his 
losses  in  the  said  Petition  mentioned ;  and  that  the  same  be 
charged  upon  the  revenue  :  and  the  Committee  of  Eeveuue  are 
authorized  and  appointed  to  pay  the  same :  and  the  same  is 
especially  recommended  to  Sir  Henry  Vane,  Senior,  to  take 
care  the  same  be  paid  accordingly,"  1  —  which  we  can  only 
hope  it  was,  to  the  solace  of  poor  Mr.  Lowry,  and  the  ending 
of  these  discussions. 

Ten  years  later,  in  Protector  Eichard's  time,  on  Friday,  22d 
July,  1659,  a  John  Lowry,  Esquire,  now  quite  removed  from 
Cambridge,  turns  up  again ;  claiming  to  be  continued  "  Cheque 
in  Ward  in  the  Port  of  London,"  —  which  dignity  is  accord- 
ingly assured  him  till  "  the  first  day  of  October  next."  2  But 
whether  this  is  our  old  friend  the  Mayor  of  Cambridge,  and 
what  kind  of  provision  for  his  old  age  this  same  Chequeship 
in  Ward  might  be,  is  unknown  to  the  present  Editor.  Not  the 
faintest  echo  or  vestige  henceforth  of  a  John  Lowry  either 
real  or  even  possible.  The  rest  —  gloomy  Night  compresses 
it,  and  we  have  no  more  to  say. 


LETTER  XCIX. 

MAYOR  of  Hursley,  with  whom  are  the  young  Couple,  is  con- 
nected now  with  an  important  man  ;  he  has  written  in  behalf 
of  "  Major  Long ;  "  for  promotion  as  is  likely.  The  important 
man  does  not  promote  on  the  score  of  connection  ;  and  mildly 
signifies  so  much. 

"  For  my  very  loving  Brother  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at 
Hursley :    These. 

"BRISTOL,  19th  July,  1649. 

"  LOVING  BROTHER,  —  I  received  your  Letter  by  Major 
Long ;  and  do  in  answer  thereunto  according  to  my  best  under 

1  See  Commons  Journals  vi.  263.  2  Ibid.  vii.  737. 


1649. 


LETTER  XCIX.    BRISTOL.  441 


standing,  with  a  due  consideration  to  those  gentlemen   who 
have  abid  the  brunt  of  the  service. 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  of  your  welfare,  and  that  our  chil- 
dren have  so  good  leisure  to  make  a  journey  to  eat  cherries  :  — 
it 's  very  excusable  in  my  Daughter  ;  I  hope  she  may  have  a 
very  good  pretence  for  it !  I  assure  you,  Sir,  I  wish  her  very 
well ;  and  I  believe  she  knows  it.  I  pray  you  tell  her  from 
me,  I  expect  she  writes  often  to  me  ;  by  which  I  shall  under- 
stand how  all  your  Family  doth,  and  she  will  be  kept  in  some 
exercise.  I  have  delivered  my  Son  up  to  you ;  and  I  hope  you 
will  counsel  him  :  he  will  need  it ;  and  indeed  I  believe  he 
likes  well  what  you  say,  and  will  be  advised  by  you.  I  wish 
lie  may  be  serious  ;  the  times  require  it. 

"  1  hope  my  Sister l  is  in  health  ;  to  whom  I  desire  my  very 
lit 'arty  affections  and  service  may  be  presented  ;  as  also  to  my 
Cousin  Ann,2  to  whom  I  wish  a  good  husband.  I  desire  my 
affections  may  be  presented  to  all  your  Family,  to  which  I  wish 
a  blessing  from  the  Lord.  I  hope  I  shall  have  your  prayers  in 
the  Business  to  which  I  am  called.  My  Wife,  I  trust,  will  be 
with  you  before  it  be  long,  in  her  way  towards  Bristol.  —  Sir, 
discompose  not  your  thoughts  or  Estate  for  what  you  are  to 
pay  me.  Let  me  know  wherein  I  may  comply  with  your  occa- 
sions and  mind,  and  be  confident  you  will  find  me  to  you  aa 
your  own  heart. 

"  Wishing  your  prosperity  and  contentment  very  sincerely, 
with  the  remembrance  of  my  love,  I  rest, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother  and  servant, 

"  OLIVKB  CROMWELL."  * 

Mayor  has  endorsed  this  Letter :  "  Received  27th  July,  1649, 
per  Messenger  express  from  Xowbury."  He  has  likewise,  says 
Harris,  jotted  on  it  "  some  shorthand,"  and  "an  account  of  his 
cattle  and  sheep."  —  Who  the  "  Major  Long  "  was,  we  know- 
not  :  Cromwell  undertakes  to  "  do  "  for  him  what  may  be  right 
and  reasonable,  and  nothing  more. 

Cromwell,  leaving  London  as  we  saw  on  Tuesday  evening, 

1  Mm.  Mayor.  *  MIM  Mayor,  afterwards  Mrs.  Dunch  of  Pusey. 

•  iiarru,  p.  510 :  no.  8  of  the  Puaey  seven t 


442  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  August, 

July  10th,  had  arrived  at  Bristol  on  Saturday  evening,  which 
was  the  14th.  He  had  to  continue  here,  making  his  prepara- 
tions, gathering  his  forces,  for  several  weeks.  Mrs.  Cromwell 
means  seemingly  to  pass  a  little  more  time  with  him  before  he 
go.  In  the  end  of  July,  he  quits  Bristol ;  moving  westward 
by  Tenby l  and  Pembroke,  where  certain  forces  were  to  be 
taken  up,  —  towards  Milford  Haven ;  where  he  dates  his  next 
Letters,  just  in  the  act  of  sailing. 


LETTER  C. 

THE  new  Lord  Lieutenant  had  at  first  designed  for  Munster, 
where  it  seemed  his  best  chance  lay.  Already  he  has  sent 
some  regiments  over,  to  reinforce  our  old  acquaintance  Colonel, 
now  Lieutenant-General  Michael  Jones,  at  present  besieged  in 
Dublin,  and  enable  him  to  resist  the  Ormond  Army  there. 
But  on  the  2d  of  August  an  important  Victory  has  turned  up 
for  Jones  :  surprisal,  and  striking  into  panic  and  total  rout, 
of  the  said  Ormond  Army ; s  which  fortunate  event,  warmly 
recognized  in  the  following  Letter,  clears  Dublin  of  siege,  and 
opens  new  outlooks  for  the  Lord  Lieutenant  there.  He  sails 
thitherward  ;  from  Milford  Haven,  Monday,  August  13th. 
Ireton,  who  is  Major-General,  or  third  in  command,  Jones 
being  second,  follows  with  another  division  of  the  force,  on 
Wednesday.  Hugh  Peters  also  went ;  and  "  Mr.  Owen  "  also, 
for  another  chaplain. 

The  good  ship  John  is  still  lying  in  Milford  waters,  we  sup- 
pose, waiting  for  a  wind,  for  a  turn  of  the  tide.  "  My  Son  " 
Richard  Cromwell,  and  perhaps  Richard's  Mother,  we  may 
dimly  surmise,  had  attended  the  Lord  Lieutenant  thus  far,  to 
wish  him  speed  on  his  perilous  enterprise  ? 

1  At  Tenby  2d  August,  Commons  Journals,  vi.  277. 

2  Rout  at  Rathmines  or  Bagatrath :  Ormond's  own  Account  of  it,  in  Carte's 
Ormond   Papers,  ii.   403,  407-411  :    Jones's   Account,  in   Gary's 

11.  159-162.     Commons  Journals,  vi.  278  (14th  August,  1649). 


i«49  LETTER  C.    MILFORD  HAVEN.  443 

[For  my  loving  Brother  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  Hursley : 

These.'} 

"  [MILFORD  HAVEN,]  From  Aboard  the  John, 
13th  August,  1649. 

"  LOVING  BROTHER,  —  I  could  not  satisfy  myself  to  omit 
this  opportunity  by  my  Son  of  writing  to  you  ;  especially  there 
being  so  late  and  great  an  occasion  of  acquainting  you  with 
the  happy  news  I  received  from  Lieutenant-General  Jones 
yesterday. 

"  The  Marquis  of  Ormond  besieged  Dublin  with  nineteen 
thousand  men  or  thereabouts  ;  seven  thousand  Scots  and  three 
thousand  more  were  coming  to  [join  him  in]  that  work.  Jones 
issued  out  of  Dublin  with  four  thousand  foot  and  twelve  hun- 
dred horse ;  hath  routed  this  whole  Army ;  killed  about  four 
thousand  upon  the  place ;  taken  2,517  prisoners,  above  three 
hundred  [of  them]  officers,  some  of  great  quality.1 

"  This  is  an  astonishing  mercy ;  so  great  and  seasonable 
that  indeed  we  are  like  them  that  dreamed.  What  can  we 
say !  The  Lord  fill  our  souls  with  thankfulness,  that  our 
mouths  may  be  full  of  His  praise, — and  our  lives  too;  and 
grant  we  may  never  forget  His  goodness  to  us.  These  things 
seem  to  strengthen  our  faith  and  love,  against  more  difficult 
times.  Sir,  pray  for  me,  That  I  may  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord 
in  all  that  He  hath  called  me  unto !  — 

"  I  have  committed  my  Son  to  you ;  pray  give  him  advice. 
I  envy  him  not  his  contents ;  but  I  fear  he  should  be  swal- 
lowed up  in  till-in.  I  would  have  him  mind  and  understand 
Business,  read  a  little  History,  study  the  Mathematics  and 
Cosmography :  —  these  are  good,  with  subordination  to  the 
things  of  God.  Better  than  Idleness,  or  mere  outward 
worldly  contents.  These  fit  for  Public  services,8  for  which 
a  man  is  born. 

1  The  round  numbers  of  this  account  hare,  as  ia  usual,  come 
exaggerated  (Carte,  iibi  aupra). 
9  Service*  useful  to  all  men. 


444  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.          13  Aug. 

"  Pardon  this  trouble.  I  am  tlms  bold  because  I  know  you 
love  me ;  as  indeed  I  do  you,  and  yours.  My  love  to  my  dear 
Sister,  and  my  Cousin  Ann  your  Daughter,  and  all  Friends. 
I  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  loving  brother, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"j~P.S.]  Sir,  I  desire  you  not  to  discommodate  yourself  be- 
cause of  the  money  due  to  me.  Your  welfare  is  as  mine  :  and 
therefore  let  me  know,  from  time  to  time,  what  will  con- 
venience you  in  any  forbearance ;  I  shall  answer  you  in  it, 
and  be  ready  to  accommodate  you.  And  therefore  do  your 
other  business ;  let  not  this  hinder."  1 

Of  Jones  and  his  Victory,  and  services  in  Ireland,  there  was 
on  the  morrow  much  congratulating  in  Parliament :  revival  of 
an  old  Vote,  which  had  rather  fallen  asleep,  For  settling  Lands 
of  a  Thousand  Pounds  a  year  on  him  ;  and  straightway,  more 
special  speedy  Vote  of  "  Lands  to  the  value  of  Five  Hundred 
Pounds  a  year  for  this  last  service  ; "  —  which  latter  Vote,  we 
hope,  will  not  fall  asleep  as  the  former  had  done.9 


LETTER  CI. 

SAME  DATE,  SAME  CONVEYANCE. 

"  To  my  beloved  Daughter  Dorothy  Cromwell,  at  Hursley :  These. 

"FROM  ABOARD  THE  JOHN,  13th  Aug.  1649. 

"  MY  DEAR  DAUGHTER,  —  Your  Letter  was  very  welcome  to 
me.  I  like  to  see  anything  from  your  hand ;  because  indeed 
I  stick  not  to  say  I  do  entirely  love  you.  And  therefore  I 
hope  a  word  of  advice  will  not  be  unwelcome  nor  unacceptable 
to  thee. 

1  Forster's  Statesmen  of  the  Commonwealth,  iv.  267  :  From  certain  MSS.  of 
Lord  Nugent's. 

a  Commons  Journals,  vi.  278,  281  (14th,  18th  August,  1649). 


1649.  LETTER  CI.    ABOARD   THE  JOHN. 

"  I  desire  you  both  to  make  it  above  all  things  your  busi- 
ness to  seek  the  Lord  :  to  be  frequently  calling  upon  Him, 
that  He  would  manifest  Himself  to  you  iu  His  Son  ;  and  be 
listening  what  returns  He  makes  to  you,  —  for  He  will  be 
speaking  in  your  ear  and  in  your  heart,  if  you  attend  there- 
unto. I  desire  you  to  provoke  your  Husband  likewise  there- 
unto. As  for  the  pleasures  of  this  Life,  and  outward  Business, 
let  thai  be  upon  the  bye.  Be  above  all  these  things,  by  Faith 
in  Christ ;  and  then  you  shall  have  the  true  use  and  comfort 
of  them,  —  and  not  otherwise.1  I  have  much  satisfaction  in 
hope  your  spirit  is  this  way  set ;  and  I  desire  you  may  grow 
in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  that  I  may  hear  thereof.  The  Lord  is  very  near  : 
which  we  see  by  His  wonderful  works  :  and  therefore  He  looks 
tliat  we  of  this  generation  draw  near  to  Him.  This  late  great 
Mercy  of  Ireland  is  a  great  manifestation  thereof.  Your  Hus- 
band will  acquaint  you  with  it.  We  should  be  much  stirred 
up  in  our  spirits  to  thankfulness.  We  much  need  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  to  enable  us  to  praise  God  for  so  admirable  a  mercy. 

"  The  Lord  bless  thee,  my  dear  Daughter.     I  rest, 
"  Thy  loving  Father, 

"OLIVEK  CROMWELL. 

"[P.S.]  I  hear  thou  didst  lately  miscarry.  Prithee  take 
heed  of  a  coach  by  all  means  ;  borrow  thy  Father's  nag  when 
thou  intendest  to  go  abroad."  a 

Is  the  last  phrase  ironical ;  or  had  the  "  coach,"  in  those 
ancient  roads,  overset,  and  produced  the  disaster  ?  Perhaps 
"  thy  Father's  nag "  is  really  safer  ?  Oliver  is  not  given  to 
irony ;  nor  in  a  tone  for  it  at  this  moment.  These  gentle 
domesticities  and  pieties  are  strangely  contrasted  with  the  fiery 
savagery  and  iron  grimness,  stern  as  Doom,  which  meets  us  in 
the  next  set  of  Letters  we  have  from  him  ! 

1  How  true  is  this  ;  equal,  in  ita  obsolete  dialect,  to  the  highest  that  man 
has  yet  attained  to,  in  any  dialect  old  or  new ! 
'  Fonter,  ir.  268 :  From  certain  MS8.  of  Lord  Nugent's. 


446  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  15  Aug. 

On  the  second  day  following,  on  the  15th  of  August/  Crom- 
well with  a  prosperous  wind  arrived  in  Dublin  ;  "  where,"  say 
the  old  Newspapers,2  "he  was  received  with  all  possible 
demonstrations  of  joy ;  the  great  guns  echoing  forth  their 
welcome,  and  the  acclamations  of  the  people  resounding  in 
every  street.  The  Lord  Lieutenant  being  come  into  the  City, 
—  where  the  concourse  of  the  people  was  very  great,  they  all 
flocking  to  see  him  of  whom  before  they  had  heard  so  much,  — 
at  a  convenient  place  he  made  a  stand,"  rising  in  his  carriage  we 
suppose,  "  and  with  his  hat  in  his  hand  made  a  speech  to  them." 
Speech  unfortunately  lost :  it  is  to  this  effect ;  "  That  as  God 
had  brought  him  thither  in  safety,  so  he  doubted  not  but  by 
Divine  Providence  to  restore  them  all  to  their  just  liberties 
and  properties,"  much  trodden  doAvn  by  those  unblessed  Papist- 
Royalist  combinations,  and  the  injuries  of  war:  "and  that  all 
persons  whose  hearts'  affections  were  real  for  the  carrying  on 
of  this  great  work  against  the  barbarous  and  bloodthirsty 
Irish  and  their  confederates  and  adherents,  and  for  propagating 
of  Christ's  Gospel  and  establishing  of  Truth  and  Peace,  and 
restoring  of  this  bleeding  Nation  of  Ireland  to  its  former  hap- 
piness and  tranquillity,  —  should  find  favor  and  protection 
from  the  Parliament  of  England  and  him,  and  withal  receive 
such  rewards  and  gratuities  as  might  be  answerable  to  their 
merits."  "  This  Speech,"  say  the  old  Newspapers,  "  was  enter- 
tained with  great  applause  by  the  people ;  who  all  cried  out, 
1  We  will  live  and  die  with  you ! '  " 


LETTER  CII. 

SIB  GEORGE  ATSCOUGH,  now  vigilantly  cruising  on  those 
coasts,  "  Vice- Admiral  of  the  Irish  Seas,"  who  has  done  good 
service  more  than  once,  —  he  ought  not  to  suffer  in  his  private 
economics  by  absence  on  the  Public  Service. 

1  Carte,  ii.  83. 

a  In  Kimber,  Life  of  Cromwell  (London,  1724),  p.  126. 


iW9.  LETTER  CII.    DUBLIN.  447 

[/"or  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  th« 
Parliament:  These.~\ 

"DUBLIN,  22d  August,  1649. 

"  Sir,  —  Before  my  coining  for  Ireland,  I  was  bold  to  move 
the  House  on  behalf  of  Sir  George  Ayscough;  who  then  I 
thought  had  merited  the  favor  of  the  Parliament,  but  since, 
much  more,  by  his  very  faithful  and  industrious  carriage  in 
this  place. 

"  It  seems,  whilst  he  is  attending  your  service,  a  Lease  he 
holds  of  the  Deanery  of  Windsor  had  like  to  be  purchased  over 
his  head,  he  not  coming  to  buy  it  himself  by  the  time  limited. 
H>-  holds  a  very  considerable  part  of  his  estate  in  Church- 
s  ;  one  or  more  being  in  Impropriate  Tithes,  which  he  and 
his  ancestors  have  held  for  a  good  time  :  all  which  is  like  to 
determine,  and  go  from  him  and  his,  by  your  Orders. 

"  I  found  the  Parliament  well  to  resent  the  motion  I  made 
on  his  behalf  at  that  time.  I  desire  you  please  to  revive  the 
business  ;  and  to  obtain  the  House's  favor  for  him,  which  they 
intended  and  expressed.  He  will,  I  presume,  herewith  send 
his  humble  desires  :  for  which  I  beg  your  furtherance  ;  and 
rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."1 

Ayscough  is  a  Lincolnshire  man.     Last  year,  in  the  time  of 
Itevolted  Ships,  he  stood  true  to  the  Parliament  ;  and 
brought  his  own  ship  off  to  them,  in  spite  of  perils.     Serves 
now  under  Blake;  is  fast  rising  as  a  Sea-officer.     The  Lord 
Lit-utenant's  request  iu  behalf  of  him  has  already  been  com- 
with.1 


»  Tanner  MSS    (in  f'ary,  ii.  163). 

1  Comment  Jwrnalt,*\.\\  August,  1649  (vi.  276);—  see  ib.  9th  July,  1649 
(on  «hir|i  <lay  in,,  -i  |ip>l>:il.h  .  tin-  d.iy  of  Thuiiioinl's  Letter  too,  Cromwell 
had  boeii  "  moving  the  ll«m*«:  "  for  him).  Whitlocke  (2d  edition),  p.  317. 


448  PART  V.   CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  84  Aug. 


A  DECLARATION   BY  THE  LOKD  LIEUTENANT  OF 
IRELAND. 

MICHAEL  JONES'S  Dublin  Army,  like  all  Armies  hitherto  in 
Ireland,  is  of  a  quite  unsatisfactory  structure,  of  habits  and 
practices  quite  unsatisfactory.  The  Lord  Lieutenant  is  busy 
modelling  it ;  rearranging  it  under  new  and  more  capable 
Officers;  above  all,  clearing  it  of  bad  men:  an  Irish  friend 
informs  us,  "There  hath  been  an  huge  purge  of  the  Army 
which  we  found  here  :  it  was  an  Army  made  up  of  dissolute 
and  debauched  men."  1  "  The  Officers  reduced  are  not  a  little 
discontented,"  writes  another  friend  :  but  the  public  service  so 
requires  it.  Officers  and  men,  and  all  Ireland  are  to  know 
that  henceforth  it  is  on  a  new  footing  we  proceed.  Here  is  a 
Declaration,  legible  on  such  market-crosses,  church-doors  and 
the  like,  as  we  have  access  to  j  well  worth  attending  to  in  a 
distracted  seat  of  war. 

This  DECLARATION  is  appointed  to  be  printed,  and  published 
throughout  all  Ireland:  By  special  direction  from  —  OLIVER 
CROMWELL. 

"  WHEREAS  I  am  informed  that,  upon  the  marching  out  of 
the  Armies  heretofore,  or  of  parties  from  Garrisons,  a  liberty 
hath  been  taken  by  the  Soldiery  to  abuse,  rob  and  pillage,  and 
too  often  to  execute  cruelties  upon  the  Country  People :  Being 
resolved,  by  the  grace  of  God,  diligently  and  strictly  to  re- 
strain such  wickedness  for  the  future, 

"  I  do  hereby  warn  and  require  all  Officers,  Soldiers,  and 
others  under  my  command,  henceforth  To  forbear  all  such  evil 
practices  as  aforesaid ;  and  Not  to  do  any  wrong  or  violence 
toward  Country  People,  or  persons  whatsoever,  unless  they  be 
actually  in  arms  or  office  with  the  Enemy ;  and  Not  to  meddle 
with  the  goods  of  such,  without  special  order. 

1  Newspaper  Letter,  iu  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  439,  §  7  ;  another, 
ib.  §  22. 


M49.       DECLARATION  BY  THE  LORD  LTETTTENANT.    4  !'.» 

"  And  I  farther  declare,  That  it  shall  be  free  and  lawful  to 
and  for  all  manner  of  persons  dwelling  in  the  country,  as  well 
gentlemen  and  soldiers,  as  farmers  and  other  people  (such  as 
are  in  arms  or  office  with  or  for  the  Enemy  only  excepted),  to 
make  their  repair,  and  bring  any  provisions  unto  the  Army, 
while  in  march  or  camp,  or  unto  any  Garrison  under  my  com- 
mand :  Hereby  assuring  all  such,  That  they  shall  not  be 
molested  or  troubled  in  their  persons  or  goods  ;  but  shall  have 
the  benefit  of  a  free  market,  and  receive  ready  money  for 
goods  or  commodities  they  shall  so  bring  and  sell  :  And  that 
they,  behaving  themselves  peaceably  and  quietly  ;  and  paying 
such  Contributions,  proportionately  with  their  neighbors,  as 
have  been,  are,  or  shall  be  duly  and  orderly  imposed  upon 
them,  for  maintenance  of  the  Parliament's  forces  and  other 
public  iisr-s,  —  shall  have  free  leave  and  liberty  to  live  at  home 
with  their  families  and  goods  ;  and  shall  be  protected  in  their 
persons  and  estates  by  virtue  Hereof,  until  the  1st  of  January 
next  :  By  or  before  which  time  [1st  of  January  next],  all  such 
of  them  as  are  minded  to  reside,  and  plough  and  sow,  in  tlio 
[Army's]  quarters,  are  to  make  their  addresses,  for  now  and 
farther  protections,  to  the  Attorney-General,  residing  at  Dub- 
lin, and  to  such  other  persons  as  shall  be  authorized  for  that 
purpose. 

"  And  hereof  I  require  all  Soldiers,  and  others  under  my 
command,  diligently  to  take  notice  and  observe  the  same  : 
as  they  shall  answer  to  the  contrary  at  their  utmost  perils. 
Strictly  charging  and  commanding  all  Officers  and  others,  in 
tlicir  several  places,  carefully  to  see  to  it  That  no  wrong  or  vio- 
lence be  done  to  any  such  person  as  aforesaid,  contrary  to  the  ef- 
f'-ft  of  the  premises.  Being  resolved,  through  the  grace  of  God, 
to  punish  all  that  shall  offend  contrary  hereunto,  very  severely, 
according  to  Law  or  Articles  of  War  ;  to  displace,  and  other- 
punish,  all  such  Officers  as  shall  be  found  negligent  in  their 
places,  and  not  to  see  to  the  due  observance  hereof,  or  not  to 
punish  the  offenders  under  their  respective  commands. 

"  Given  at  Dublin,  the  24th  of  August,  1649. 

"OLIVER  CK<>M\V  rr,uwl 


Pamphlet*,  mnall  4to,  no.  439,  §  25. 
XTII.  '_*» 


450  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.  1649L 


IRISH   WAK. 

THE  history  of  the  Irish  War  is,  and  for  the  present  must 
continue,  very  dark  and  indecipherable  to  us.  Ireland,  ever 
since  the  Irish  Rebellion  broke  out  and  changed  itself  into 
an  Irish  Massacre,  in  the  end  of  1C41,  has  been  a  scene 
of  distracted  controversies,  plunderings,  excommunications, 
treacheries,  conflagrations,  of  universal  misery  and  blood  and 
bluster,  such  as  the  world  before  or  since  has  never  seen.  The 
History  of  it  does  not  form  itself  into  a  picture  ;  but  remains 
only  as  a  huge  blot,  an  indiscriminate  blackness  ;  which  the 
human  memory  cannot  willingly  charge  itself  with !  There 
are  Parties  on  the  back  of  Parties ;  at  war  with  the  world  and 
with  each  other.  There  are  Catholics  of  the  Pale,  demanding 
freedom  of  religion ;  under  my  Lord  This  and  my  Lord  That. 
There  are  Old-Irish  Catholics,  under  Pope's  Nuncios,  under 
Abbas  O'Teague  of  the  excommunications,  and  Owen  Roe 
O'Neil ;  —  demanding  not  religious  freedom  only,  but  what 
we  now  call  "  Repeal  of  the  Union ;  "  and  unable  to  agree  with 
the  Catholics  of  the  English  Pale.  Then  there  are  Ormond  Roy- 
alists, of  the  Episcopalian  and  mixed  creeds,  strong  for  King 
without  Covenant :  Ulster  and  other  Presbyterians,  strong 
for  King  and  Covenant :  lastly,  Michael  Jones  and  the  Com- 
monwealth of  England,  who  want  neither  King  nor  Covenant. 
All  these,  plunging  and  tumbling,  in  huge  discord,  for  the  last 
eight  years,  have  made  of  Ireland  and  its  affairs  the  black 
unutterable  blot  we  speak  of. 

At  the  date  of  Oliver's  arrival,  all  Irish  Parties  are  united  in 
a  combination  very  unusual  with  them  ;  very  dangerous  for  the 
incipient  Commonwealth.  Ormond,  who  had  returned  thither 
with  new  Commission,  in  hopes  to  co-operate  with  Scotch 
Hamilton  during  the  Second  Civil  War,  arrived  too  late  for 
that  object ;  but  has  succeeded  in  rallying  Ireland  into  one 
mass  of  declared  opposition  to  the  Powers  that  now  rule. 


1449.  IRISH  WAR.  451 

Catholics  of  the  Pale,  and  Old-Irish  Catholics  of  the  Massacre, 
v,  ill  at  length  act  together :  Protestant  English  Royalisni, 
which  has  fled  hither  for  shelter ;  nay,  now  at  last  Rovalist 
Presbyterianism,  and  the  very  Scots  in  Ulster,  —  have  all 
joined  with  Ormond  "  against  the  Regicides."  They  are 
eagerly  inviting  the  young  Charles  Second  to  come  thither, 
and  be  crowned  and  made  victorious.  He  as  yet  hesitates 
between  that  and  Scotland ;  —  may  probably  give  Scotland 
the  preference.  But  in  all  Ireland,  when  Cromwell  sets  foot 
on  it,  there  remain  only  two  Towns,  Dublin  and  Deny,  that 
hold  for  the  Commonwealth  ;  Dublin  lately  besieged,  Deny 
still  besieged.  A  very  formidable  combination.  All  Ireland 
kneaded  together,  by  favorable  accident  and  the  incredible 
patience  of  Ormond,  stands  up  in  one  great  combination,  reso- 
lute to  resist  the  Commonwealth.  Combination  great  in  bulk; 
but  made  of  iron  and  clay ;  —  in  meaning  not  so  great.  Oliver 
has  taken  survey  and  measure  of  it ;  Oliver  descends  on  it  like 
the  hammer  of  Thor ;  smites  it,  as  at  one  fell  stroke,  into  dust 
and  ruin,  never  to  reunite  against  him  more. 

One  could  pity  this  poor  Irish  people ;  their  case  is  pitiable 
enough !  The  claim  they  started  with,  in  1641,  was  for  re- 
ligious freedom.  Their  claim,  we  can  now  all  see,  was  just : 
utially  just,  though  full  of  intricacy;  difficult  to  render 
olriir  and  concessible;  —  nay,  at  that  date  of  the  World's  His- 
tory, it  was  hardly  recognizable  to  any  Protestant  man  for 
just;  and  these  frightful  massacrings  and  sanguinary  bluster- 
ings  have  rendered  it,  for  the  present,  entirely  unrecognisable. 
A  just,  though  very  intricate  claim :  but  entered  upon,  and 
cuted,  by  such  methods  as  were  never  yet  available  for 
asserting  any  claim  in  this  world  !  Treachery  and  massacre: 
what  could  come  of  it  ?  Eight  years  of  cruel  fighting,  of  des- 
perate violence  and  misery,  have  left  matters  worse  a  thousand- 
fold than  they  were  at  first.  No  want  of  daring,  or  of  patriotism 
so  called  ;  but  a  gn-at  want  of  other  things  !  Numerous  large 
masses  of  armed  men  have  twon  on  foot ;  lull  of  tifiy  veh«-- 
rncuoe  and  audacity,  but  without  worth  as  Armies:  savage 
horiK-s  rather;  full  of  hatml  and  iimtuitl  lintn-d,  of  disobedi- 
;ty  ;uid  noise.  UndrilU-d,  unpaid.  — driving  herds  of 


452  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  1649. 

plundered  cattle  before  them  for  subsistence;  rushing  dowii 
from  hillsides,  from  ambuscadoes,  passes  in  the  mountains; 
taking  shelter  always  "  in  bogs  whither  the  cavalry  cannot  fol- 
low them."  Unveracious,  violent,  disobedient  men.  False  in 
speech ;  —  alas,  false  in  thought,  first  of  all ;  who  have  never 
let  the  Fact  tell  its  own  harsh  story  to  them ;  who  have  said 
always  to  the  harsh  Fact,  "  Thou  art  not  that  way,  thou  art 
this  way  ! "  The  Fact,  of  course,  asserts  that  it  is  that  way : 
the  Irish  Projects  end  in  perpetual  discomfiture;  have  to 
take  shelter  in  bogs  whither  cavalry  cannot  follow  !  There 
has  been  no  scene  seen  under  the  sun  like  Ireland  for  these 
eight  years.  Murder,  pillage,  conflagration,  excommunication ; 
wide-flowing  blood,  and  bluster  high  as  Heaven  and  St.  Peter ; 
—  as  if  wolves  or  rabid  dogs  were  in  fight  here ;  as  if  demons 
from  the  Pit  had  mounted  up,  to  deface  this  fair  green  piece 
of  God's  Creation  with  their  talkings  and  workings  !  It  is,  and 
shall  remain,  very  dark  to  us.  Conceive  Ireland  wasted,  torn 
in  pieces ;  black  Controversy  as  of  demons  and  rabid  wolves 
rushing  over  the  face  of  it  so  long ;  incurable,  and  very  dim 
to  us :  till  here  at  last,  as  in  the  torrent  of  Heaven's  lightning 
descending  liquid  on  it,  we  have  clear  and  terrible  view  of  its 
affairs  for  a  time  !  — 

Oliver's  proceedings  here  have  been  the  theme  of  much  loud 
criticism  and  sibylline  execration ;  into  which  it  is  not  our  plan 
to  enter  at  present.  We  shall  give  these  Irish  Letters  of  his 
in  their  own  natural  figure,  and  without  any  commentary  what- 
ever. To  those  who  think  that  a  land  overrun  with  Sanguinary 
Quacks  can  be  healed  by  sprinkling  it  with  rose-water,  these 
Letters  must  be  very  horrible.  Terrible  Surgery  this  :  but  is 
it  Surgery  and  Judgment,  or  atrocious  Murder  merely  ?  That 
is  a  question  which  should  be  asked ;  and  answered.  Oliver 
Cromwell  did  believe  in  God's  Judgments  ;  and  did  not  believe 
in  the  rose-water  plan  of  Surgery; — which,  in  fact,  is  this 
Editor's  case  too !  Every  idle  lie  and  piece  of  empty  bluster 
this  Editor  hears,  he  too,  like  Oliver,  has  to  shudder  at  it ;  has 
to  think  :  "  Thou,  idle  bluster,  not  true,  thou  also  art  shutting 
men's  minds  against  the  God's  Fact ;  thou  wilt  issue  as  a  cleft 
crown  to  some  poor  man  some  day ;  thou  also  wilt  have  to 


1W9.  IRISH  WAR.  453 

take  shelter  in  bogs  whither  cavalry  cannot  follow  ! "  —  But  in 
Oliver's  time,  as  I  say,  there  was  still  belief  in  the  Judgments 
of  God ;  in  Oliver's  time,  there  was  yet  no  distracted  jargon 
of  "  abolishing  Capital  Punishments,"  of  Jean-Jacques  Philan- 
thropy, and  universal  rose-water  in  this  world  still  so  full  of 
sin.  Men's  notion  was,  not  for  abolishing  punishments,  but 
for  making  laws  just :  God  the  Maker's  Laws,  they  considered, 
had  not  yet  got  the  Punishment  abolished  from  them  !  Men 
had  a  notion,  that  the  difference  between  Good  and  Evil  was 
still  considerable  ;  —  equal  to  the  difference  between  Heaven 
and  Hell.  It  was  a  true  notion.  Which  all  men  yet  saw,  and 
felt  in  all  fibres  of  their  existence,  to  be  true.  Only  in  late 
decadent  generations,  fast  hastening  towards  radical  change  or 
final  perdition,  can  such  indiscriminate  mashing  up  of  Good 
and  Evil  into  one  universal  patent-treacle,  and  most  unmedical 
electuary,  of  Rousseau  Sentimentalism,  universal  Pardon  and 
Benevolence,  with  dinner  and  drink  and  one  cheer  more,  take 
effect  in  our  earth.  Electuary  very  poisonous,  as  sweet  as  il 
is,  and  very  nauseous ;  of  which  Oliver,  happier  than  we,  ha»l 
not  yet  heard  the  slightest  intimation  even  in  dreams. 

The  reader  of  these  Letters,  who  has  swept  all  that  very 
ominous  twaddle  out  of  his  head  and  heart,  and  still  looks  with 
a  recognizing  eye  on  the  ways  of  the  Supreme  Powers  with 
this  world,  will  find  here,  in  the  rude  practical  state,  a  Phe- 
nomenon which  he  will  account  noteworthy.  An  armed  Sol- 
dier, solemnly  conscious  to  himself  that  he  is  the  Soldier  of 
<i"d  the  Just,  —  a  consciousness  which  it  well  beseems  all 
soldiers  and  ;ill  men  to  have  always;  —  armed  Soldier,  terrible 
as  Death,  relentless  as  Doom  ;  doing  God's  Judgments  on  the 
Kuriiii.  s  ui  (Jod!  It  is  a  Phenomenon  not  of  joyful  nature; 
no,  but  of  awful,  to  be  looked  at  with  pious  terror  and  awe. 
}sot  a  Phenomenon  which  you  am  called  to  recognize  with 
bright  smiles,  ami  fall  in  love  with  at  sight:  —  thou,  art  thou 
worthy  to  love  such  a  tiling;  worthy  to  do  other  than  hale  it, 
and  shriek  over  it '.'  Dan-st  thou  wed  the  Heaven's  lightning, 
then  ;  and  say  to  it,  (Jmllike  One  ?  Is  thy  own  life  beautiful 
and  terrible  to  ther ;  st«'pjx-d  in  the  eternal  depths,  in  the  eter- 
nal Bpleudora  '.'  Thou  aU»>,  ait  tli»n  in  thy  sphere  the  minister 


454  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  1649. 

of  God's  Justice ;  feeling  that  thou  art  here  to  do  it,  and  to 
see  it  done,  at  thy  soul's  peril  ?  Thou  wilt  then  judge  Oliver 
with  increasing  clearness ;  otherwise  with  increasing  darkness, 
misjudge  him. 

In  fact,  Oliver's  dialect  is  rude  and  obsolete  ;  the  phrases  of 
Oliver,  to  him  solemn  on  the  perilous  battle-field  as  voices  of 
God,  have  become  to  us  most  mournful  when  spouted  as  frothy 
cant  from  Exeter  Hall.  The  reader  has,  all  along,  to  make 
steady  allowance  for  that.  And  on  the  whole,  clear  recognition 
will  be  difficult  for  him.  To  a  poor  slumberous  Canting  Age, 
mumbling  to  itself  everywhere,  Peace,  Peace,  where  there  is 
no  peace,  —  such  a  Phenomenon  as  Oliver,  in  Ireland  or  else- 
where, is  not  the  most  recognizable  in  all  its  meanings.  But 
it  waits  there  for  recognition  ;  and  can  wait  an  Age  or  t\vo. 
The  memory  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  as  I  count,  has  a  good  many 
centuries  in  it  yet ;  and  Ages  of  very  varied  complexion  to 
apply  to,  before  all  end.  My  reader,  in  this  passage  and  others, 
shall  make  of  it  what  he  can. 

But  certainly,  at  lowest,  here  is  a  set  of  Military  Despatches 
of  the  most  unexampled  nature !  Most  rough,  unkempt ; 
shaggy  as  the  Numidian  lion.  A  style  rugged  as  crags  ;  coarse, 
drossy :  yet  with  a  meaning  in  it,  an  energy,  a  depth  ;  pouring 
on  like  a  fire-torrent ;  perennial  fire  of  it  visible  athwart  all 
drosses  and  defacements  :  not  uninteresting  to  see !  This  man 
has  come  into  distracted  Ireland  with  a  God's  Truth  in  the 
heart  of  him,  though  an  unexpected  one  ;  the  first  such  man 
they  have  seen  for  a  great  while  indeed.  He  carries  Acts  of 
Parliament,  Laws  of  Earth  and  Heaven,  in  one  hand ;  drawn 
sword  in  the  other.  He  addresses  the  bewildered  Irish  popu- 
lations, the  black  ravening  coil  of  sanguinary  blustering  indi- 
viduals at  Tredah  and  elsewhere :  "  Sanguinary  blustering 
individuals,  whose  word  is  grown  worthless  as  the  barking  of 
dogs  ;  whose  very  thought  is  false,  representing  not  fact,  but 
the  contrary  of  fact,  —  behold,  I  am  come  to  speak  and  to  do 
the  truth  among  you.  Here  are  Acts  of  Parliament,  methods 
of  regulation  and  veracity,  emblems  the  nearest  we  poor  Puri- 
tans could  make  them  of  God's  Law-Book,  to  which  it  is  and 
shall  be  our  perpetual  effort  to  make  them  correspond  nearer 


1649.  IRISH   WAR.  4.-,:, 

and  nearer.  Obey  them,  help  us  to  perfect  them,  be  peaceable 
and  true  under  them,  it  shall  be  well  with  you.  Refuse  to 
obey  them,  I  will  not  let  you  continue  living  !  As  articulate- 
epeaking  veracious  orderly  men,  not  as  a  blustering  murderous 
kennel  of  dogs  run  rabid,  shall  you  continue  in  this  Earth. 
Choose !  "  —  They  chose  to  disbelieve  him  ;  could  not  under- 
stand that  he,  more  than  the  others,  meant  any  truth  or  justice 
to  them.  They  rejected  his  summons  and  terms  at  Tredah : 
he  stormed  the  place;  and  according  to  his  promise,  put  every 
man  of  the  Garrison  to  death.  His  own  soldiers  are  forbidden 
to  plunder,  by  paper  Proclamation ;  and  in  ropes  of  authentic 
hemp  they  are  hanged  when  they  do  it.1  To  Wexford  Garri- 
son the  like  terms  as  at  Tredah ;  and,  failing  these,  the  like 
storm.  Here  is  a  man  whose  word  represents  a  thing !  Not 
bluster  this,  and  false  jargon  scattering  itself  to  the  winds : 
what  this  man  speaks  out  of  him  comes  to  pass  as  a  fact ; 
speech  with  this  man  is  accurately  prophetic  of  deed.  This  is 
the  first  King's  face  poor  Ireland  ever  saw  ;  the  first  Friend's 
face,  little  as  it  recognizes  him,  —  poor  Ireland  ! 

But  let  us  take  the  Letters  themselves ;  and  read  them  with 
various  emotions,  in  which  wonder  will  not  fail.  What  a  rage, 
wide-sweeping,  inexorable  as  Death,  dwells  in  that  heart ;  — 
close  neighlwr  to  pity,  to  trembling  affection,  and  soft  tears ! 
Some  readers  know  that  softness  without  rigor,  rigor  as  of 
adamant  to  rest  upon,  is  but  sloth  and  cowardly  baseness ;  that 
without  justice  first,  real  pity  is  not  possible,  and  only  false  pity 
and  maudlin  weakness  is  possible.  Others,  again,  are  not  aware 
of  that  fact.  —  To  our  Irish  friends  we  ought  to  say  likewise 
that  this  Garrison  of  Tredah  consisted,  in  good  part,  of  Eug- 
li.limc'u.1  Perfectly  certain  this:  —  and  therefore  let  "the 
bloody  hoof  of  the  Saxon,"  &c.  forbear  to  continue  itself  on 
that  matter.  At  its  peril !  Idle  blustering,  and  untruth  of 
every  kind  lr;ul  to  tho  like  terrible  results  in  these  days  as 
they  did  in  those. 

1  Two  instance*  :  King's  Pamphlets,  large  4to.  no.  42,  §  19,  tith-15th  Sept. 
1049. 

*  Lodlow.  i.  301. 


456  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IKELAND.  12  Sept. 


LETTERS  CIIL-CVL 

STOBM    OF    TREDAH. 

THE  first  of  this  set,  a  Summons  to  Dundalk,  will  be  fully 
understood  so  soon  as  the  Two  following  it  are  read.  The 
Two  following  it,  on  Tredah,  or  Drogheda  as  we  now  name  it, 
contain  in  themselves,  especially  the  Second  and  more  delib- 
erate of  the  two  contains,  materials  for  a  pretty  complete  ac- 
count of  the  Transaction  there.  It  requires  only  to  be  added, 
what  Cromwell  himself  has  forborne  to  do,  that  on  the  repulse 
of  the  first  attack,  it  was  he,  in  person,  who,  "  witnessing  it 
from  the  batteries,"  hastened  forward  and  led  on  the  new 
attack :  My  pretty  men,  we  must  positively  not  be  repulsed ; 
we  must  enter  here,  we  cannot  do  at  all  without  entering  !  — 
The  rest  of  these  Irish  Letters  may,  I  hope,  tell  their  own 
tale. 

LETTER  CHI. 

"  For  the  Chief  Officer  commanding  in  Dundalk :  These. 

"  [TBEDAH,]  12th  September,  1649. 

"  SIB,  —  I  offered  mercy  to  the  Garrison  of  Tredah,1  in  send- 
ing the  Governor  a  Summons  before  I  attempted  the  taking 
of  it.  Which  being  refused  brought  their  evil  upon  them. 

"  If  you,  being  warned  thereby,  shall  surrender  your  Gar- 
rison to  the  use  of  the  Parliament  of  England,  which  by  this 
I  summon  you  to  do,  you  may  thereby  prevent  effusion  of 
blood.  If,  upon  refusing  this  Offer,  that  which  you  like  not 
befalls  you,  you  will  know  whom  to  blame.  I  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  2 

1  "  Treedagh  "  he  writes. 

2  Autograph,  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of  Shannon,  at  Castle-Martyr, 
in  the  County  of  Cork. 


1649.  LETTER  CIV.    STORM  OF   TREDAH.  457 

The  Chief  Officer  commanding  in  Dundalk  never  received 
this  Letter,  I  believe !  What,  in  the  interim,  had  become  of 
Dundalk  and  its  Chief  and  other  Officers,  will  shortly  appear. 


LETTER  CIV. 

[To  the  Honorable  John  Bradshaw,  Esquire,  President  of  the 
Council  of  State :   These.  ] 

"[DUBLIN,]  16th  September,  1649. 

"  SIR,  —  It  hath  pleased  God  to  bless  our  endeavors  at  Tre- 
dah.  After  battery,  we  stormed  it.  The  enemy  were  about 
3,000  strong  in  the  Town.  They  made  a  stout  resistance ;  and 
near  1,000  of  our  men  being  entered,  the  Enemy  forced  them 
out  again.  But  God  giving  a  new  courage  to  our  men,  they 
attempted  again,  and  entered ;  beating  the  Enemy  from  their 
defences. 

"The  Enemy  had  made  three  retrenchments,  both  to  the 
right  and  left  [of]  where  we  entered ;  all  which  they  were 
forced  to  quit.  Being  thus  entered,  we  refused  them  quarter ; 
having,  the  day  before,  summoned  the  Town.  I  believe  we 
put  to  the  sword  the  whole  number  of  the  defendants.  I  do  not 
think  thirty  of  the  whole  number  escaped  with  their  lives. 
Those  that  did,  are  in  safe  custody  for  the  Barbadoes.  Since 
that  time,  the  Enemy  quitted  to  us  Trim  and  Dundalk.  In 
Trim  they  were  in  such  haste  that  they  left  their  guns  behind 
them. 

"This  hath  been  a  marvellous  great  mercy.  The  Enemy, 
being  not  willing  to  put  an  issue  upon  a  field-battle,  had  put 
into  this  Garrison  almost  all  their  prime  soldiers,  being  about 
3,000  horse  and  foot,  under  the  command  of  their  best  officers ; 
Sir  Arthur  Ashton  being  made  Governor.  There  were  some 
seven  or  eight  regiments,  Ormond's  being  one,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Sir  Edmund  Varney.  I  do  not  believe,  neither  do  I 
h-'.-ir,  that  any  officer  escaped  with  his  life,  save  only  one  Lieu- 
tenant, who,  I  hear,  going  to  tlu  Enemy  said,  That  he  was  the 


458  PARTY.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  16  Sept. 

only  man  that  escaped  of  all  the  Garrison.  The  Enemy  upon 
this  were  filled  with  much  terror.  And  truly  I  believe  this 
bitterness  will  save  much  effusion  of  blood,  through  the  good- 
ness of  God. 

*'  I  wish  that  all  honest  hearts  may  give  the  glory  of  this  to 
God  alone,  to  whom  indeed  the  praise  of  this  mercy  belongs. 
[As]  for  instruments,  they  were  very  inconsiderable  the  work 
throughout.  .  .  . 

"  Captain  Brandly  did  with  forty  or  fifty  of  his  men  very 
gallantly  storm  the  Tenalia ;  for  which  he  deserves  the  thanks 
of  the  State.  [I  rest, 

Your  most  humble  servant,] 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

"  Tenalia,"  I  believe,  is  now  called  Tenaille  by  engineers ; 
a  kind  of  advanced  defensive-work,  which  takes  its  name  from 
resemblance,  real  or  imaginary,  to  the  lip  of  a  pair  of.  pincers. 

The  "  Sir  Edmund  Varney  "  who  perished  here  was  the  son 
of  the  Standard-bearer  at  Edgehill.  For  Sir  Arthur  Ashton 
see  Clarendon.  Poor  Sir  Arthur  had  a  wooden  leg  which  the 
soldiers  were  very  eager  for,  understanding  it  to  be  full  of  gold 
coin ;  but  it  proved  to  be  mere  timber :  all  his  gold,  200  broad 
pieces,  was  sewed  into  his  belt,  and  scrambled  for  when  that 
came  to  light.2  There  is  in  Wood's  Life  3  an  old-soldier's  ac- 
count of  the  Storm  of  Tredah,  sufficiently  emphatic,  by  Tom 
Wood,  Anthony's  brother,  who  had  been  there. 


LETTER  CV. 

{For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :   These."] 

"DUBLIN,  17th  September,  1649. 

"  SIR,  —  Your  Army  being  safely  arrived  at  Dublin ;  and 
the  Enemy  endeavoring  to  draw  all  his  forces  together  about 
Trim  and  Tecroghan,  as  my  intelligence  gave  me, — from 

1  Whitlocke,  p.  412         2  Ibid.         3  Prefixed  to  the  Athenae,  Oxonientes. 


i.;4D.       LETTER  CV.  STORM  OF  TREDAH.       459 

whence  endeavors  were  made  by  the  Marquis  of  Ormond  to 
draw  Owen  Roe  O'Neil  with  his  forces  to  his  assistance,  but 
with  what  success  I  cannot  yet  learn,  —  I  resolved,  after  some 
refreshment  taken  for  our"  weather-beaten  men  and  horses,  and 
accommodations  for  a  march,  to  take  the  field.  And  accord- 
ingly, upon  Friday,  the  30th  of  August1  last,  rendezvoused 
with  eight  regiments  of  foot,  six  of  horse  and  some  troops 
of  dragoons,  three  miles  on  the  north  side  of  Dublin.  The 
design  was,  To  endeavor  the  regaining  of  Tredah  ;  or  tempt- 
ing the  Enemy,  upon  his  hazard  of  the  loss  of  that  place,  to 
fight. 

"  Your  Army  came  before  the  Town  upon  Monday  follow- 
ing.* Where  having  pitched,  as  speedy  course  was  taken  as 
could  be  to  frame  our  batteries  ;  which  took  up  the  more  time 
because  divers  of  the  battering  guns  were  on  ship-board.  Upon 
Monday,  the  9th  *  of  this  instant,  the  batteries  began  to  play. 
Whereupon  I  sent  Sir  Arthur  Ashton,  the  then  Governor,  a 
summons,  To  deliver  the  Town  to  the  use  of  the  Parliament 
of  England.  To  the  which  receiving  no  satisfactory  answer, 
I  proceeded  that  day  to  beat  down  the  Steeple  of  the  Church 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Town,  and  to  beat  down  a  Tower  not 
far  from  the  same  place,  which  you  will  discern  by  the  Chart 
enclosed. 

"  Our  guns  not  being  able  to  do  much  that  day,  it  was  re- 
solved to  endeavor  to  do  our  utmost  the  next  day  to  make 
breaches  assaultable,  and  by  the  help  of  God  to  storm  them. 
The  place  pitched  upon  was  that  part  of  the  Town-wall  next 
a  Church  called  St.  Mary's;  which  was  the  rather  chosen 
because  we  did  hope  that  if  we  did  enter  and  possess  that 
Church,  we  should  be  the  better  able  to  keep  it  against  their 
horse  and  foot  until  we  could  make  way  for  the  entrance  of 
our  horse  ;  and  we  did  not  conceive  that  any  part  of  the  Town 
Avnuld  afford  the  like  advantage  for  that  purpose  witlx  this. 
The  batteries  planted  were  two:  one  was  for  that  part  of 
'vVall  against  the  east  end  of  the  said  Church  ;  the  other 


1  Friday  fa  31*t  ;  thin  error  aa  to  the  day  of  the  month  continues  throngh 
th*  letter. 

*  3d  September.  *  10th. 


460  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  17  Sept 

against  the  Wall  on  tLe  south  side.  Being  somewhat  long 
in  battering,  the  Enemy  made  six  retrenchments :  three  of 
them  from  the  said  Church  to  Duleek  Gate;  and  three  of 
them  from  the  east  end  of  the  Church  to  the  Town-wail  and 
BO  backward.  The  guns,  after  some  two  or  three  hundred 
shot,  beat  down  the  corner  Tower,  and  opened  two  reasonable 
good  breaches  in  the  east  and  south  Wall. 

"  Upon  Tuesday,  the  10th  of  this  instant,  about  five  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  we  began  the  Storm:  and  after  some  hot 
dispute  we  entered,  about  seven  or  eight  hundred  men ;  the 
Enemy  dispirting  it  very  stiffly  with  us.  And  indeed,  through 
the  advantages  of  the  place,  and  the  courage  God  was  pleased 
to  give  the  defenders,  our  men  were  forced  to  retreat  quite 
out  of  the  breach,  not  without  some  considerable  loss ;  Colonel 
Castle  being  there  shot  in  the  head,  whereof  he  presently 
died :  and  divers  officers  and  soldiers  doing  their  duty  killed 
and  wounded.  There  was  a  Tenalia  to  flanker  the  south  Wall 
of  the  Town,  between  Duleek  Gate  and  the  corner  Tower 
before  mentioned; — which  our  men  entered,  wherein  they 
found  some  forty  or  fifty  of  the  Enemy,  which  they  put  to 
the  sword.  And  this  [Tenalia]  they  held :  but  it  being  with- 
out the  Wall,  and  the  sally-port  through  the  Wall  into  that 
Tenalia  being  choked  up  with  some  of  the  Enemy  which  were 
killed  in  it,  it  proved  of  no  use  for  an  entrance  into  the  Town 
that  way. 

"  Although  our  men  that  stormed  the  breaches  were  forced 
to  recoil,  as  is  before  expressed ;  yet,  being  encouraged  to  re- 
cover their  loss,  they  made  a  second  attempt :  wherein  God 
was  pleased  so  to  animate  them  that  they  got  ground  of  the 
Enemy,  and  by  the  goodness  of  God,  forced  him  to  quit  his 
entrenchments.  And  after  a  very  hot  dispute,  the  Enemy 
having  both  horse  and  foot,  and  we  only  foot,  within  the 
Wall,  —  they  gave  ground,  and  our  men  became  masters  both 
of  their  retrenchments  and  [of]  the  Church ;  which  indeed, 
although  they  made  our  entrance  the  more  difficult,  yet  they 
proved  of  excellent  use  to  us ;  so  that  the  Enemy  could  not 
[now]  annoy  us  with  their  horse,  but  thereby  we  had  advan- 
tage to  make  good  the  ground,  that  so  we  might  let  in  our 


1649  LETTER  CV.    STORM  OF   TREDAH.  461 

own  horse;  which  accordingly  was  done,  though  with  much 
difficulty. 

"  Divers  of  the  Enemy  retreated  into  the  Mill-Mount :  a 
place  very  strong  and  of  difficult  access ;  being  exceedingly 
high,  having  a  good  graft,  and  strongly  palisadoed.  The 
Governor,  Sir  Arthur  Ashtou,  and  divers  considerable  Officers 
being  there,  our  men  getting  up  to  them,  were  ordered  by 
me  to  put  them  all  to  the  sword.  And  indeed,  being  in  the 
heat  of  action,  I  forbade  them  to  spare  any  that  were  in  arms 
in  the  Town:  and,  I  think,  that  night  they  put  to  the  sword 
about  2,000  men ;  —  divers  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  being 
fled  over  the  Bridge  into  the  other  part  of  the  Town,  where 
about  100  of  them  possessed  St.  Peter's  Church-steeple,  some 
the  west  Gate,  and  others  a  strong  Round  Tower  next  the 
Gate  called  St.  Sunday's.  These  being  summoned  to  yield 
to  mercy,  refused.  Whereupon  I  ordered  the  steeple  of  St. 
Peter's  Church  to  be  fired,  when  one  of  them  was  heard  to 
say  in  the  midst  of  the  flames  :  '  God  damn  me,  God  confound 
me ;  I  burn,  I  burn.' 

"  The  next  day,  the  other  two  Towers  were  summoned ;  in 
one  of  which  was  about  six  or  seven  score ;  but  they  refused 
to  yield  themselves :  and  we  knowing  that  hunger  must  com- 
]>••!  them,  set  only  good  guards  to  secure  them  from  running 
away  until  their  stomachs  were  come  down.  From  one  of  the 
s:ii'l  Towers,  notwithstanding  their  condition,  they  killed  and 
wounded  some  of  our  men.  When  they  submitted,  their 
officers  were  knocked  on  the  head;  and  every  tenth  man 
of  the  soldiers  killed ;  and  the  rest  shipped  for  the  Barba- 
does.  The  soldiers  in  the  other  Tower  were  all  spared,  as  to 
their  lives  only ;' and  shipped  likewise  for  the  Barbadoes. 

"  I  am  persuaded  that  this  is  a  righteous  judgment  of  God 
upon  those  barkirous  wretches,  who  have  imbrued  their  hands 
in  so  much  innocent  blood ;  and  that  it  will  tend  to  prevent 
the  effusion  of  Mood  for  the  future.  Which  are  the  satisfac- 
tory grounds  to  such  actions,  which  otherwise  cannot  but  work 
n-iimrsr  and  regret.  The  officers  and  soldiers  of  this  Garrison 
win-  the  flower  of  their  army.  And  their  great  expectation  was, 
that  our  attempting  this  place  would  put  fair  to  ruin  us ;  they 


462  FAkT  V.    CAMPAIGN    IN    IRELAND.  17  Sept. 

being  confident  of  the  resolution  of  their  men,  and  the  advan- 
tage of  the  place.  If  we  had  divided  our  force  into  two  quar- 
ters to  have  besieged  the  North  Town  and  the  South  Town, 
we  could  not  have  had  such  a  correspondency  between  the  two 
parts  of  our  Army,  but  that  they  might  have  chosen  to  have 
brought  their  Army,  and  have  fought  with  which  part  [of 
ours]  they  pleased,  —  and  at  the  same  time  have  made  a  sally 
with  2,000  men  upon  us,  and  have  left  their  walls  manned ; 
they  having  in  the  Town  the  number  hereafter  specified,  but 
some  say  near  4,000. 

"  Since  this  great  mercy  vouchsafed  to  us,  I  sent  a  party  of 
horse  and  dragoons  to  Duudalk ; 1  which  the  Enemy  quitted, 
and  we  are  possessed  of,  —  as  also  [of]  another  Castle  they 
deserted,  between  Trim  and  Tredah,  upon  the  Boyne.  I  sent 
a  party  of  horse  and  dragoons  to  a  House  within  five  miles  of 
Trim,  there  being  then  in  Trim  some  Scots  Companies,  which 
the  Lord  of  Ardes  brought  to  assist  the  Lord  of  Ormond.  But 
upon  the  news  of  Tredah,  they  ran  away ;  leaving  their  great 
guns  behind  them,  which  also  we  have  possessed. 

"  And  now  give  me  leave  to  say  how  it  comes  to  pass  that 
this  work  is  wrought.  It  was  set  upon  some  of  our  hearts, 
That  a  great  thing  should  be  done,  not  by  power  or  might,  but 
by  the  Spirit  of  God.  And  is  it  not  so,  clearly  ?  That  which 
caused  your  men  to  storm  so  courageously,  it  was  the  Spirit  of 
God,  who  gave  your  men  courage,  and  took  it  away  again  ;  and 
gave  the  Enemy  courage,  and  took  it  away  again;  and  gave 
your  men  courage  again,  and  therewith  this  happy  success. 
And  therefore  it  is  good  that  God  alone  have  all  the  glory. 

"  It  is  remarkable  that  these  people,  at  the  first,  set  up  the 
Mass  in  some  places  of  the  Town  that  had  been  monasteries  ; 
but  afterwards  grew  so  insolent  that,  the  last  Lord's-day  be- 
fore the  storm,  the  Protestants  were  thrust  out  of  the  great 
Church  called  St.  Peter's,  and  they  had  public  Mass  there : 
and  in  this  very  place  near  1,000  of  them  were  put  to  the 
sword,  fleeing  thither  for  safety.  I  believe  all  their  friars 
were  knocked  on  the  head  promiscuously  but  two ;  the  one 
of  which  was  Father  Peter  Taaff,  brother  to  the  Lord  Taaff, 

1  Antea,  Letter  C11L 


wo.  LETTER  TV.    STORM   OF   TREDAH.  4<>:> 

whom  the  soldiers  took,  the  next  day,  and  made  an  end  of. 
The  other  was  taken  in  the  Round  Tower,  under  the  repute  of 
a  Lieutenant,  and  when  he  understood  that  the  officers  in  that 
Tower  had  no  quarter,  he  confessed  he  was  a  Friar ;  but  that 
did  not  save  him. 

"A  greal  deal  of  loss  in  this  business  fell  upon  Colonel 
Hewson's,  Colonel  Castle's,  and  Colonel  Ewer's  regiments. 
Colonel  Ewer  having  two  Field-Officers  in  his  regiment  shot ; 
Colonel  Castle  and  a  Captain  of  his  regiment  slain ;  Colonel 
Hewson's  Captain-Lieutenant  slain.  I  do  not  think  we  lost 
loo  men  upon  the  place,  though  many  be  wounded. 

"  I  most  humbly  pray  the  Parliament  may  be  pleased  [that] 
this  Army  may  be  maintained ;  and  that  a  consideration  may 
be  had  of  them,  and  of  the  carrying  on  affairs  here,  [such]  as 
may  give  a  speedy  issue  to  this  work.  To  which  there  seems 
to  be  a  marvellous  fair  opportunity  offered  by  God.  And  al- 
though it  may  seem  very  chargeable  to  the  State  of  England 
to  maintain  so  great  a  force  ;  yet  surely  to  stretch  a  little  for 
the  present,  in  following  God's  providence,  in  hope  the  charge 
will  not  l>e  long  —  I  trust  it  will  not  be  thought  by  any  (that 
have  not  irreconcilable  or  malicious  principles)  unfit  for  me 
to  move,  For  a  constant  supply  ;  which,  in  human  probability 
as  to  outward  things,  is  most  likely  to  hasten  and  perfect  this 
work.  And  indeed  if  God  please  to  finish  it  here  as  He  hath 
done  in  England,  the  War  is  like  to  pay  itself. 

••  We  keep  the  field  much  ;  our  tents  sheltering  us  from  the 
wet  and  cold.  But  yet  the  Country-sickness  overtakes  many  : 
ami  t hero fore  we  desire  recruits,  and  some  fresh  regiments  of 
I'lint.  iiiriy  l>e  sent  us.  For  it's  easily  conceived  by  what  the 
Garrisons  already  drink  up,  what  our  Field-Army  will  come 
to,  if  God  shall  give  more  Garrisons  into  our  hands.  Craving 
pardon  for  this  great  trouble,  I  rest, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWKLL. 

"P.  S.  Since  writing  of  my  Letter,  a  Major  who  brought  off 
forty-three  horse  from  tin-  Km-mv  told  me  that  it 's  reported 
in  their  ramp  that  Owrii  Koe  ami  they  are  agreed. 


464  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN    IN    IRELAND.  17  Sept 

"  The  defendants  in  Tredali  consisted  of :  The  Lord  of  Or- 
mond's  regiment  (Sir  Edmund  Varuey  Lieutenant-Colonel),  of 
400  :  Colonel  Byrn's,  Colonel  Warren's,  and  Colonel  Wall's,  of 
2,000  j  the  Lord  of  Westmeath's,  of  200 ;  Sir  James  Dillon's, 
of  200  ;  and  200  horse."  l 

The  report  as  to  Owen  Roe  O'Neil  is  correct.  Monk,  who 
had  lately  in  Ulster  entered  upon  some  negotiation  with  O'Neil 
and  his  Old-Irish  Party,  who,  as  often  happened,  were  in 
quarrel  with  the  others,  found  himself  deserted  by  his  very 
soldiers,  and  obliged  to  go  to  England ;  where  this  policy  of 
his,  very  useful  as  Monk  had  thought,  is  indignantly  dis- 
avowed by  the  Authorities,  who  will  not  hear  of  such  a  con- 
nection.2 Owen  Roe  O'Neil  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of 
real  ability :  surely  no  able  man,  or  son  of  Order,  ever  sank  in 
a  more  dismal  welter  of  confusions  unconquerable  by  him  !  He 
did  no  more  service  or  disservice  henceforth ;  he  died  in  some 
two  months,  of  a  disease  in  the  foot,  —  poisoned,  say  some, 
by  the  gift  of  a  "pair  of  russet-leather  boots"  which  some 
traitor  had  bestowed  on  him.8 

Such  was  the  Storm  of  Tredah.  A  thing  which,  if  one 
wanted  good  assurance  as  to  the  essential  meaning  of  it,  might 
well  "  work  remorse  and  regret :  "  for  indisputably  the  outer 
body  of  it  is  emphatic  enough !  Cromwell,  not  in  a  light  or 
loose  manner,  but  in  a  very  solemn  and  deep  one,  takes  charge 
for  himself,  at  his  own  peril,  That  it  is  a  judgment  of  God: 
and  that  it  did  "save  much  effusion  of  blood,"  we  and  all 
spectators  can  very  readily  testify.  "The  execrable  policy  of 
that  Regicide,"  says  Jacobite  Carte  on  the  occasion,  "  had  the 
effect  he  proposed.  It  spread  abroad  the  terror  of  his  name  ; 
it  cut "  —  In  fact,  it  cut  through  the  heart  of  the  Irish  War. 
Wexford  Storm  followed  (not  by  forethought,  it  would  seem, 
but  by  chance  of  war)  in  the  same  stern  fashion ;  and  there 
was  no  other  storm  or  slaughter  needed  in  that  Country. 

1  Newspapers;  in  Parliamentary  History  (London,  1763),  xix.  201. 

2  10th  August,  1649  (Commons  Journals,  vi.  277) 
8  Carte,  ii.  83. 


1649  LETTER  CVI.    DUBLIN.  465 

Rose-water  Surgeons  might  have  tried  it  otherwise ;  but  that 
was  not  Oliver's  execrable  policy,  not  the  Rose-water  one. 
And  so  we  leave  it,  standing  on  such  basis  as  it  has. 

Ormond  had  sent  orders  to  "  burn "  Dundalk  and  Trim  be- 
fore quitting  them ;  but  the  Garrisons,  looking  at  Tredah,  were 
in  too  much  haste  to  apply  the  coal.  They  marched  away 
at  double-quick  time ;  the  Lord  Lieutenant  got  possession  of 
both  Towns  unburnt.  He  has  put  Garrisons  there,  we  see, 
which  "  drink  up  "  some  of  his  forces.  He  has  also  despatched 
Colonel  Venables,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  again,  with  a  regi- 
ment or  two,  to  reduce  Carlingford,  Newry, — to  raise  what 
Siege  there  may  be  at  Derry,  and  assist  in  settling  distracted 
Ulster :  of  whose  progress  here  are  news. 


LETTER  CVL 

"  For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England  :  These, 

"  DUBUH,  27th  September,  1649. 

"ME.  SPEAKER.  —  I  had  not  received  any  account  from 
Colonel  Venables, — whom  I  sent  from  Tredah  to  endeavor 
the  reducing  of  Carlingford,  and  so'  to  march  Northward  to- 
wards a  conjunction  with  Sir  Charles  Coote,  —  until  the  last 
night. 

"  After  he  came  to  Carlingford,  having  summoned  the  place, 
both  the  three  Castles  and  the  Fort  commanding  the  Harbor 
were  rendered  to  him.  Wherein  were  about  Forty  Barrels 
of  Powder,  Seven  Pieces  of  Cannon ;  about  a  Thousand 
Muskets,  and  Five  Hundred  Pikes  wanting  twenty.  In  the 
entrance  into  the  Harbor,  Captain  Fern,  aboard  your  man-of- 
war,  had  some  danger ;  being  much  shot  at  from  the  Sea  Fort, 
a  bullet  shooting  through  his  main-mast.  The  Captain's  en- 
trance into  that  Harbor  was  a  considerable  adventure,  and 
a  good  service;  — as  also  was  that  of  Captain  Braudly,1  who, 

1  Aatea,  p.  458. 
ii.  80 


466  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.          87  Sept 

with  forty  seamen,  stormed  a  very  strong  Tenalia  at  Tredah, 
and  helped  to  take  it ;  for  which  he  deserves  an  owning  by 
you.- 

"  Venables  marched  from  Carlingford,  with  a  party  of 
Horse  and  Dragoons,  to  the  Newry ;  leaving  the  Foot  to  come 
up  after  him.  He  summoned  the  place,  and  it  was  yielded 
before  his  Foot  came  up  to  him.  Some  other  informations 
I  have  received  from  him,  which  promise  well  towards  your 
Northern  Interest;  which,  if  well  prosecuted,  will,  I  trust 
God,  render  you  a  good  account  of  those  parts. 

"I  have  sent  those  things  to  be  presented  to  the  Council 
of  State  for  their  consideration.  I  pray  God,  as  these 
mercies  flow  in  upon  you,  He  will  give  you  an  heart  to 
improve  them  to  His  glory  alone ;  because  He  alone  is  the 
author  of  them,  and  of  all  the  goodness,  patience  and  long- 
suffering  extended  towards  you. 

"Your  Army  has  marched;  and,  I  believe,  this  night  lieth 
at  Arklow,  in  the  County  of  Wicklow,  by  the  Sea-side,  be- 
tween thirty  and  forty  miles  from  this  place.  I  am  this  day, 
by  God's  blessing,  going  towards  it. 

"  I  crave  your  pardon  for  this  trouble ;  and  rest, 
"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVEK  CROMWELL. 

"P.S.  I  desire  the  Supplies  moved  for  may  be  hastened. 
I  am  verily  persuaded,  though  the  burden  be  great,  yet  it 
is  for  your  service.  If  the  Garrisons  we  take  swallow  up 
your  men,  how  shall  we  be  able  to  keep  the  field  ?  Who 
knows  but  the  Lord  may  pity  England's  sufferings,  and 
make  a  short  work  of  this  ?  It  is  in  His  hand  to  do  it,  and 
therein  only  your  servants  rejoice.  I  humbly  present  the 
condition  of  Captain  George  Jenkins's  Widow.  He  died 
presently  after  Tredah  Storm.  His  Widow  is  in  great 
want.  • 

"The  following  Officers  and  Soldiers  were  slain  at  the 
storming  of  Tredah :  Sir  Arthur  Ashton,  Governor ;  Sir  Ed- 
mund Varney,  Lieutenant-Colonel  to  Ormond's  Regiment ; 
Colonel  Fleming,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Finglass,  Major  Fitz- 


1649.  LETTER  CVII.    WEXFORD. 

gerald,  with  eight  Captains,  eight  Lieutenants,  and  eight 
Cornets,  all  of  Horse;  Colonels  Warren,  Wall,  and  Byrn,  of 
Foot,  with  their  Lieutenants,  Majors,  &c. ;  the  Lord  TaafFs 
Brother,  an  Augustine  Friar ;  forty-four  Captains,  and  all  their 
Lieutenants,  Ensigns,  &c. ;  220  Reformadoes  and  Troopers ; 
2,500  Foot-soldiers,  besides  Staff-Officers,  Surgeons,  &c." l 

Venables  went  on,  rapidly  accomplishing  his  service  in  the 
North;  without  much  hurt;  though  not  without  imminent 
peril  once,  —  by  a  camisado,  or  surprisal^in  the  night-time, 
which  is  afterwards  alluded  to  in  these  Letters.  The  Lord 
Lieutenant,  we  observe,  still  dates  from  Dublin,  but  is  to  quit 
it  "  this  day ; "  his  "  Army  has  already  marched :  "  Southward 
now,  on  a  new  series  of  operations. 


LETTER  CVII. 

STORM    OF    WEXFORD. 

"  for  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England:   These. 

"WEXFORD,  14th  October,  1649. 

"SiR, —  The  Army  marched  from  Dublin,  about  the  23d  of 
September,  into  the  County  of  Wicklow,  where  the  Enemy 
had  a  Garrison  about  fourteen  miles  from  Dublin,  called 
Killincarrick ;  which  they  quitting,  a  Company  of  the  Army 
was  put  therein.  From  thence  the  Army  marched  through 
;il most  a  desolated  country,  until  it  came  to  a  passage  over 
the  River  Doro,1  about  a  mile  above  the  Castle  of  Arklow, 

1  King's  Pamphlet*,  Hmall  4to,  no.  441,  art.  7,  "Letters  from  Ireland, 
printed  by  Authority  "  (p.  13).  Ptirlidmentary  History  (xix.  207-209)  has 
copied  thin  Letter  from  the  old  Pamphlet  (an  usual,  giving  uo  referenro)  ; 
:ui'l  after  the  concluding  "  Surgeons,  &c."  has  taken  the  liberty  of  aiMini; 
these  wonlx,  "  and  many  inhalntants,"  of  which  then-  is  no  whisper  ill  the  old 
PaiiiphloU  ; — a  Tery  considerable  lil>«rty  iinl«-c.i  ' 

1  River  Darragh;  —  a  branch  of  what  i-  now  called  the  Avoca;  well  known 
to  musical  person*. 


468  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  14  Oct. 

which  was  the  first  seat  and  honor  of  the  Marquis  of  Ormond's 
family.  Which  he  had  strongly  fortified ;  but  it  was,  upon 
the  approach  of  the  Army,  quitted ;  wherein  we  left  another 
Company  of  Foot. 

"From  thence  the  Army  inarched  towards  Wexford;  where 
in  the  way  was  a  strong  and  large  Castle,  at  a  town  called 
Limbrick,  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Esmonds ;  where  the  Enemy 
had  a  strong  Garrison;  which  they  burnt  and  quitted,  the 
day  before  our  coming  thither.  From  thence  we  marched 
towards  Ferns,  an  episcopal  seat,  where  was  a  Castle ;  to 
which  I  sent  Colonel  Keynolds  with  a  party  to  summon  it. 
Which  accordingly  he  did,  and  it  was  surrendered  to  him ; 
where  we  having  put  a  company,  —  advanced  the  Army  to 
a  passage  over  the  River  Slaney,  which  runs  down  to  Wex- 
ford ;  and  that  night  we  marched  into  the  fields  of  a  Village 
called  Enniscorthy,  belonging  to  Mr.  Robert  Wallop ; l  where 
was  a  strong  Castle  very  well  manned  and  provided  for  by  the 
Enemy ;  and,  close  under  it,  a  very  fair  House  belonging  to 
the  same  worthy  person,  —  a  Monastery  of  Franciscan  Friars, 
the  considerablest  in  all  Ireland:  they  ran  away  the  night 
before  we  came.  We  summoned  the  Castle;  and  they  re- 
fused to  yield  at  the  first ;  but  upon  better  consideration,  they 
were  willing  to  deliver  the  place  to  us :  which  accordingly 
they  did;  leaving  their  great  guns,  arms,  ammunition  and 
provisions  behind  them. 

"  Upon  Monday  the  First  of  October  we  came  before  Wex- 
ford. Into  which  the  Enemy  had  put  a  Garrison,  consisting 
of  [part  of]  their  Army ;  this  Town  having,  until  then,  been  so 
confident  of  their  own  strength  as  that  they  would  not,  at  any 
time,  suffer  a  Garrison  to  be  imposed  upon  them.  The  Com- 
mander that  brought  in  those  forces  was  Colonel  David  Sin- 
nott ;  who  took  upon  him  the  command  of  the  place.  To  whom 

1  Wallop  is  Member  ("recruiter")  for  Andover;  a  King's-Judge ;  Mem- 
ber of  the  Council  of  State  ;  now  and  afterwards  a  conspicuous  rigorous 
republican  man.  He  has  advanced  money,  long  since,  we  suppose,  for  the 
Public  Service  in  Ireland ;  and  obtained  in  payment  this  "  fair  House,"  and 
Superiority  of  Enniscorthy  :  properties  the  value  or  no-value  of  which  will 
much  depend  on  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  success  at  present.  —  Wallop's  rep- 
resentative, a  Peer  of  the  Realm,  is  still  owner  here,  as  it  has  proved. 


1MO.  LETTER  CVIT.    WEXPORD.  460 

I  sent  a  Summons,  a  Copy  whereof  is  this  enclosed ;  between 
whom  and  me  there  passed  Answers  and  Replies,  Copies 
whereof  these  also  are :  — 

1.  '  To  the  Commander-in-Chiefofthe  Town  of  Wexford. 

'  BEFORE  WEXFORD,  3d  October,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  Having  brought  the  Army  belonging  to  the  Parliament  of 
England  before  this  place,  to  reduce  it  to  its  due  obedience :  to  the 
end  effusion  of  blood  may  be  prevented,  and  the  Town  and  country 
about  it  preserved  from  ruin,  I  thought  fit  to  summon  you  to  deliver 
the  same  to  me,  to  the  use  of  the  State  of  England. 

4  By  thig  offer,  I  hope  it  will  clearly  appear  where  the  guilt  will  lie, 
if  innocent  persons  should  come  to  suffer  with  the  nocent.  I  expect  your 
speedy  answer ;  and  rest,  Sir,  your  servant,  OLIVER  CROMWELL.' 

'  For  the  Lord  General  Cromwell. 

'  WSXPOBD,  3d  October,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  I  received  your  Letter  of  Summons  for  the  delivery  of  this 
Town  into  your  hands.  Which  standeth  not  with  my  honor  to  do  of 
myself;  neither  will  I  take  it  U|H>U  me,  without  the  advice  of  the  rest 
of  the  Officers  and  Mayor  of  this  Corporation  ;  this  Town  being  of  so 
great  consequence  to  all  Ireland.  Whom  I  will  call  together,  and  con- 
fer with  ;  and  return  my  resolution  to  you,  to-morrow  by  twelve  of  the 
clock. 

4  In  the  mean  time,  if  you  be  so  pleased,  I  am  content  to  forbear  all 
acts  of  hostility,  so  you  permit  no  approach  to  be  made.  Expecting 
your  answer  iu  that  particular,  I  remain,  —  ray  Lord,  —  your  Lord- 
ship's servant,  D.  SINNOTT.' 

2.  '  To  the  Commander -in- Chief  of  the  Town  of  Wexford. 

1  BKKOKE  WEXFOKD,  3d  October,  1649. 

4  SIR,  —  I  am  contented  to  expect  your  resolution  by  twelve  of  the 
dock  to-morrow  morning.  Because  our  tents  are  not  so  good  a  cover- 
ing as  your  houses,  and  for  other  reasons,  I  cannot  agree  to  a  cessation. 
1  real,  —  your  servant,  OLIVER  CROMWELL.' 

4  For  the  Lord  General  Cromwell. 

'  WKXKOKO,  4th  October,  1649. 

•  SIR, —  I  have  advised  with  the  Mayor  and  Officers,  as  I  promised, 
and  then-lip.!!!  am  content  that  Four,  whom  1  shall  employ,  may  have 


470  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  14  Oct. 

a  Conference  and  Treaty  with  Four  of  yours,  to  see  if  any  agreement 
and  understanding  may  be  begot  between  us.  To  this  purpose  I  desire 
you  to  send  mine  a  Safe-conduct,  as  I  do  hereby  promise  to  send  unto 
yours  when  you  send  me  their  names.  And  I  pray  that  the  meeting 
may  be  had  to-morrow  at  eight  of  the  clock  in  the  forenoon,  that  they 
may  have  sufficient  time  to  confer  and  debate  together,  and  determine 
the  matter ;  and  that  the  meeting  and  place  may  be  agreed  upon,  and 
the  Safe-conduct  mutually  sent  for  the  said  meeting  this  afternoon. 
Expecting  your  answer  hereto,  I  rest,  —  my  Lord,  —  your  servant, 

'  D.   SlNNOTT. 

'  Send  me  the  names  of  your  Agents,  their  qualities  and  degrees. 
Those  I  fix  upon  are :  Major  Jaines  Byrne,  Major  Theobald  Dillon, 
Alderman  Nicholas  Chevers,  Mr.  William  Stafford.' 

3.   '  To  the  Commander -in-  Chief  of  the  Town  of  Wexford. 

'  BEFORE  WEXFORD,  4th  October,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  Having  summoned  you  to  deliver  the  Town  of  Wexford  into 
my  hands,  I  might  well  expect  the  delivery  thereof,  and  not  a  formal 
Treaty ;  which  is  seldom  granted  but  where  the  things  stand  upon  a 
more  equal  foot. 

'  If  therefore  yourself  or  the  Town  have  any  desires  to  offer,  upon 
which  you  will  surrender  the  place  to  me,  I  shall  be  able  to  judge  of  the 
reasonableness  of  them  when  they  are  made  known  to  me.  To  which 
end,  if  you  shall  think  fit  to  send  the  Persons  named  in  your  last,  intrusted 
by  yourself  and  the  Town,  by  whom  I  may  understand  your  desires,  I 
shall  give  you  a  speedy  and  fitting  Answer.  And  I  do  hereby  engage 
myself,  that  they  shall  return  in  safety  to  you. 

'  I  expect  your  answer  hereunto  within  an  hour ,  and  rest,  —  your 
servant,  OLIVER  CROMWELL.' 

'  For  the  Lord  General  Cromwell. 

'  WEXFORD,  4th  October,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  I  have  returned  you  a  civil  Answer,  to  the  best  of  my  judg- 
ment; and  thereby,  I  find,  you  undervalue  me  and  this  place  BO  much, 
that  yon  think  to  have  it  surrendered  without  Capitulation  or  honorable 
Terms,  —  as  appears  by  the  hour's  limitation  in  your  last. 

'  Sir,  had  I  never  a  man  in  this  Town  but  the  Townsmen,  and  Artil- 
lery here  planted,  I  should  conceive  myself  in  a  very  befitting  condition 
to  make  honorable  conditions.  And  having  a  considerable  party,  [along] 
with  them,  in  the  place,  I  am  resolved  to  die  honorably,  or  make  such 


1«49.  LETTER  CVII.    WEXFORD.  471 

conditions  as  may  secure  my  honor  and  life  in  the  eyes  of  my  own 
Party. 

'  To  which  reasonable  terms  if  you  hearken  not,  —  or  give  me  [not] 
time  to  send  my  Agents  till  eight  of  the  clock  in  the  forenoon  to-morrow, 
with  my  Propositions,  with  a  farther  Safe-conduct,  —  I  leave  you  to 
your  better  judgment,  and  myself  to  the  assistance  of  the  Almighty  ;  and 
so  conclude.  —  Your  servant,  D.  SINNOTT.' 

'  For  the  Lord  General  Cromwell. 

1  WEXFORD,  5th  October,  1649. 

1  SIR,  —  My  Propositions  being  now  prepared,  I  am  ready  to  send  my 
Agents  with  them  unto  you.  And  for  their  safe  return,  I  pray  you  to 
send  a  Safe-conduct  by  the  Bearer  unto  me,  —  in  hope  an  honorable 
agreement  may  thereupon  arise  between  your  Lordship  and,  —  my 
L<  >rd,  —  your  Lordship's  sen-ant,  D.  SINNOTT.' 

"  Whilst  these  papers  were  passing  between  us,  I  sent  the 
Lieutenant-General 1  with  a  party  of  dragoons,  horse  and  foot, 
to  endeavor  to  reduce  their  Fort,  which  lay  at  the  mouth  of 
their  harbor,  about  ten  miles  distant  from  us.  To  which  he 
sent  a  troop  of  dragoons  ;  but  the  Enemy  quitted  their  Fort, 
leaving  behind  them  about  seven  great  guns ;  betook  them- 
selves, by  the  help  of  their  boats,  to  a  Frigate  of  twelve  guns 
lying  in  the  harbor,  within  cannon-shot  of  the  Fort.  The  dra- 
Lr"<ms  possessed  the  Fort :  and  some  seamen  belonging  to  your 
Fleet  coming  happily  in  at  the  same  time,  they  bent  their  guns 
at  the  Frigate,  and  she  immediately  yielded  to  mercy,  —  both 
herself,  the  soldiers  that  had  been  in  the  Fort,  and  the  seamen 
that  manned  her.  And  whilst  our  men  were  in  her,  the  Town, 
not  knowing  what  had  happened,  sent  another  small  vessel  to 
her ;  which  our  men  also  took. 

"The  Governor  of  the  Town  having  obtained  from  me  a 
Snfe-romliiPt  for  the  four  persons  mentioned  in  one  of  the 
papers,  to  come  and  treat  with  me  about  the  surrender  of 
the  Town,  I  expected  they  should  have  done  so.  But  instend 
thereof,  the  Earl  of  Castlehaven  brought  to  their  relief,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river,'  about  five  hundred  foot.  Which  occa- 

1  Michael  Jones.  "  Carte,  ii.  92. 


472  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.  n  Oct. 

sioned  their  refusal  to  send  out  any  to  treat ;  and  caused  me 
to  revoke  my  Safe-conduct,  not  thinking  it  fit  to  leave  it  for 
them  to  make  use  of  it  when  they  pleased :  — 

'  For  the  Lord  General  Cromwell. 

'  WEXFOKD,  5th  October,  1649. 

'  My  LORD,  —  Even  as  I  was  ready  to  seud  out  my  Agents  unto  you, 
the  Lord  General  of  the  horse  came  hither  with  a  relief.  Unto  whom 
I  communicated  the  proceedings  between  your  Lordship  and  me,  and 
delivered  him  the  Propositions  I  intended  to  despatch  unto  your  Lord- 
ship ;  —  who  hath  desired  a  small  time  to  consider  of  them,  and  to  speed 
them  unto  me.  Which,  my  Lord,  I  could  not  deny,  he  having  a  com- 
manding power  over  me. 

'  Pray,  my  Lord,  believe  that  I  do  not  do  this  to  trifle  out  time  ; 
but  for  his  present  consent  ;  —  and  if  I  find  any  long  delay  in  his 
Lordship's  returning  them  back  unto  me,  I  will  proceed  of  myself, 
according  to  my  first  intention.  To  which  I  beseech  your  Lordship 
give  credit ;  at  the  request,  —  my  Lord,  —  of  your  Lordship's  ready 
servant,  D.  SINNOTT.' 

4.  '  To  the  Commander -in-  Chief  of  the  Town  of  Wexford. 

'  WEXFORD,  6th  October,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  You  might  have  spared  your  trouble  in  the  account  you  give 
me  of  your  transaction  with  the  Lord  General  of  your  horse,  and  of  your 
resolution  in  case  he  answer  not  your  expectation  in  point  of  time. 
These  are  your  own  concernments,  and  it  behooves  you  to  improve  the 
relief  you  mention  to  your  best  advantage. 

'  All  that  I  have  to  say  is,  To  desire  you  to  take  notice,  that  I  do 
hereby  revoke  my  Safe-conduct  from  the  persons  mentioned  therein. 
When  you  shall  see  cause  to  treat,  you  may  send  for  another.  —  I  rest, 
Sir,  your  servant,  OLIVER  CROMWELL.' 

"  Our  cannon  being  landed,1  and  we  having  removed  all  our 
quarters  to  the  southeast  end  of  the  Town,  next  the  Castle 
[which  stands  without  the  Walls],  —  it  was  generally  agreed 
that  we  should  bend  the  "whole  strength  of  our  artillery  upon 
the  Castle ;  being  persuaded  that  if  we  got  the  Castle,  the 
Town  would  easily  follow. 

"  Upou   Thursday,  the   llth  instant   (our   batteries   being 

»  6th  October  (ib.). 


1649.  LETTER  CVII.    WEXFORD.  473 

finished  the  night  before),  we  began  to  play  betimes  in  the 
morning;  and  having  spent  near  a  hundred  shot,  the  Gover- 
nor's stomach  came  down ;  and  he  sent  to  me  to  give  leave  for 
four  persons,  intrusted  by  him,  to  come  unto  me,  and  offer 
terms  of  surrender  :  — 

'  For  the  Lord  General  Cromwell. 

'  WEXFORD,  llth  October,  1649. 

'SlR, —  In  performance  of  my  last,  I  desire  your  Lordship  to  send 
me  a  Safe-conduct  for  Major  Theobald  Dillon,  Major  James  Byrne, 
Alderman  Nicholas  Chevers,  and  Captain  James  Stafford,  whom  I  will 
send  to  your  Lordship  instructed  with  my  desires.  And  so  I  rest,  —  my 
Lord,  — your  servant,  D.  SINNOTT.' 

'•  Which  I  condescending  to,  two  Field-Officers  with  an 
Alderman  of  the  Town,  and  the  Captain  of  the  Castle,  brought 
out  the  Propositions  enclosed,  —  which  for  their  abominable- 
ness,  manifesting  also  the  impudency  of  the  men,  I  thought  fit 
to  present  to  your  view ;  —  together  with  my  Answer  :  — 

1  The  Propositions  of  Colonel  David  Sinnott,  Governor  of  the  Town 
and  Castle  of  Wexford,  for  and  on  the  behalf  of  the  Officers  and 
Soldiers  and  Inhabitants  in  the  said  Town  and  Castle,  unto  General 
Cromwell. 

1 1.  In  primis,  That  all  and  every  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Town, 
from  time  to  time  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  shall  have  free  and  uninter- 
rupted liberty  publicly  to  use,  exercise  and  profess  the  Roman  Catholic 
Religion,  without  restriction,  mulct  or  penalty,  any  law  or  statute  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

'  52.  That  the  Regular  and  Secular  Roman  Catholic  Clergy  now  pos- 
sessed of  the  Churches,  Church-livings,  Monasteries,  Religious-houses 
and  Chapels  in  the  said  Town,  and  in  the  suburbs  and  franchises  there- 
of, and  their  successors,  shall  have,  hold  and  enjoy,  to  them  and  their 
successors  forever,  the  said  churches,  church-livings,  monasteries,  relig- 
ious-houses and  chapels,  and  shall  teach  and  prcaoh  in  them  publicly, 
without  any  molestation,  any  law  or  statute  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. 

'3.  That  Nicholas,  now  Lord  Bishop  of  Ferns,  and  his  successors, 
shall  use  and  exercise  such  jurisdiction  over  the  Catholics  of  his  Dio- 
aa  since  his  consecration  hitherto  he  used. 

'  4.  That  all  the  Otficura  aud  Soldiers,    of  what  quality  or  degree 


474  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  14  Oct. 

soever,  in  the  said  Town  and  Castle,  and  such  of  the  Inhabitants  as  are 
so  pleased,  shall  inarch  with  flying  colors,  and  be  conveyed  safe,  with 
their  lives,  artillery,  ordnance,  ammunition,  arms,  goods  of  all  sorts, 
horses,  moneys  aud  what  else  belongs  to  them,  to  the  Town  of  Ross, 
and  there  to  be  left  safe  with  their  own  party  ;  allowing  each  musketeer, 
towards  their  inarch,  a  pound  of  powder,  four  yards  of  match,  and 
twelve  brace  of  bullets ;  and  a  strong  Convoy  to  be  sent  with  the  said 
soldiers,  within  four-and- twenty  hours  after  the  yielding  up  of  the  said 
Town. 

'  5.  That  such  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Town  as  will  desire  to 
leave  the  same  at  any  time  hereafter,  shall  have  free  liberty  to  carry 
away  out  of  the  said  Town  all  their  frigates,  artillery,  arms,  powder, 
bullets,  match,  corn,  malt,  and  other  provision  which  they  have  for  their 
defence  and  sustenance,  and  all  their  goods  and  chattels,  of  what  quality 
or  condition  soever,  without  any  manner  of  disturbance  whatsoever,  and 
have  passes  and  safe-conducts  and  convoys  for  their  lives  and  said  goods 
to  Ross,  or  where  else  they  shall  think  fit. 

'  6.  That  the  Mayor,  Bailiffs,  Free  Burgesses  and  Commons  of  the 
said  Town  may  have,  hold  and  enjoy  the  said  Town  and  Suburbs,  their 
commons,  their  franchises,  their  liberties  and  immunities,  which  hitherto 
they  enjoyed ;  and  that  the  Mayor,  Bailiffs  and  Free  Burgesses  may  have 
the  government  of  the  said  Town,  as  hitherto  they  enjoyed  the  same  from 
the  Realm  of  England,  and  that  they  may  have  no  other  government, 
they  adhering  to  the  State  of  England,  and  observing  their  orders,  and 
the  orders  of  their  Governors  in  this  Realm  for  the  time  being. 

17.  That  all  and  every  the  Burgesses  and  Inhabitants,  either  native 
or  strangers,  of  the  said  Town,  who  shall  continue  their  abode  therein, 
or  come  to  live  there  within  three  months,  and  their  heirs,  shall  have, 
hold  and  enjoy  all  and  singular  their  several  castles,  messuages,  houses, 
lands,  tenements  and  hereditaments  within  the  land  of  Ireland,  and  all 
their  goods  and  chattels,  of  what  nature,  quality  or  condition  soever,  to 
them  and  their  heirs,  to  their  own  several  uses  forever,  without  moles- 
tation. 

'  8.  That  such  Burgess  or  Burgesses,  or  other  Inhabitant  of  the  said 
Town,  as  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  be  desirous  to  leave  the  said  Town, 
shall  have  free  leave  to  dispose  of  their  real  and  personal  estates  respec- 
tively to  their  best  advantage  ;  and  farther  have  full  liberty  and  a  safe- 
conduct  respectively  to  go  into  England  or  elsewhere,  according  to  their 
several  pleasures  who  shall  desire  to  depart  the  same. 

'  9.  That  all  and  singular  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Town,  either 
native  or  strangers,  from  time  to  time  aud  at  all  times  hereafter,  sLiil 
have,  reap  and  enjoy  the  full  liberty  of  free-born  English  subjects,  with- 


1649.  LETTER  CVII.    WEXFORD.  475 

oat  the  least  incapacity  or  restriction  therein  >  and  that  all  the  Freemen 
of  the  said  Town,  from  time  to  time,  shall  be  as  free  in  all  the  seaports, 
cities  and  towns  in  England,  as  the  Freemen  of  all  and  every  the  said 
cities  and  towns  ;  ami  all  and  every  the  Freemen  of  the  said  cities  and 
towns  to  be*  as  free  in  the  said  Town  of  Wexford  as  the  Freemen  thereof, 
for  their  greater  encouragement  to  trade  and  commerce  together  on  all 
hands. 

'  10.  That  no  memory  remain  of  any  hostility  or  distance  which  was 
hitherto  between  the  said  Town  and  Castle  on  the  one  part,  and  tho  Par- 
liament or  State  of  England  on  the  other  part ;  but  that  all  act  and  acts, 
transgressions,  offences,  depredations  and  other  crimes,  of  what  naturn 
or  quality  soever,  be  they  ever  so  transcendent,  attempted  or  done,  or 
supposed  to  be  attempted  or  done,  by  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Town 
or  any  other,  heretofore  or  at  present  adhering  to  the  said  Town,  either 
native  or  stranger,  and  every  of  them,  — shall  pass  in  oblivion  ;  without 
chastisement,  challenge,  recompense,  demand  or  questioning  for  them, 
or  any  of  them,  now  or  at  any  time  hereafter.  D.  SINNOTTV 

1  For  the  Commander -in- Chief  in  the  Town  of  Wexford. 

'  [BEFORE  WEXFORD,]  llth  October,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  I  have  had  the  patience  to  peruse  your  Propositions ;  to 
which  I  might  have  returned  an  Answer  with  some  disdain.  But,  to  be 
short,  — 

'  I  shall  give  the  Soldiers  and  Non-commissioned  Officers  quarter  for 
life,  and  leave  to  go  to  their  several  habitations,  with  their  wearing- 
el,  a  lies  ;  —  they  engaging  themselves  to  live  quietly  there,  and  to  take 
up  aniiH  no  more  against  the  Parliament  of  England.  And  the  Com- 
ini.-Moned  Officers  quarter  for  their  lives,  but  to  render  themselves  Pris- 
oners. And  as  for  the  Inhabitants,  I  shall  engage  myself  That  no 
violcnc.  shall  be  offered  to  their  goods,  and  that  I  shall  protect  the  Town 
from  plunder 

4  I  expert  your  positive  Answer  instantly  ;  and  if  you  will  upon  these 
terms  surrender  and  quit,  [and]  shall,  in  one  hour,  send  forth  to  me 
Four  Officers  of  th,-  quality  of  Field-Officers,  and  Two  Aldermen,  for 
the  performance  thereof,  I  shall  thereupon  forbear  all  acts  of  hostility. 
Your  servant,  OLIVER  CROMWELL.'* 

1  The  rest  of  the  Wexford  Correspondence  is  in  Tanner  and  elsewhere; 
thin,  which  completed  it,  heiug  considered  hopelewly  lost,  most  1*  taken  as  a 
VIT\  interestine  little  Doeuim-ni,  now  that  it  hat*  turned  up.  Autograph  for 
Far-simile  Copy  '  tnu<-li  interlined  and  very  hastily  written),  now  (March 
IMS)  in  the  poaeeeeionof  Edward  Crawford,  Esq.,  Solicitor,  Wellington  Quay, 
]>uMin. 


476  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  u  Oct. 

"  Which  [Answer]  indeed  had  no  effect.  For  whilst  I  was 
preparing  of  it ;  studying  to  preserve  the  Town  from  plunder, 
that  it  might  be  of  the  more  use  to  you  and  your  Army,  — • 
the  Captain,  who  was  one  of  the  Commissioners,  being  fairly 
treated,  yielded  up  the  Castle  to  us.  Upon  the  top  of  which 
our  men  no  sooner  appeared,  but  the  Enemy  quitted  the  Walls 
of  the  Town ;  which  our  men  perceiving,  ran  violently  upon 
the  Town  with  their  ladders,  and  stormed  it.  And  when  they 
were  come  into  the  market-place,  the  Enemy  making  a  stiff 
resistance,  our  forces  brake  them;  and  then  put  all  to  the 
sword  that  came  in  their  way.  Two  boatftils  of  the  Enemy 
attempting  to  escape,  being  overprest  with  numbers,  sank ; 
whereby  were  drowned  near  three  hundred  of  them.  I  believe, 
in  all,  there  was  lost  of  the  Enemy  not  many  less  than  two 
thousand ;  and  I  believe  not  twenty  of  yours  from  first  to 
last  of  the  Siege.  And  indeed  it  hath,  not  without  cause,  been 
deeply  set  upon  our  hearts,  That,  we  intending  better  to  this 
place  than  so  great  a  ruin,  hoping  the  Town  might  be  of  more 
use  to  you  and  your  Army,  yet  God  would  not  have  it  so  ;  but 
by  an  unexpected  providence,  in  His  righteous  justice,  brought 
a  just  judgment  upon  them ;  causing  them  to  become  a  prey  to 
the  soldier  who  in  their  piracies  had  made  preys  of  so  many 
families,  and  now  with  their  bloods  to  answer  the  cruelties 
which  they  had  exercised  upon  the  lives  of  divers  poor  Protes- 
tants !  Two  [instances]  of  which  I  have  been  lately  acquainted 
with.  About  seven  or  eight  score  poor  Protestants  were  by 
them  put  into  an  old  vessel ;  which  being,  as  some  say,  bulged 
by  them,  the  vessel  sank,  and  they  were  all  presently  drowned  in 
the  Harbor.  The  other  [instance]  was  thus  :  They  put  divers 
poor  Protestants  into  a  Chapel  (which,  since,  they  have  used 
for  a  Mass-house,  and  in  which  one  or  more  of  their  priests 
were  now  killed),  where  they  were  famished  to  death. 

"The  soldiers  got  a  very  good  booty  in  this  place ;  and  had 
not  they1  had  opportunity  to  carry  their  goods  over  the 
River,  whilst  we  besieged  it,  it  would  have  been  much  more : 
—  I  could  have  wished  for  their  own  good,  and  the  good  of 

1  The  Townsfolk. 


K.n  LETTER  CVII.    WEXFORD.  477 

the  Garrison,  they  had  been  more  moderate.1  Some  things 
which  were  not  easily  portable,  we  hope  we  shall  make  use  of 
to  your  behoof.  There  are  great  quantities  of  iron,  hides, 
tallow,  salt,  pipe-  and  barrel-staves  ;  which  are  under  commis- 
sioners' hands,  to  be  secured.  We  believe  there  are  near  a  hun- 
dred cannon  in  the  Fort,  and  elsewhere  in  and  about  the  Town. 
Here  is  likewise  some  very  good  shipping  :  here  are  three 
vessels,  one  of  them  of  thirty-four  guns,  which  a  week's  time 
would  fit  to  sea  ;  there  is  another  of  about  twenty  guns,  very 
near  ready  likewise.  And  one  other  Frigate  of  twenty  guns, 
upon  the  stocks  ;  made  for  sailing  ;  which  is  built  up  to  the 
uppermost  deck  :  for  her  handsomeness'  sake,  I  have  appointed 
the  workmen  to  finish  her,  here  being  materials  to  do  it,  if  you 
or  the  Council  of  State  shall  approve  thereof.  The  Frigate, 
also,  taken  beside  the  Fort,  is  a  most  excellent  vessel  for  sail- 
ing. Besides  divers  other  ships  and  vessels  in  the  Harbor. 

"  This  Town  is  now  so  in  your  power,  that  of  the  former 
inhabitants,  I  believe  scarce  one  in  twenty  can  challenge  any 
property  in  their  houses.  Most  of  them  are  run  away,  and  many 
of  them  killed  in  this  service.  And  it  were  to  be  wished,  that 
an  honest  people  would  come  and  plant  here  ;  —  where  are  very 
good  house's,  and  other  accommodations  fitted  to  their  hands, 
which  may  by  your  favor  be  made  of  encouragement  to  them. 
As  also  a  seat  of  good  trade,  both  inward  and  outward  ;  —  and 
of  marvellous  great  advantage  in  the  point  of  the  herring  and 
other  fishing.  The  Town  is  pleasantly  seated  and  strong,  hav- 
ing a  rampart  of  earth  within  the  wall  near  fifteen  feet  thick. 

"Thus  it  hath  pleased  God  to  give  into  your  hands  this 
other  mercy.  For  which,  as  for  all,  we  pray  God  may  have 
all  the  glory.  Indeed  your  instruments  are  poor  and  wi-ak, 
and  can  do  nothing  but  through  believing,  —  and  that  is  the 
gift  of  God  also.  I  humbly  take  leave,  and  rest, 
"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CUOMWELL. 


"[P.S.]    A  day  or  two  before  our  flattery  WMS  plantod,  Or- 
moud,  the  Earl  of  Oastlehavi-n,  tin-  L'>nl  of  Ardcs  and  Clanue- 

1  Not  forced  00  to  itorm  them. 


478  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  U  Oct. 

boyes  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  Water,  with  about  1,800 
horse  [and]  1,500  foot ;  and  offered  to  put  in  four  or  five  hun- 
dred foot  more  into  the  Town ;  which  the  Town  refusing,  he 
marched  away  in  all  haste.  I  sent  the  Lieutenant-General 
after  him,  with  about  1,400  horse  j  but  the  Enemy  made  haste 
from  him." J 

Young  Charles  II.,  who  has  got  to  the  Isle  of  Jersey,  decid- 
edly inclining  towards  Ireland  as  yet,  will  probably  be  stag- 
gered by  these  occurrences,  when  the  news  of  them  reaches 
him.  Not  good  quarters  Ireland  at  present !  The  Scots  have 
proclaimed  him  King ;  but  clogged  it  with  such  conditions 
about  the  Covenant,  about  Malignants,  and  what  not,  as  noth- 
ing but  the  throat  of  an  ostrich  could  swallow.  The  poor 
young  King  is  much  at  a  loss ; 2  —  must  go  some-whither,  and 
if  possible  take  some  Mrs.  Barlow  with  him  !  Laird  Winram, 
Senator  of  the  College  of  Justice,  is  off  to  deal  with  him ; 8  to 
see  if  he  cannot  help  him  down  with  the  Covenant :  the  Laird's 
best  ally,  I  think,  will  be  Oliver  in  Ireland.  At  Edinburgh 
these  are  the  news  from  that  quarter :  — 

"  In  October  and  November  this  year  there  ran  and  were 
spread  frequent  rumors  that  Lieutenant-General  Oliver  Crom- 
well was  routed  in  Ireland,  yea  killed ;  and  again  that  he  bore 
all  down  before  him  like  ane  impetuous  torrent :  how  that  he 
had  taken  Tradaffe  and  Washeford,"  Tredah  and  Wexford ; 
"  and  there,  neither  sparing  sex  nor  age,  had  exercised  all  the 
cruelties  of  a  merciless  inhuman  and  bloody  butcher,  even 
brutishly  against  Nature.  On  these  rumors  Will  Douglas," 
no  great  shakes  at  metre,  "  did  write  these  lines  :  — 

'  Cromwell  is  dead,  and  risen  ;  and  dead  again, 
And  risen  the  third  time  after  he  was  slain : 
No  wonder !     For  he  's  messenger  of  Hell :  — 
And  now  he  buffets  us,  now  posts  to  tell 
What 's  past ;  and  for  more  game  new  counsel  takes 
Of  his  good  friend  the  Devil,  who  keeps  the  stakes.'"4 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwdliana,  pp.  65-67);  completed  by  Tanner  MSS. 
(in  Gary,  ii.  168-185),  and  the  Dublin  Autograph  given  above  at  p.  473. 

2  Carte's  Ormond  Papers,  i.  316,  &c. 

8  llth  October,  1649,  Balfour's  Historical  Works  (Edinb.  1825), iii.  432. 
*  Balfour's  Historical  Works,  iii.  433. 


M4d.  LETTER  CVIII.    ROSS.  479 


LETTERS  CVHI.-CXIL 

BOSS. 

UNDER  date  5th  November,  1649,  we  read  in  the  old  News- 
papers :  "  Our  affairs  here  have  made  this  progress :  Wexford 
being  settled  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Cooke,  our  Army 
stayed  not  long  there ;  but  hasted  farther  unto  Ross.  Which 
is  a  walled  Town,  situated  upon  the  river  Barrow,  a  very  plea- 
sant and  commodious  river,  bearing  vessels  of  a  very  consid- 
erable burden.  Upon  Wednesday,  the  17th  of  this  instant 
October,  we  sat  down  before  Ross  ;  and  my  Lord  Lieutenant, 
the  same  day,  sent  in  this  following  Summons :  — 

LETTER  CVIII. 

'  For  the  Commander-irirChief  in  Ross :  These. 

'  [BEFORE  Ross,]  17th  October,  1649. 

'SiR, — Since  my  coming  into  Ireland,  I  have  this  witness 
for  myself,  That  I  have  endeavored  to  avoid  effusion  of  blood ; 
having  been  before  no  place,  to  which  such  terms  have  not 
l)een  first  sent  as  might  have  turned  to  the  good  and  preserva- 
tion of  those  to  whom  they  were  offered ;  this  being  my  prin- 
ciple, that  the  people  and  places  where  I  come  may  not  suffer, 
except  through  their  own  wilfulness. 

'To  the  end  I  may  observe  the  like  course  with  this  place 
and  j»eople  therein,  I  do  hereby   summon  you  to  deliver  the 
Town  of  Ross  into  my  hands,  to  the  use  of  the  Parliament  of 
England.     Expecting  your  speedy  answer,  I  rest, 
'  Your  servant, 

'OLIVER  CROMWELL.'* 

•    "  The  trumpeter  that  carried  this  summons  was  denied  en- 
trance into  the  Town.     They  rc«  civcd  his  paper  at  the  gates  ; 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwrlliana,  p.  67). 


480  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  19  Oct 

and  told  him  that  an  answer  should  be  returned  thereunto  by 
a  drummer  of  their  own.  Hereupon  we  prepared  our  batteries, 
and  made  ready  for  a  storm,  Ormond  himself,  Ardes,  and 
Castlehaven  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  River ;  and  sent  in 
supplies  of  1,500  foot,  the  day  before  it  was  surrendered  to 
us ;  1,000  foot  being  in  it  before  we  came  unto  it.  Castle- 
haven  was  in  it  that  morning  they  delivered  it,  and  Inchiquin 
too  had  been  there  not  above  two  or  three  days  before  our 
advance  thither.  They  boated  over  their  men  into  the  Town 
in  our  sight ;  and  yet  that  did  not  discourage  us  in  making 
ready  all  provisions  fitting  for  a  storm.  On  Friday,  the  19th 
of  this  instant,  our  great  pieces  began  to  play,  and  early  in  the 
morning  the  Governor  sent  out  his  Answer  to  my  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant's Summons. 

'  For  General  Cromwell,  or,  in  his  absence,  For  the  Commander- 
in- Chief  of  the  Army  now  encamped  before  Boss. 

'Ross,  19th  October,  1649. 

(  SIR,  —  I  received  a  Summons  from  you,  the  first  day  you 
appeared  before  this  place ;  which  should  have  been  answered 
ere  now,  had  not  other  occasions  interrupted  me.  And  al- 
though I  am  now  in  far  better  condition  to  defend  this  place 
than  I  was  at  that  time,  yet  am  I,  upon  the  considerations 
offered  in  your  Summons,  content  to  entertain  a  Treaty ;  and 
to  receive  from  you  those  conditions  that  may  be  safe  and 
honorable  for  ine  to  accept  of.  Which  if  you  listen  to,  I  desire 
that  pledges  on  both  sides  may  be  sent,  for  performance  of 
such  Articles  as  shall  be  agreed  upon  ;  and  that  all  acts  of 
hostility  may  cease  on  both  sides,  and  each  party  keep  within 
their  distance.  To  this  your  immediate  resolution  is  expected 

by,  —  Sir, 

'Your  servant, 

'  LUCAS  TAAFF/ 

"  Hereunto  my  Lord  immediately  returned  this  Answer 
[which  counts  here  as  our  Hundred-and-ninth  Letter] :  — 


1649.  LETTER  CIX.    ROSS.  481 

LETTER  CIX. 

'  For  the  Governor  of  Ross :  These. 

'  [BEFORE  Ross,]  19th  October,  1649. 

1  SIR,  —  If  you  like  to  march  away  with  those  under  your 
command,  with  their  arms,  bag  and.  baggage,  and  with  drums 
and  colors,  and  shall  deliver  up  the  Town  to  me,  —  I  shall 
give  caution  to  perform  these  conditions ;  expecting  the  like 
from  you.  As  to  the  inhabitants,  they  shall  be  permitted 
to  live  peaceably,  free  from  the  injury  and  violence  of  the 
soldiers. 

'  If  you  like  hereof,  you  can  tell  how  to  let  me  know  your 
mind,  notwithstanding  my  refusal  of  a  cessation.  By  these 
you  will  see  the  reality  of  my  intentions  to  save  blood,  and  to 
preserve  the  place  from  ruin.  I  rest, 

'  Your  servant, 

'OLIVER  CROMWELL.'  l 

"  Our  batteries  still  continued,  and  made  a  great  breach  in 
the  Wall.  Our  men  were  drawn  out  in  a  readiness  to  storm, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Ingoldsby  being  by  lot  chosen  to  lead  them ; 
but  the  Governor  being  willing  to  embrace  conditions,  sent  out 
this  his  Reply  :  — 

' For  General  Cromwell:  These. 

•Ross,  19th  October,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  There  wants  but  little  of  what  I  would  propose  ;  — 
which  is,  That  such  Townsmen  as  have  a  desire  to  depart,  may 
have  liberty  within  a  convenient  time  to  carry  away  themselves 
and  goods ;  and  liberty  of  conscience  to  such  as  shall  stay :  and 
that  I  may  carry  away  such  artillery  and  ammunition  as  I 
have  in  my  command.  If  you  be  inclined  to  this,  I  will  send, 
upon  your  honor  as  a  safe-conduct,  an  Officer  to  conclude  with 
you.  To  which  your  immediate  answer  is  expected  by,  —  Sir, 

'  Your  servant, 

'  LUCAS  TAAKF.' 

1  Newfpapers  (in  Cromwelliana ,  p.  68). 

TOL     XT 1 1  81 


482  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  19  Oct. 

"  Hereunto  my  Lord  gave  this  return   [our  Hundred-and- 
tenth  Letter]:  — 


LETTER  CX. 

'  For  the  Governor  of  Boss :  These. 

'  [BEFORE  Ross,]  19th  October,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  To  what  I  formerly  offered,  I  shall  make  good.  As 
for  your  carrying  away  any  artillery  or  ammunition,  that  you 
brought  not  with  you,  or  [that]  hath  not  come  to  you  since 
you  had  the  command  of  that  place,  —  I  must  deny  you  that ; 
expecting  you  to  leave  it  as  you  found  it. 

'  [As]  for  that  which  you  mention  concerning  liberty  of 
conscience,  I  meddle  not  with  any  man's  conscience.  But  if 
by  liberty  of  conscience,  you  mean  a  liberty  to  exercise  the 
Mass,  I  judge  it  best  to  use  plain  dealing,  and  to  let  you  know, 
Where  the  Parliament  of  England  have  power,  that  will  not 
be  allowed  of.  As  for  such  of  the  Townsmen  who  desire  to 
depart,  and  carry  away  themselves  and  goods  (as  you  express), 
I  engage  myself  they  shall  have  three  months'  time  so  to  do ; 
and  in  the  mean  time  shall  be  protected  from  violence  in  their 
persons  and  goods,  as  others  under  the  obedience  of  the  Par- 
liament. 

'  If  you  accept  of  this  offer,  I  engage  my  honor  for  a  punc- 
tual performance  hereof.  I  rest, 

'Your  servant, 

'  OLIVER  CROMWELL.'  l 

"  The  Governor  returned  this  Answer  :  — 

1  For  General  Cromwell:   These. 

'  19th  OCTOBER,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  I  am  content  to  yield  up  this  place  upon  the  terms 
offered  in  your  last  and  first  Letters.  And  if  you  please  to 
send  your  safe-conduct  to  such  as  I  shall  appoint  to  perfect 
these  conditions,  I  shall  on  receipt  thereof  send  them  to  you. 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwdliana,  p.  68). 


1649.  LETTER  CXI.    ROSS.  483 

In  the  interval,  —  To  cease  all  acts  of  hostility,  and  that  all 
parties  keep  their  own  ground,  until  matters  receive  a  full  end. 
And  so  remains,  —  Sir, 

'  Your  servant, 

'  LUCAS  TAAFF.' 

"  Hereunto  my  Lord  replied  thus  :  — 


LETTER  CXI. 

'  For  the  Governor  of  Ross  :  These. 

'19th  OCTOBER,  1649. 

'  SIR,  —  You  have  my  hand  and  honor  engaged  to  perform 
what  I  offered  in  my  first  and  last  Letters;  which  I  shall  in- 
violably observe.  I  expect  you  to  send  me  immediately  four 
persons  of  such  quality  as  may  be  hostages  for  your  perform- 
ance ;  for  whom  you  have  this  Safe-conduct  enclosed,  into 
which  you  may  insert  their  names.  Without  which  I  shall 
not  cease  acts  of  hostility.  If  anything  happen  by  your  delay, 
to  your  prejudice,  it  will  not  be  my  fault.  Those  you  send 
may  see  the  conditions  perfected.  Whilst  I  forbear  acts  of 
hostility,  I  expect  you  forbear  all  actings  within.  I  rest, 
'  Your  servant, 

'  OLIVER  CROMWELL.'  * 

"This,"  says  the  old  Newspaper,  "was  the  last  message  be- 
tween them  :  the  Governor  sending  out  his  four  hostages  to 
compose  and  perfect  the  Agreement,  our  batteries  ceased ;  and 
our  intentions  to  storm  the  Town  were  disappointed.  Thus 
within  three  days  we  had  possession  of  this  place  without  the 
effusion  of  blood.  A  very  considerable  place,  and  a  very  good 
quarter  for  the  refreshment  of  our  soldiers.  The  Enemy 
marched  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  River,  and  did  not  come 
out  of  that  side  of  the  Town  where  we  h;ul  <-iir:iiupf<l," — 
which  I  think  was  a  judicious  moveim-nt  «•!  theirs.  What 
1  N«w»|«pen  (in  L'i>*nwrHianu,  p.  69). 


484  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  25  Oct. 

English  were  in  the  Garrison,  some  five  or  six  hundred  here, 
do,  as  their  common  custom  is,  "join  us."  Munster  Royalist 
Forces,  poor  Ormond  men,  they  had  rather  live,  than  be  slaiu  iu 
such  a  Cause  as  this  has  grown. 


LETTEE  CXII. 

HEBE  is  Cromwell's  official  account  of  the  same  business, 
in  a  Letter  to  Lenthall :  — 

[For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :  These.~\ 

"  Ross,  25th  October,  1649. 

"  SIR,  —  Since  my  last  from  Wexford,  we  marched  to  Ross ; 
a  walled  Town,  situated  upon  the  Barrow ;  a  port-town,  up  to 
which  a  ship  of  seven  or  eight  hundred  tons  may  come. 

"  We  came  before  it  upon  Wednesday,  the  17th  instant,  with 
three  pieces  of  cannon.  That  evening  I  sent  a  summons; 
Major-General  Taaff,  being  Governor,  refused  to  admit  my 
Trumpet  into  the  Town  ;  but  took  the  Summons  in,  returning 
me  no  answer.  I  did  hear  that  near  1,000  foot  had  been  put 
into  this  place  some  few  days  before  my  coming  to  it.  The 
next  day  was  spent  in  making  preparations  for  our  battery  ; 
and  in  our  view  there  were  boated  over  from  the  other  side  of 
the  river,  of  English,  Scots,  and  Irish,  1,500  more ;  Ormond, 
Castlehaven,  and  the  Lord  of  Ardes,  being  on  the  other  side  of 
the  water  to  cause  it  to  be  done. 

"  That  night  we  planted  our  battery ;  which  began  to  play 
very  early  the  next  morning.  The  Governor  immediately 
sent  forth  an  Answer  to  my  Summons ;  copies  of  all  which  I 
make  bold  herewith  to  trouble  you  [with]  ; *  the  rather  because 
you  may  see  how  God  pulls  down  proud  stomachs.  The  Gov- 
ernor desired  commissioners  might  treat,  and  that  in  the  mean 
time  there  might  be  a  ceasing  of  acts  of  hostility  on  both  sides. 

1  We  have  just  read  them. 


1648.  LETTER  CXII.    ROSS.  485 

Which  I  refused ;  sending  in  word,  That  if  he  would  march 
away  with  arms,  bag  and  baggage,  and  give  me  hostages  for  per- 
formance, he  should.  Indeed  he  might  have  done  it  without 
my  leave,  by  the  advantage  of  the  River.  He  insisted  upon 
having  the  cannon  with  him ;  which  I  would  not  yield  unto, 
but  required  the  leaving  the  artillery  and  ammunition  ;  which 
he  was  content  to  do,  and  marched  away,  leaving  the  great 
artillery  and  the  ammunition  in  the  stores  to  me.  When  they 
marched  away,  at  least  five  hundred  English,  many  of  them 
of  the  Munster  forces,  came  to  us. 

"Ormond  is  at  Kilkenny,  Inchiquin  in  Munster,  Henry 
O'Neil,  Owen  Roe's  son,  is  come  up  to  Kilkenny,  with  near 
2,000  horse  and  foot,  with  whom  and  Ormond  there  is  now  a 
perfect  conjunction.  So  that  now,  I  trust,  some  angry  friends 
will  think  it  high  time  to  take  off  their  jealousy  l  from  those 
to  whom  they  ought  to  exercise  more  charity. 

"  The  rendition  of  this  Garrison  was  a  seasonable  mercy,  as 
giving  us  an  opportunity  towards  Munster ;  and  is  for  the  pres- 
ent a  very  good  refreshment  for  our  men.  We  are  able  to  say 
nothing  as  to  all  this,  but  that  the  Lord  is  still  pleased  to  own 
a  company  of  poor  worthless  creatures;  for  which  we  desire 
His  name  to  be  magnified,  and  [that]  the  hearts  of  all  con- 
cerned may  be  provoked  to  walk  worthy  of  such  continued 
favors.  This  is  the  earnest  desire  of 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"P.S.  Colonel  Horton  is  lately  dead  of  the  Country-disease, 
leaving  a  Son  behind  him.  He  was  a  person  of  great  integrity 
ami  courage.  His  former  services,  especially  that  of  the  last 
summer,  I  hope  will  be  had  in  remembrance."  * 

Poor  Horton ;  he  beat  the  Welsh  at  St.  Fagan's,  and  did  good 
service  "  last  summer  ; "  and  now  he  is  dead  of  "  the  Country- 

1  Jealonxy  of  tho  Parliament's  having  countenanced  Monk  in  bis  negotia- 
tions with  Ow.-n  !;.»•  .iti.l  i  In-  <»l«l  Irish  ••(  tin-  M:issarro. 
*  Newspapers  (ui  Purl,  l/it/ory,  xix.  224-226). 


486  PARTY.    CAMPAIGN    IN    IRELAND.  25  Oct 

disease,"  —  a  pestilence  raging  in  the  rear  of  Famine  and  the 
Spoil  of  War.  Famine  has  long  reigned.  When  the  War 
ended,  Ludlow  tells  us,  it  was  found  necessary  to  issue  a 
Proclamation  that  "  no  lambs  or  calves  should  be  killed  for 
one  year,"  the  stock  of  cattle  being  exhausted.  Such  waste 
had  there  been,  continues  he,  in  burning  the  possessions  of 
the  English,  many  of  the  Natives  themselves  were  driven  to 
starvation  ;  "  and  I  have  been  informed  by  persons  deserving 
credit,  that  the  same  calamity  fell  upon  them  even  in  the  first 
year  of  the  Rebellion,  through  the  depredations  of  the  Irish ; 
and  that  they  roasted  men,  and  ate  them,  to  supply  their  neces- 
sities." 1  Such  a  War  is  worth  ending  at  some  cost !  —  In  the 
Lord  Lieutenant's  Army,  we  learn  elsewhere,  there  was  an 
abundant  supply,  the  country  crowding  in  as  to  a  good  mar- 
ket, where  sure  prices  were  given,  and  fair  dealing  enforced; 
all  manner  of  depredators  being,  according  to  the  paper 
Proclamation,  hanged  in  very  authentic  hemp.  "  Much  better 
supplied  than  any  of  the  Irish  Armies  had  ever  been."  a 


LETTERS  cxm.-cxvm. 

THE  stroke  that  fell  on  Tredah,  repeated  at  Wexford,  at 
Ross  not  needing  to  be  repeated,  has,  as  we  say,  broken  the 
brain  of  the  Irish  War;  the  body  of  which,  over  Ireland 
generally,  here  over  the  Southwest  more  especially,  every- 
where staggers  falling,  or  already  lies  fallen,  writhing  in 
paralytic  convulsions,  making  haste  to  die.  Of  its  final 
spasms,  wide-spread  confused  death-agonies,  and  general  swift 
death,  over  this  Munster  region,  through  the  winter  months, 
and  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  demeanor  therein,  these  Six 
Letters  give  us  indication  such  as  may  suffice. 

LETTER  CXIII. 

HERE  is  a  small  glimpse  of  domesticity  again,  due  to  the 
Pusey  Seventeen ;  very  welcome  to  us  in  these  wild  scenes. 
1  Ludlow,  i.  338,  339.  *  Carle,  ii.  90. 


1649.  LETTER  CXIIT.    ROSS.  487 

Mayor  has  endorsed  it  at  Hursley,  "  Received  12th  December, 
1649."  "  Cousin  Barton,"  I  suppose,  is  the  Barton  who  boggled 
at  some  things  in  the  Marriage-Contracts ;  a  respectable  man, 
though  he  has  his  crotchets  now  and  then. 

"  For  my  beloved  Brother  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  Hursley : 

These. 

"Ross,  13th  November,  1649. 

"  DEAR  BROTHER,  —  I  am  not  often  at  leisure,  nor  now,  to 
salute  my  friends ;  yet  unwilling  to  lose  this  opportunity.  I 
take  it,  only  to  let  you  know  that  you  and  your  Family  are 
often  in  my  prayers.  As  for  Dick,  I  do  not  much  expect 
it  from  him,  knowing  his  idleness ;  but  I  am  angry  with  my 
Daughter  as  a  promise-breaker.  Pray  tell  her  so ;  —  but  I 
hope  she  will  redeem  herself. 

"  It  has  pleased  the  Lord  to  give  us  (since  the  taking  of 
Wexford  and  Ross)  a  good  interest  in  Munster,  by  the  acces- 
sion *  of  Cork  and  Youghal,  which  are  both  submitted ;  their 
Commanders  are  now  with  me.  Divers  other  lesser  Garrisons 
are  come  in  also.  The  Lord  is  wonderful  in  these  things ;  it's 
His  hand  alone  does  them :  oh  that  all  the  praise  might  be 
ascribed  to  Him ! 

"  I  have  been  crazy  in  my  health ;  but  the  Lord  is  pleased 
to  sustain  me.  I  beg  your  prayers.  I  desire  you  to  call  upon 
my  Son  to  mind  the  things  of  God  more  and  more :  alas, 
what  profit  is  there  in  the  things  of  this  world !  —  except 
they  be  enjoyed  in  Christ,  they  are  snares.  I  wish  he  may 
<  njoy  his  Wife  so,  and  she  him ;  I  wish  I  may  enjoy  them 

Ix'tl)    SO. 

My  service  to  my  dear  Sister  [and]  Cousin  Annj  my 
blessing  to  my  Children,  and  love  to  my  Cousin  Barton  and 
the  rest.  Sir,  I  am, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother  and  servant, 

"OLIVKR  CROMWELL."* 

1  "  access  "  in  orig. 

1  liarrio,  p.  511 ;  uue  of  the  1'uaey  set,  preserved  by  Dum.li,  as  intimated 
aboro. 


488  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  UNov. 

LETTER  CXIV. 

THE  opportune  Victory  at  Kathmines  produced  the  revival 
of  an  old  Vote,  produced  also  a  new  special  Vote,  in  favor  of 
Lieutenant-General  Jones ; 1  which  new  Vote  ought  not  to  fall 
asleep  again,  as  the  old  one  had  done.  Thomas  Scott,  of  the 
Council  of  State,  whom  we  have  already  seen;  "peppery 
Thomas,"  is  not  yet  to  vanish  from  this  History.  Of  Broghil, 
"  Munster  Business,"  and  the  rest,  there  will  be  farther  notice 
in  next  Letter,  which  is  of  the  same  date  with  this. 

[For  the  Hon.  Thomas  Scott,  of  the  Council  of  State :  These.~\ 

"Koss,  14th  November,  1649. 

"  SIR,  —  I  hope  you  will  excuse  this  trouble.  I  understand 
the  House  did  vote  Lieutenant-General  Jones  five  hundred 
pounds  per  annum  of  lands  of  inheritance  from  Irish  Lands, 
upon  the  news  of  the  Defeat  given  to  the  Enemy  before 
Dublin,  immediately  before  my  coming  over.  I  think  it  will 
be  a  very  acceptable  work,  and  very  well  taken  at  your  hands, 
to  move  the  House  for  an  immediate  settlement  thereof:  it 
will  be  very  convenient  at  this  time. 

"  Another  thing  is  this.  The  Lord  Broghil  is  now  in  Mun- 
ster ;  where  he,  I  hope,  will  do  very  good  offices :  all  his  suit 
is  for  two  hundred  pounds  to  bring  his  Wife  over:  such  a 
sum  would  not  be  cast  away.  He  hath  a  great  interest  in  the 
men  that  come  from  Inchiquin.2  I  have  made  him  and  Sir 
William  Fenton,  Colonel  Blake,  and  Colonel  Deane,  — who  I  be- 
lieve, [at  least]  one  of  them,  will  be  frequently  in  Cork  Harbor 
making  that  a  victualling  place  for  the  Irish  Fleet,  instead 
of  Milford  Haven,  —  [I  have  made  them]  and  Colonel  Phayr, 
Commissioners  for  a  temporary  management  of  affairs  there. 

"  This   Business    of   Munster   will   empty   your   Treasury : 
therefore  you  have  need  to  hasten  our  money  allotted  us ;  lest 
you  put  us  to  stand  with  our  fingers  in  our  mouths  !     I  rest, 
"  Sir,  your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  8 

1  Antea,  p.  443. 

2  That  desert  to  ns  from  Lord  Inchiquin,  the  Ormond  Chief  in  Munster. 
8  Tauner  MSS.  (in  Gary,  ii.  188). 


1649.  LETTER  CXV.    ROSS.  489 

LETTER  CXV. 

THE  "  General  Blake  "  of  this  Letter,  "  Colonel  Blake  "  of 
the  last,  is  Admiral  Blake;  he,  with  Ayscough,  Deaue  and 
vigilant  Sea-officers,  co-operating  with  Oliver  on  land,  now 
dominates  these  waters.  Prince  Rupert,  with  the  residue  of 
the  Revolted  Ships,  is  lying  close,  for  shelter  from  him,  under 
the  guns  of  Kinsale ; —  verging,  poor  Prince,  to  a  fugitive 
roaming  sea-life,  very  like  Piracy  in  some  of  its  features.  He 
abandoned  it  as  desperate,  before  long.  Poor  Prince  Maurice, 
sea-roving  in  like  fashion,  went  to  the  bottom ;  sank,  in  the 
West  Indies,  mouse  and  man  ;  and  ended,  none  knows  exactly 
where,  when,  or  how.  Rupert  invented,  or  helped  to  invent, 
"  pinchbeck  "  in  subsequent  years,  and  did  no  other  service  to 
the  public  that  I  know  of. 

The  defection  of  Cork  and  Youghal,  full  of  English  influ- 
ences and  complex  distractions,  followed  naturally  on  Crom- 
well's successes.  In  Lady  Fanshawe's  Memoirs  is  a  vivid 
account  of  the  universal  hurly-burly  that  took  place  at  Cork, 
on  the  verge  of  this  occurrence  there:  tremulous  instant 
decision  what  you  will  do,  which  side  you  will  join;  swift 
packing  in  the  dead  of  night ;  swift  riding  off,  in  any  car- 
riage, cart  or  ass-cart  you  can  bargain  with  for  love  or  money  ! 
Poor  Lady  Fanshawe  got  to  Galway,  there  to  try  it  yet  a 
little  longer. 

"  For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of 
the  Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"  Ross,  14th  November,  1649. 

u  SIB,  —  About  a  fortnight  since,  I  had  some  good  assurance 
that  Cork  was  returned  to  its  obedience;  and  had  refused 
Inchiquin,  who  did  strongly  endeavor  to  redintegrate  himself 
there,  but  without  success.1  I  did  hear  also  that  Colonel 
Townsend  was  coming  to  me  with  their  submission  and  de- 
sires, but  was  interrupted  by  a  Fort  at  the  mouth  of  Corlc 
Harbor.  But  having  sufficient  grounds  upon  the  former  infor- 
mation, and  other  confirmation  out  of  the  Enemy's  camp  that 
i  See  Carte,  ii.  91. 


490  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN  IRELAND.  14  Nov. 

it  was  true,  I  desired  General  Blake,  who  was  here  with  ine, 
that  he  would  repair  thither  in  Captain  Mildinay's  Frigate, 
called  the  Nonsuch.  Who,  when  they  came  thither,  received 
such  entertainment  as  these  enclosed  will  let  you  see. 

"In  the  mean  time  the  Garland,  one  of  your  third-rate 
Ships,  coming  happily  into  Waterford  Bay,  I  ordered  her,  and 
a  great  Prize  lately  taken  in  that  Bay,  to  transport  Colonel 
Phayr 1  to  Cork ;  whitherward  he  went,  having  along  with  him 
near  five  hundred  foot,  which  I  spared  him  out  of  this  poor 
Army,  and  £1,500  in  money ;  giving  him  such  instructions 
as  were  proper  for  the  promoting  of  your  interest  there.  As 
they  went  with  an  intention  for  Cork,  it  pleased  God  the  wind 
coining  cross,  they  were  forced  to  ride  off  from  Dungarvan. 
Where  they  met  Captain  Mildmay  returning  with  the  Non- 
such Frigate,  with  Colonel  Townsend  aboard,  coining  to  me  ; 
who  advertised  them  that  Youghal  had  also  declared  for  the 
Parliament  of  England.  Whereupon  they  steered  their  course 
thither ;  and  sent  for  Colonel  Gifford,  Colonel  Warden,  Major 
Purden  (who  with  Colonel  Townsend  have  been  very  active 
instruments  for  the  return  both  of  Cork  and  Youghal  to  their 
obedience,  having  some  of  them  ventured  their  lives  twice  or 
thrice  to  effect  it),  and  the  Mayor  of  Youghal  aboard  them ; 
who,  accordingly,  immediately  came  and  made  tender  of  some 
propositions  to  be  offered  to  me.  But  my  Lord  Broghil  be- 
ing on  board  the  ship,  assuring  them  it  would  be  more  for 
their  honor  and  advantage  to  desire  no  conditions,  they  said 
they  would  submit.  Whereupon  my  Lord  Broghil,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Fenton,  and  Colonel  Phayr,  went  to  the  Town  ;  and  were 
received,  —  I  shall  give  you  my  Lord  BroghiFs  own  words,  — 
'  with  all  the  real  demonstrations  of  gladness  an  overjoyed  peo- 
ple were  capable  of.' 

"Not  long  after,  Colonel  Phayr  landed  his  foot.  And  by 
the  endeavors  of  the  noble  person2  afore  mentioned,  and  the 

1  He  of  the  King's  Death-Warrant. 

2  Lord  Broghil.     The  somewhat  romantic  story  of  Cromwell's  first  visit  to 
him,  and  chivalrous  conquest  of  him,  at  his  lodgings  in  London,  "  in  the  dusk 
of  the  evening,"  is  in  Collins's  Peerage  (London,  1741),  iv.  253;  and  in  man/ 
other  Books  ,  —  copied  from  Morrice's  Life  of  Orrery. 


1649.  LETTER  CXV.    ROSS.  491 

rest  of  the  gentlemen,  the  Garrison  is  put  in  good  order ;  and 
the  Munster  officers  and  soldiers  in  that  Garrison  in  a  way 
of  settlement.  Colonel  Phayr  intends,  as  I  hear,  to  leave  two 
hundred  men  there,  and  to  march  with  the  rest  overland  to 
Cork.  I  hear  by  Colonel  Townsend,  and  the  rest  of  the  gen- 
tlemen that  were  employed  to  me,  that  Baltimore,  Castle- 
haven,  Cappoquin,  and  some  other  places  of  hard  names,  are 
come  in,  —  I  wish  Foot  come  over  seasonably  to  man  them ; 
—  as  also  that  there  are  hopes  of  other  places. 

"  From  Sir  Charles  Coote,  Lord  President  of  Connaught,  I 
had  a  Letter,  about  three  or  four  days  since,  That  he  is  come 
over  the  Bann,  and  hath  taken  Coleraine  by  storm ;  and  that 
he  is  in  conjunction  with  Colonel  Venables,  —  who,  I  hear, 
hath  besieged  Carrickfergus ;  which  if  through  the  mercy  of 
God  it  be  taken,  I  know  nothing  considerable  in  the  North  of 
Ireland,  but  Charlemont,  that  is  not  in  your  hands. 

u  We  lie  with  the  Army  at  Ross ;  where  we  have  been  mak- 
ing a  bridge  over  the  Barrow,  and  [have]  hardly  yet  accom- 
plished [it]  as  we  could  wish.  The  Enemy  lies  upon  the  Nore, 
on  the  land  between  the  Barrow  and  it ;  having  gathered  to- 
gether all  the  force  they  can  get.  Owen  Roe's  men,  as  they 
report  them,  are  six  thousand  foot,  and  about  four  thousand 
horse,  beside  their  own  Army  [in  this  quarter]  ;  and  they  give 
out  they  will  have  a  day  for  it :  —  which  we  hope  the  Lord  of 
His  mercy  will  enable  us  to  give  them,  in  His  own  good  time. 
In  whom  we  desire  our  only  trust  and  confidence  may  be. 

"  Whilst  we  have  lain  here,  we  have  not  been  without 
some  sweet  taste  of  the  goodness  of  God.  Your  Ships  have 
taken  some  good  prizes.  The  last  was  thus  :  There  came  in 
a  Dunkirk  man-of-war  with  32  guns ;  who  brought  in  a  Turk- 
i  li  man-of-war  whom  she  had  taken,  and  another  ship  of 
10  guns  laden  with  poor-John  ;m<l  oil.  These  two  your  ships 
took.  But  the  man-of-war,  whose  prizes  these  two  were,  put 
herself  under  the  Fort  of  Dunraimwi.  so  that  your  ships 
could  not  come  near  her.  It  pleased  God  we  had  two  di- mi- 
cannon  with  the  foot,  on  the  shore  ;  which  being  planted,  raked 
her  through,  killing  and  wounding  her  men;  so  that  after 


492  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND. 

ten  shot  she  weighed  anchor,  and  ran  into  your  Fleet,  with 
a  flag  of  submission,  surrendering  herself.  She  was  well 
manned,  the  prisoners  taken  being  two  hundred  and  thirty.  — 
I  doubt  the  taking  prisoners  of  this  sort  will  cause  the  wicked 
trade  of  Piracy  to  be  endless.  They  were  landed  here  before 
I  was  aware :  and  a  hundred  of  them,  as  I  hear,  are  gotten 
into  Duncannon,  and  have  taken  up  arms  there ;  and  I  doubt 
the  rest,  that  are  gone  to  Waterford,  will  do  us  no  good.  The 
seamen,  being  so  full  of  prizes  and  unprovided  of  victual, 
knew  not  how  otherwise  to  dispose  of  them. 

"  Another  [mercy]  was  this.  We,  having  left  divers  sick  men, 
both  horse  and  foot,  at  Dublin,  —  hearing  many  of  them  were 
recovered,  sent  them  orders  to  march  up  to  us ;  which  accord- 
ingly they  did.  Coining  to  Arklow  on  Monday  the  first  of  this 
instant,  being  about  350  horse  and  about  800  foot, — the  Enemy, 
hearing  of  them  (through  the  great  advantage  they  have  in 
point  of  intelligence),  drew  together  a  body  of  horse  and  foot 
near  3,000,  which  Inchiquin  commanded.  There  went  also, 
with  this  party,  Sir  Thomas  Armstrong,  Colonel  Trevor,  and 
most  of  their  great  ranters.1  We  sent  fifteen  or  sixteen  troops 
to  their  rescue,  near  eight  hours  too  late.  It  pleased  God  we 
sent  them  word  by  a  nearer  way,  To  march  close,  and  be  cir- 
cumspect, and  to  make  what  haste  they  could  to  Wexford,  by 
the  sea-side.  They  had  marched  near  eighteen  miles,  and  were 
come  within  seven  miles  of  Wexford  (the  foot  being  miserably 
wearied),  when  the  Enemy  gave  the  scouts  of  the  rear-guard 
an  alarm.  Whereupon  they  immediately  drew  up  in  the  best 
order  they  could  upon  the  sands,  the  sea  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  rocks  on  the  other  ;  where  the  Enemy  made  a  very  furious 
charge :  [and]  overbearing  our  horse  with  their  numbers,  which, 
as  some  of  their  prisoners  confess,  were  fifteen  hundred  of 

1  Braggarts,  great  guns.  Trevor  had  given  Venables,  as  above  hinted,  a 
dangerous  camisado  in  the  North  lately ;  and  was  not  far  from  ruining  him, 
had  the  end  corresponded  with  the  beginning  (see  Carte,  ii.  89).  To  which 
Cromwell  alludes  by  and  by,  in  th;s  Letter.  Lord  Inchiquin,  a  man  of 
Royalist-Presbyterian  tendencies,  has  fonght  long,  on  various  sides.  The 
name  Armstrong  is  not  yet  much  of  a  "  ranter ; "  but  a  new  Sir  Thomas  will 
become  famous  under  Titus  Gates.  —  Ludlow  gives  a  curious  account  of  thia 
same  running-fight  on  the  sea-beach  of  Arklow  (i.  309). 


•- 


LITTI-     "•:       -.  — 


494  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN  IRELAND.  14  Nov. 

recruits  may  be  speeded  to  us.  It  is  not  fit  to  tell  you  how 
your  Garrisons  will  be  unsupplied,  and  no  Field  marching 
Army  considerable,  if  but  three  Garrisons  more  were  in  our 
hands.1  It  is  not  well  not  to  follow  providences.2  Your  re- 
cruits, and  the  forces  desired,  wiL  not  raise  your  charge,  if 
your  assignments  already  for  the -forces  here  do  come  to  our 
hands  in  time.  I  should  not  doubt  [but],  by  the  addition  of 
assessments  here,  to  have  your  charge  in  some  reasonable 
measure  borne ;  and  the  soldier  upheld,  without  too  much  neg- 
lect or  discouragement,  —  which  sickness,  in  this  country  so  ill 
agreeing  with  their  bodies,  puts  upon  them  ;  and  [which]  this 
Winter's-action,  I  believe  not  heretofore  known  by  English 
in  this  country,  subjects  them  to.  To  the  praise  of  God  I 
speak  it,  I  scarce  know  one  Officer  of  forty  amongst  us  that 
hath  not  been  sick.  And  how  many  considerable  ones  we 
have  lost,  is  no  little  thought  of  heart  to  us.3 

"Wherefore  I  humbly  beg,  that  the  moneys  desired  may 
be  seasonably  sent  over ;  and  those  other  necessaries,  clothes, 
shoes  and  stockings,  formerly  desired ;  that  so  poor  creatures 
may  be  encouraged :  and,  through  the  same  blessed  Presence 
that  has  gone  along  with  us,  I  hope,  before  it  be  long,  to  see 
Ireland  no  burden  to  England,  but  a  profitable  part  of  its 
Commonwealth.  And  certainly  the  extending  your  help  in 
this  way,  at  this  time,  is  the  most  profitable  means  speedily 
to  effect  it.  And  if  I  did  riot  think  it  your  best  thrift,  I  would 
not  trouble  you  at  all  with  it. 

"I  have  sent  Sir  Arthur  Loftus  with  these  Letters.  He 
hath  gone  along  with  us,  testifying  a  great  deal  of  love  to 
your  service.  I  know  his  sufferings  are  very  great;  for  he 
hath  lost  near  all :  his  Regiment  was  reduced  to  save  your 
charge,  not  out  of  any  exceptions  to  his  person.  I  humbly 
therefore  present  him  to  your  consideration.4 

"  Craving  pardon  for  this  trouble,  I  rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  and  faithful  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  6 

1  Sentence  omitted  in  the  Newspaper. 

2  Reckonings  of  Providence.         8  Sentence  omitted  in  the  Newr-paper. 

4  Paragraph  omitted. 

5  Newspapers  (in  Cromwdliana,  pp,  69-71);  Tanner  MSS.  (iu  Carjr,  ii. 
189-197). 


1040.  LETTER  CXVI.    BEFORE  WATKHFORD.  495 


LETTER  CXVI. 

Commons  Journals,  12°  Decembris,  1649:  "A  Letter  from 
the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  was  this  day  read.  Ordered, 
That  the  said  Letter  be  forthwith  printed  and  published;"  — 
Lord  Mayor  to  be  sure  and  send  it  to  all  the  Ministers  next 
Lord's-day,  who  are  to  be,  as  they  best  may,  the  voice  of 
our  devout  thankfulness  for  "  these  great  mercies."  Here  is 
the  Letter  still  extant  for  posterity,  —  with  or  without  the 
thankfulness. 

We  cannot  give  the  exact  day  of  date.  The  Letter  exists, 
separate,  or  combined  with  other  matter,  in  various  old  Pam- 
phlets ;  but  is  nowhere  dated ;  and  in  fact,  as  the  Entry  in 
the  Commons  Journals  may  indicate,  was  never  dated  either 
as  to  place  or  time.  The  place  we  learn  by  the  context :  the 
time  was  after  Saturday,  November  24th,1  and  before  De- 
cember had  yet  begun  ;  —  probably  enough,  Sunday,  Novem- 
ber 2oth. 

u  for  the  Honorable   William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of 
the  Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"[BEFORE  WATERFORD, —  Nov.  1649.] 

u  MB,  SPEAKER,  —  The  Enemy  being  quartered  between  the 
two  rivers  of  Nore  and  Barrow,  and  masters  of  all  the  pas- 
sages thereupon ;  and  giving  out  their  resolutions  to  fight  us, 
thereby,  as  we  conceived,  laboring  to  get  reputation  in  the 
countries,  and  occasion  more  strength, — it  was  thought  fit 
our  Army  should  march  towards  them.  Which  accordingly, 
upon  Thursday,  the  15th  instant,  was  done.  The  Major- 
General  and  Lieutenant-General8  (leaving  me  very  sick  at 
Ross  behind  them),  with  two  battering  guns,  advanced  to- 
wards Inistioge;  a  little  walled  Town  about  five  miles  from 
Ross,  upon  the  Nore,  on  the  south  side  thereof,  which  was 
possessed  by  the  Enemy.  But  a  party  of  our  men  under  the 

1  See  poetea,  p.  497  ;  and  Wbitlooke,  2d  edition,  p.  433. 

2  Iretuu  ami  Junes. 


496  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.          November, 

command  of  Colonel  Abbot,  the  night  before,  approaching  the 
gates,  and  attempting  to  fire  the  same,  the  Enemy  ran  away 
through  the  River,  leaving  good  store  of  provisions  behind 
them. 

"Our  Commanders  hoped  by  gaining  this  Town  to  have 
gained  a  pass.1  But  indeed  there  fell  so  much  sudden  wet  as 
made  the  River  unpassable  by  that  time  the  Army  was  come 
up.  Whereupon,  hearing  that  the  Enemy  lay  about  two  miles 
off  upon  the  River,  near  Thomastown,  a  pretty  large  walled 
Town  upon  the  Nore,  on  the  north  side  thereof,  having  a 
bridge  over  the  River,  — our  Army  marched  thither.  But  the 
Enemy  had  broken  the  bridge,  and  garrisoned  the  Town ;  and 
in  the  view  of  our  Army  marched  away  to  Kilkenny,  —  seem- 
ing, though  I  believe  they  were  double  our  number,  to  decline 
an  engagement.  Which  they  had  the  power  to  have  necessi- 
tated us  unto;  but  [which  it]  was  noways  in  our  power,  if 
they  would  stand  upon  the  advantage  of  the  Passes,  to  engage 
them  unto ;  —  nor  indeed  [was  it  in  our  power]  to  continue 
out  two  days  longer,  having  almost  spent  all  the  bread  they  * 
carried  with  them. 

"  Whereupon,  seeking  God  for  direction,  they  resolved  to 
send  a  good  party  of  horse  and  dragoons  under  Colonel  Rey- 
nolds to  Carrick ;  and  to  march  the  residue  of  the  Army  back 
towards  Ross,  —  to  gain  more  bread  for  the  prosecution  of  that 
design,  if,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  it  should  take.  Colonel 
Reynolds,  marching  with  twelve  troops  of  horse,  and  three 
troops  of  dragoons,  came  betimes  in  the  morning  to  Carrick. 
Where,  dividing  himself  into  two  parties,  —  whilst  they  were 
amused  with  the  one,  he  entered  one  of  the  Gates  with  the 
other.  Which  their  soldiers  perceiving,  divers  of  them  and 
their  officers  escaped  over  the  River  in  boats  :  about  an  hun- 
dred officers  and  soldiers  [were]  taken  prisoners,  without  the 
loss  of  one  man  on  our  part.  In  this  place  is  a  very  good 
Castle,  and  one  of  the  ancieutest  seats  belonging  to  the  Lord 
of  Ormond,  in  Ireland :  the  same  was  rendered  without  any 

1  A  ford  over  the  River. 

2  "  they  "  and  "  them  "  mean  we  and  MS  :  the  swift-rnshing  sentence  here 
alters  its  personality  from  first  person  to  third,  and  so  goes  on. 


1849.  LETTER  CXVI.    BEFORE   WATERFORD.  407 

loss  also,  where  were  good  store  of  provisions  for  the  refresh- 
ing of  our  men. 

"  The  Colonel  giving  us  speedy  intelligence  of  God's  mercy 
in  this,  we  agreed  to  march,  with  all  convenient  speed,  the 
residue  of  the  Army  up  thither.  Which  accordingly  was  done 
upon  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  the  21st  and  22d  of  this 
instant ;  and,  through  God's  mercy,  I  was  enabled  to  bear  them 
company.  Being  come  hither,  we  did  look  at  it  as  an  especial 
good  hand  of  Providence  to  give  us  this  place ;  inasmuch  as 
it  gives  us  a  passage  over  the  River  Suir  to  the  City  of  Water- 
ford,  and  indeed  into  Munster  to  our  shipping  and  provisions, 
which  before  were  beaten  from  us  out  of  Waterford  Bay  by 
the  Enemy's  guns.  It  hath  given  us  also  opportunity  to  be- 
siege or  block  up  Waterford ;  and  we  hope  our  gracious  God 
will  therein  direct  us  also.  It  hath  given  us  also  the  op- 
portunity of  our  guns,  ammunition  and  victual ;  and  indeed 
quarter  for  our  horse,  which  could  not  have  subsisted  much 
longer :  so  sweet  a  mercy  was  the  giving  of  this  little  place 
unto  us. 

"  Having  rested  there  a  night,  and  by  noon  of  the  next  day 
gotten  our  Army  over  the  River ;  —  leaving  Colonel  Reynolds 
with  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  foot,  his  own  six  troops  of 
horse,  and  one  troop  of  dragoons,  with  a  very  little  ammuni- 
tion according  to  the  smallness  of  our  marching  store ;  —  we 
marched  away  towards  Waterford,  upon  Friday,  the  23d ;  and 
on  Saturday  about  noon  came  before  the  City.  The  Enemy, 
being  not  a  little  troubled  at  this  unsuspected  business  (which 
indeed  was  the  mere  guidance  of  God),  marched  down  with 
great  fury  towards  Carrick  with  their  whole  Army,  resolving 
to  swallow  it  up ;  and  upon  Saturday,  the  24th,  assault  the 
place  round,  thinking  to  take  it  by  storm.  But  God  had 
otherwise  determined.  For  the  troopers  and  the  rest  of  the 
soldiers  with  stones  l  did  so  pelt  them,  they  [were  forced  to 
draw  off ;  after]  continuing  near  four  hours  under  the  walls ; 
r]  having  burnt  the  Gates,  which  our  men  barricaded  up 
with  stones ;  and  likewise  [having]  digged  under  the  walls, 

1  Having  only  "  a  very  little  ammunitiou  "  and  small  uae  of  guns  (see 
Whitl  ;.  |..  418;  Ludlow,  &c.). 

TOI.    wii.  £| 


498  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.          November, 

and  sprung  a  small  mine,  which  flew  in  their  own  faces.  But 
they  left  about  forty  or  fifty  men  dead  under  the  Walls  ;  and 
have  drawn  off,  as  some  say,  near  four  hundred  more,  which 
they  buried  up  and  down  the  fields ;  besides  what  are  wounded. 
And,  as  Inchiquin  himself  confessed  in  the  hearing  of  some 
of  their  soldiers  lately  come  to  us,  [this]  hath  lost  him  above 
a  thousand  men.  —  The  Enemy  was  drawing  off  his  dead  a 
good  part  of  the  night.  They  were  in  such  haste  upon  the 
assault,  that  they  killed  their  own  trumpeter  as  he  was  return- 
ing with  an  Answer  to  the  Summons  sent  by  them.  Both  in 
the  taking  and  defending  of  this  place  Colonel  Keynolds  his 
carriage  was  such  as  deserves  much  honor.1 

"Upon  our  coming  before  Waterford,2  I  sent  the  Lieutenant- 
General  wjth  a  regiment  of  horse,  and  three  troops  of  dragoons, 
to  endeavor  the  reducing  of  the  Passage  Fort :  a  very  large 
Fort  with  a  Castle  in  the  midst  of  it,  having  five  guns  planted 
in  it,  and  commanding  the  River  better  than  Duncannon ;  it 
not  being  much  above  musket-shot  over,  where  this  Fort  stands ; 
and  we  can  bring  up  hither  ships  of  three  hundred  tons,  with- 
out any  danger  from  Duncannon.  Upon  the  attempt,  though 
our  materials  were  not  very  apt  for  the  business,  yet  the  Enemy 
called  for  quarter, — and  had  it,  and  we  the  place.  We  also 
possessed  the  guns  which  the  Enemy  had  planted  to  beat  our 
ships  out  of  the  Bay,  two  miles  below.  By  the  taking  of  this 
Fort  we  shall  much  straiten  Duncannon  from  provisions  by 
water,  as  we  hope  they  are  not  in  a  condition  to  get  much  by 
land ;  besides  the  advantage  it  is  to  us  to  have  provisions  to 
come  up  the  River. 

"  It  hath  pleased  the  Lord,  whilst  these  things  have  been 
thus  transacting  here,  to  add  to  your  interest  in  Munster,  Ban- 
don  Bridge  ;  the  Town,  as  we  hear,  upon  the  matter,  thrusting 
out  young  Jephson,8  who  was  their  Governor ;  or  else  he  de- 

1  We  shall  hear  of  Reynolds  again. 

2  Letters  to  and  from  the  Mayor  of  Waterford  on  this  occasion    Appendix, 
No.  15. 

1  "  Young  Jephson,"  I  suppose,  is  the  son  of  Jephson,  Member  for  Stock- 
bridge,  Hants ;  one  of  those  whom  Pride  purged  away  ;  —  not  without  reason, 
as  is  here  seen. 


1649.  LETTER  CXVI.    BEFORE    WATERFORD.          499 

sorting  it  upon  that  jealousy.  As  also  Kinsale,  and  the  Fort 
there:  —  out  of  which  Fort  four  hundred  men  marched  upon 
articles,  when  it  was  surrendered.  So  that  now,  by  the  good 
hand  of  the  Lord,  your  interest  in  Munster  is  near  as  good 
already  as  ever  it  was  since  this  War  began.  I  sent  a  party 
about  two  days  ago  to  my  Lord  of  Broghil ;  from  whom  I  ex- 
pect to  have  an  account  of  all. 

"  Sir,  what  can  be  said  in  these  things  ?  Is  it  an  arm  of 
flesh  that  hath  done  these  things?  Is  it  the  wisdom  and 
counsel,  or  strength  of  men  ?  It  is  the  Lord  only.  God  will 
curse  that  man  and  his  house  that  dares  to  think  otherwise  ! 
Sir,  you  see  the  work  is  done  by  a  Divine  leading.  God  gets 
into  the  hearts  of  men,  and  persuades  them  to  come  under  you. 
I  tell  you,  a  considerable  part  of  your  Army  is  fitter  for  an 
hospital  than  the  field  :  if  the  Enemy  did  not  know  it,  I  should 
have  held  it  impolitic  to  have  writ  this.  They  know  it ;  yet 
they  know  not  what  to  do. 

"  I  humbly  beg  leave  to  offer  a  word  or  two.  I  beg  of  those 
that  are  faithful,  that  they  give  glory  to  God.  I  wish  it  may 
have  influence  upon  the  hearts  and  spirits  of  all  those  that  are 
now  in  place  of  Government,  in  the  greatest  trust,  —  that  they 
may  all  in  heart  draw  near  to  God ;  giving  Him  glory  by  holi- 
ness of  life  and  conversation ;  [and]  that  these  unspeakable 
mercies  may  teach  dissenting  brethren  on  all  sides  to  agree,  at 
least,  in  praising  God.  And  if  the  Father  of  the  family  be  so 
kind,  why  should  there  be  such  jarrings  and  heart  burnings 
amongst  flu-  children?  And  if  it  will  not  be  received  That 
these  are  the  seals  of  God's  approbation  of  your  great  Change 
of  (iovi-rnment,  —  which  indeed  are  no  more  yours  than  these 
victories  and  successes  are  ours,  —  yet  let  them  with  us  say. 
even  the  most  unsatisfied  heart  amongst  them,  That  both  are 
the  righteous  judgments  and  mighty  works  of  God.  That  Ho 
hath  pulled  the  mighty  from  his  scat,  and  calls  to  an  account 
f  for]  innocent  blood.  That  He.  thus  breaks  the  enemies  of  His 
Clnirch  in  pieces.  And  let  them  not  be  sullen,  but  praise  the 
Lonl,  — and  think  of  us  as  they  please ;  and  we  shall  be  satis- 
firtl,  aii'l  ]>ny  for  them,  and  wait  upon  our  God.  And  we  hope 
hall  seek  the  welfare  and  peace  of  our  nutiv<  Country  .  ami 


500  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND 

the  Lord  give  them  hearts  to  do  so  too.  Indeed,  Sir,  I  was 
constrained  in  my  bowels  to  write  thus  much.  I  ask  your 
pardon ;  and  rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

An  Able-Editor  in  the  old  Newspapers  has  been  inexpres- 
sibly favored  with  the  sight  of  a  Letter  to  "  an  Honorable 
Member  of  the  Council  of  State;"  Letter  dated  "Cork,  18th 
December,  1649 ;  "  wherein  this  is  what  we  still  read  :  "  Yes- 
terday my  Lord  Lieutenant  came,  from  Youghal  the  head- 
quarter, unto  Cork ;  my  Lord  Broghil,  Sir  William  Fenton, 
and  divers  other  Gentlemen  and  Commanders  attending  his 
Excellency.  Who  hath  received  here  very  hearty  and  noble 
entertainment.  To-morrow  the  Major-General "  Ireton  "  is  ex- 
pected here :  —  both  in  good  health,  God  be  praised.  This 
week,  I  believe,  they  will  visit  Kinsale,  Bandon  Bridge,  and 
other  places  in  this  Province  that  have  lately  declared  for  us, 
and  that  expect  a  return  of  his  affection  and  presence,  which 
joys  many.  Some  report  here  that  the  Enemy  burns  towns 
and  provisions  near  our  quarters :  but  the  example  may  at 
length  turn  to  their  own  greatest  prejudice.  Colonel  Dearie 
and  Colonel  Blake,  our  Sea-Generals,  are  both  riding  in  Cork 
Harbor."2 

Dated  on  the  morrow  is  this  Letter :  — 


LETTER   CXVH. 

"  For  the  Honorable  William  Lentholl,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"CORK,  19th  December,  1649. 

"  MR.  SPEAKER,  —  Not  long  after  my  last  to  you  from  before 
Waterford,  —  by  reason  of  the  tempestuousness  of  the  weather, 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  pp.  71-73).  2  Ibid.  p.  7^ 


1M9. 


LETTER  CXVIT.    CORK.  501 


we  thought  fit,  and  it  was  agreed,  To  march  away  to  Winter- 
quarters,  to  refresh  our  men  until  God  shall  please  to  give 
farther  opportunity  for  action. 

"  We  marched  off,  the  2d  of  this  instant ;  it  being  so  terrible 
a  day  as  over  I  marched  in  all  my  life.  Just  as  we  marched 
off  in  the  morning,  —  unexpected  to  us,  the  Enemy  had  brought 
an  addition  of  near  two  thousand  horse  and  foot  to  the  increase 
of  their  Garrison  :  which  we  plainly  saw  at  the  other  side  of 
the  water.  We  marched  that  night  some  ten  or  twelve  miles 
through  a  craggy  country,  to  Kilmac  Thomas ;  a  Castle  some 
eight  miles  from  Dungarvan.  As  we  were  marching  off  in  the 
morning  from  thence,  the  Lord  Broghil  —  I  having  sent  before 
to  him  to  march  up  to  me  —  sent  a  party  of  horse,  to  let  me 
know,  He  was,  with  about  twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  of  the 
Munster  horse  and  foot,  about  ten  miles  off,  near  Dungarvan, 
which  was  newly  rendered  to  him. 

"  In  the  midst  of  these  good  successes,  wherein  the  kindness 
and  mercy  of  God  hath  appeared,  the  Lord,  in  wisdom,  and 
for  gracious  ends  best  known  to  Himself,  hath  interlaced  some 
things  which  may  give  us  cause  of  serious  consideration  what 
His  mind  therein  may  be.  And  we  hope  we  wait  upon  Him, 
desiring  to  know,  and  to  submit  to  His  good  pleasure.  The 
noble  Lieutenant-General,1  —  whose  finger,  to  our  knowledge, 
never  ached  in  all  these  expeditions,  —  fell  sick ;  we  doubt, 
upon  a  cold  taken  upon  our  late  wet  march  and  ill  accommo- 
dation :  and  went  to  Dungarvan,  where,  struggling  some  four 
or  five  days  with  a  fever,  he  died ;  having  run  his  course  with 
BO  much  honor,  courage  and  fidelity,  as  his  actions  better  speak 
than  my  pen.  What  England  lost  hereby,  is  above  me  to 
.s]«':ik.  I  am  sure,  I  lost  a  noble  friend,  and  companion  in 
l:tlx>rs.  You  see  how  God  mingles  out  the  cup  unto  us.  In- 
deed we  are  at  this  time  a  crazy  company ;  —  yet  we  live  in 
His  sight;  and  shall  work  the  time  that  is  appointed  us,  and 
Khali  rest  after  that  in  peace.3 

"  But  yet  there  hath  been  some  sweet  at  the  bottom  of  the 
cup;  —  of  which  I  shall  now  give  you  an  account.  Being 

1  Michael  Jones:  Lndlow  (i.  304)  in  a  little  misinformed. 
*  Ye*,  my  brave  ouc;  evnn  so! 


502  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  19  Dec. 

informed  that  the  Enemy  intended  to  take  in  the  Fort  of  Pas- 
sage, and  that  Lieutenant-General  Ferral  with  his  Ulsters 1  was 
to  march  out  of  Waterford,  with  a  considerable  party  of  horse 
and  foot,  for  that  service,  —  I  ordered  Colonel  Zanchy,  who 
lay  on  the  north  side  of  the  Blackwater,  To  march  with  his 
regiment  of  horse,  and  two  pieces  of  two  troops  of  dragoons 
to  the  relief  of  our  friends.  Which  he  accordingly  did ;  his 
party  consisting  in  all  of  about  three  hundred  and  twenty. 
When  he  came  some  few  miles  from  the  place,  he  took  some 
of  the  Enemy's  stragglers  in  the  villages  as  he  went ;  all  which 
he  pnt  to  the  sword  :  seven  troopers  of  his  killed  thirty  of 
them  in  one  house.  When  he  came  near  the  place,  he  found 
the  Enemy  had  close  begirt  it,  with  about  five  hundred  Ulster 
foot  under  Major  O'Neil ;  Colonel  Wogan  also,  the  Governor 
of  Duncannon,  with  a  party  of  his,  with  two  great  battering 
guns  and  a  mortar-piece,  and  Captain  Browne,  the  Governor  of 
Ballihac,  were  there.  Our  men  furiously  charged  them ;  and 
beat  them  from  the  place.  The  Enemy  got  into  a  place  where 
they  might  draw  up ;  and  the  Ulsters,  who  bragged  much  of 
their  pikes,  made  indeed  for  the  time  a  good  resistance :  but 
the  horse,  pressing  sorely  upon  them,  broke  them  ;  killed  near 
an  hundred  upon  the  place ;  took  three  hundred  and  fifty  pris- 
oners, —  amongst  whom,  Major  O'Neil,  and  the  Officers  of 
five  hundred  Ulster  foot,  all  but  those  which  were  killed ;  the 
renegade  Wogan,  with  twenty-four  of  Ormond's  kurisees,  and 
the  Governor  of  Ballihac,  &c.  Concerning  some  of  these,  I 
hope  I  shall  not  trouble  your  justice. 

"  This  mercy  was  obtained  without  the  loss  of  one  on  our 
part,  only  one  shot  in  the  shoulder.  Lieutenant-General  Ferral 
was  come  up  very  near,  with  a  great  party  to  their  relief ;  but 
our  handful  of  men  marching  toward  him,  he  shamefully  hasted 
away,  and  recovered  Waterford.  It  is  not  unworthy  taking 
notice,  That  having  appointed  a  Day  of  public  Thanksgiving 
throughout  our  territories  in  Ireland,  as  well  as  a  week's  warn- 
ing would  permit,  for  the  recovery  of  Munster,  — which  proves 
a  sweet  refreshment  to  us,  even  prepared  by  God  for  us,  after 
our  weary  and  hard  labor,  —  That  that  very  day,  and  that 

1  Ulster-men. 


1M».  LETTER  CXVII.    CORK.  503 

very  time,  while  men  were  praising  God,  was  this  deliverance 
wrought 

"  Though  the  present  state  of  affairs  bespeaks  a  continuance 
of  charge,  yet  the  same  good  hand  of  Providence,  which  hath 
blessed  your  affairs  hitherto,  is  worthy  to  be  followed  to  the 
uttermost.  And  who  knows,  or  rather  who  hath  not  cause  to 
hope,  that  He  may,  in  His  goodness,  put  a  short  period  to 
your  whole  charge  ?  Than  which  no  worldly  thing  is  more 
desired  and  endeavored  by 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CBOMWELL."* 

Ormond  witnessed  this  defeat  at  Passage,  from  some  steeple, 
or  "  place  of  prospect "  in  Waterford ;  and  found  the  "  Mayor," 
whom  he  sent  for,  a  most  unreasonable  man.8 

"  The  renegade  Wogan :  "  Captain  Wogan,  once  in  the  Par- 
liament service,  joined  himself  to  Hamilton  and  the  Scots  in 
1648 ;  u  bringing  a  gallant  troop  along  with  him."  His  ma- 
raudings, pickeerings,  onslaughts,  and  daring  chivalries  became 
very  celebrated  after  that.  He  was  not  slain  or  hanged  here 
at  Passage ;  *  there  remained  for  him  yet,  some  four  years 
hence,  his  grand  feat  which  has  rendered  all  the  rest  memora- 
ble :  "  that  of  riding  right  through  England,  having  rendez- 
voused at  Barnet,  with  a  Party  of  two  hundred  horse,"  to  join 
Middleton's  new  Scotch  Insurrection  in  the  Highland  Hills ; 
where  he,  soon  after,  died  of  consumption  and  some  slight 
hurt.4  —  What  "  kurisees  "  are,  I  do  not  know ;  may  be  cuiras- 
siers,  in  popular  locution :  some  nickname  for  Ormond's  men, 
—  whom  few  loved  ;  whom  the  Mayor  of  Waterford,  this  very 
day,  would  not  admit  into  his  Town  even  for  the  saving  of 
Passage  Fort.5  With  certain  of  these  "your  justice"  need 
not  be  troubled. 

1  Newspapers  (in  CromwtUiana,  pp.  73,  74). 

•  Carte,  ii.  103 ;  whose  account  is  otherwise  very  defi;-i"nt. 

•  Appendix,  No.  16. 

«  Clarendon,  iii.  G7»,  Wuitlucke,  Ueath'i  Chronicle,  Ac. 

•  C«rt«,  ii.  103. 


504  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN    IN    IRELAND.  19  Dec. 

This  Letter,  with  two  others,  one  from  Ireton  and-one  from 
Broghil,  all  dated  Cork,  19th  December,  were  not  received  in 
the  Commons  House  till  Tuesday,  8th  January ;  such  were 
then  the  delays  of  the  winter  post.  On  which  same  day  it  is 
resolved,  That  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  be  desired 
to  come  over,  and  give  his  attendance  here  in  Parliament.1 
Speaker  is  ordered  to  write  him  a  Letter  to  that  effect. 

"The  ground  of  this  resolution,"  says  Whitlocke,  "was 
That  the  news  of  the  King's  coming  to  Scotland  became  more 
probable  than  formerly."  Laird  Winram's  dealings  with  him, 
and  Cromwell's  successes,  and  the  call  of  Necessity,  are  prov- 
ing effectual !  "  And,"  continues  Whitlocke,  "  the  proceedings 
of  the  Scots  in  raising  of  new  forces  gave  an  alarm  to  the  Par- 
liament :  and  some  of  their  Members  who  had  discoursed  with 
the  Lord  General  Fairfax  upon  thoae  matters,  and  argued  how 
necessary  it  would  be  to  send  an  Ajmy  into  Scotland  to  divert 
the  war  from  England,  —  had  found  the  General  wholly  averse 
to  any  such  thing;  and,  by  means  of  his  Lady,  who  was  a 
strict  Presbyterian,  to  be  more  a  friend  to  the  Scots  than 
they,"  those  Members,  "  wished.  Therefore  they  thought  this 
a  fit  time  to  send  for  the  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  the  rather  as 
his  Army  was  now  drawn  into  winter-quarters."  2 

The  Lord  Lieutenant  thought,  or  was  supposed  to  think,  of 
complying  straightway,  as  the  old  Newspapers  instruct  us ; 
but  on  better  counsel,  the  Scotch  peril  not  being  very  immi- 
nent as  yet,  decided  "  to  settle  Ireland  in  a  safe  posture "  first. 
Indeed,  the  Letter  itself  is  long  in  reaching  him  ;  and  the 
rumor  of  it,  which  arrives  much  sooner,  has  already  set  the 
Enemy  on  false  schemes,  whereof  advantage  might  be  taken.8 

Meanwhile,  in  Munster,  in  Ireland  generally,  there  is  much 
to  be  done,  on  the  great  scale  and  on  the  small.  Some  days 
before  the  last  Letter  gets  into  the  Speaker's  hands,  here  is 
another,  a  private  one,  travelling  towards  Philip  Lord  Wharton, 
whom  we  transiently  saluted  last  year  at  Knaresborough.4 

1  Commons  Journals,  vi.  343, 344.  a  Whitlocke,  p.  422. 

8  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  77). 

1  Appendix,  No.  17 :  Letter,  of  31st  December,  recommending  a  Chief 
Justice  for  Minister. 


1849.  LtiTTEJi  CXV11I.    CUKK.  605 

LETTER  CXVIIL 

LORD  WHARTON,  when  we  last  saw  him,  was  of  the  Derby- 
House  Committee,  a  busy  man  and  manager;  but  he  is  not 
now  of  the  Council  of  State  ;  having  withdrawn  from  all  man- 
agement, into  a  painful  inquiring  condition.  One  of  our  zeal- 
ous Puritans  and  Patriots,  but  much  troubled  with  cautious 
dubitatious ;  involved  in  "reasonings,"  in  painful  labyrinths 
of  constitutional  and  other  logic,  for  the  present.  Of  which 
sort  there  are  now  many.  Who  indignantly  drew  the  sword, 
and  long  zealously  fought  and  smote  with  it,  nothing  doubting ; 
and  are  now  somewhat  astonished  at  the  issue  that  has  come 
of  it !  Somewhat  uncertain  whether  these  late  high  actings, 
executing  judgment  on  your  King,  abolition  of  your  House  of 
Lords,  and  so  forth,  are  owned  by  the  Eternal  Powers  or  not 
owned.  Of  Temporal  Powers  there  is  clearly  none  that  will 
own  them ;  and  unless  the  other  do  —  ?  The  Lord  Lieutenant 
intimates,  in  his  friendliest  way,  that  surely  it  is  indispensable 
to  have  "  satisfaction  "  on  that  score  ;  also  that  it  is  perilous 
not  to  get  it ;  and  furthermore  that  labyrinths  of  constitutional 
and  other  logic  are  by  no  means  the  course  towards  that 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  Wharton :  These. 

"  CORK,  1st  Jan.  1649. 

"Mr  DEAR  FRIEND,  MY  LORD,  —  If  I  know  my  heart,  I  love 
you  in  truth  :  and  therefore  if,  from  the  jealousy  of  unfeigned 
love,  I  play  the  fool  a  little,  and  say  a  word  or  two  at  guess,  I 
know  you  will  pardon  it. 

"It  were  a  vain  thing,  by  Letter,  to  dispute  over  your 
doubts,  or  undertake  to  answer  your  objections.  I  have  heard 
them  all ;  and  /  have  rest  from  the  trouble  of  them,  and  [of] 
what  has  risen  in  my  own  heart;  for  which  I  desire  to  be 
humbly  thankful.  I  do  not  condemn  your  reasonings ;  I  doubt 
them.  It  'a  easy  to  object  to  the  glorious  Actings  of  God,  if 
we  look  too  much  upon  Instruments  !  I  have  heard  compu- 
tations wade  uf  the  Members  in  Parliament :  'The  good  kcj.t 


506  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  Uan. 

out,  the  worst  left  in,' l  &c. :  —  it  has  been  so  these  nine  years : 
yet  what  hath  God  wrought  ?  The  greatest  works  last ;  and 
still  is  at  work  !  Therefore  take  heed  of  this  scandal. 

"  Be  not  offended  at  the  manner  [of  God's  working] ;  per- 
haps no  other  way  was  left.  What  if  God  accepted  their  zeal, 
[even]  as  He  did  that  of  Phinehas,2  whom  reason  might  have 
called  before  a  jury !  What  if  the  Lord  have  witnessed  His 
approbation  and  acceptance  to  this  [zeal]  also,  —  not  only  by 
signal  outward  acts,  but  to  the  heart  [of  good  men]  too  ? 
What  if  I  fear,  my  Friend  should  withdraw  his  shoulder  from 
the  Lord's  work,  —  Oh,  it  }s  grievous  to  do  so  !  —  through 
scandals,  through  false  mistaken  reasonings  —  ? 

" '  There 's  difficulty,  there 's  trouble  ;  here,  in  the  other 
way,  there 's  safety,  ease,  wisdom :  in  the  one  no  clearness/ 
—  this  is  an  objection  indeed,  — { in  the  other  satisfaction.' 
— '  Satisfaction  : ;  it 's  well  if  we  thought  of  that  first,  and 
[as]  severed  from  the  other  considerations,8  which  do  often 
bias,  if  not  bribe  the  mind.  Whereby  miste  are  often  raised 
in  the  way  we  should  walk  in,  and  we  call  it  darkness  or 
( dissatisfaction  : '  Oh,  our  deceitful  hearts  !  Oh,  this  flatter- 
ing world !  How  great  is  it  to  be  the  Lord's  servant  in  any 
drudgery 4  —  (I  thought  not  to  have  written  near  [so  far 
as]  the  other  side :  love  will  not  let  me  alone ;  I  have  been 
often  provoked  [to  it  by  you])  —  in  all  hazards  His  worst 
is  far  above  the  world's  best !  He  makes  us  able,  in  truth, 
to  say  so;  we  cannot  of  ourselves.  How  hard  a  thing  is  it 
to  reason  ourselves  up  to  the  Lord's  service,  though  it  be  so 

1  Original  has  "  most  bad  remaining : "  "  these  nine  years "  means,  ever 
since  the  Parliament  first  met. 

2  "  And  behold,  one  of  the  Children  of  Israel  came,  and  brought  unto  his 
brethren  a  Midianitish  woman ;  in  the  sight  of  Moses,  and  in  the  sight  of  all 
the  Congregation  of  the  Children  of  Israel,  who  were  weeping  before  the 
door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation,"  —  by  reason  of  those  very  sins. 
"  And  when  Phinehas  the  son  of  Eleazar,  the  son  of  Aaron  the  Priest,  saw  it, 
he  rose  up  from  among  the  Congregation,  and  took  a  javelin  in  his  hand ; 
and  he  went  after  the  man  of  Israel  into  the  tent,  and  thrust  both  of  them 
through,  the  man  of  Israel  and  the  woman,  through   the   belly.     So  the 
plague  was  stayed  from  the  Children  of  Israel."     (Numbers,  xxv.  6-8.) 

*  of  "  safety,"  profit,  &c.  *  Turns  the  leaf,  we  perceive. 


1650.  LETTER  CXVIIL    CORK.  507 

honorable;  how  easy  to  put  ourselves  out  there,  where  the 
flesh  has  so  many  advantages !  — 

"  You  were  desired  to  go  along  with  us :  I  wish  it  still.1 
Yet  we  are  not  triumphing ;  —  we  may,  for  aught  flesh 
knoweth,  suffer  after  all  this :  the  Lord  prepare  us  for  His 
good  pleasure !  You  were  with  us  in  the  Power  of  things  : 
why  not  in  the  Form  ?  I  am  persuaded  your  heart  hankers 
after  the  hearts  of  your  poor  Friends ;  and  will,  until  you 
can  find  others  to  close  with :  which  I  trust,  though  we  in 
ourselves  be  contemptible,  God  will  not  let  you  do ! 

"  My  service  to  the  dear  little  Lady  :  I  wish  you  make  her 
not  a  greater  temptation  [to  you,  in  this  matter,}  than  she 
is !  Take  heed  of  all  relations.  Mercies  should  not  be  temp- 
tations :  yet  we  too  oft  make  them  so.  The  Lord  direct  your 
thoughts  into  the  obedience  of  His  will,  and  give  you  rest  and 
peace  in  the  Truth.  Pray  for  your  most  true  and  affectionate 

"  Servant  in  the  Lord, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

u  [P.S.]  I  received  a  Letter  from  Robert  Hammond,  whom 
truly  I  love  in  the  Lord  with  most  entire  affection :  it  much 
grieved  me,  not  because  I  judged,  but  feared  the  whole  spirit 
of  it  was  from  temptation  ;  —  indeed,  I  thought  I  perceived  a 
proceeding  in  that;  which  the  Lord  will,  I  trust,  cause  him 
to  unlearn.  I  would  fain  have  written  to  him,  but  am  strait- 
ened in  time.  Would  he  would  be  with  us  a  little.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  no  hurt  to  him."  * 

Of  Wharton  and  his  dubitations,  which  many  share  in, 
we  shall  again  hear.  Of  Wharton,  young  Colonel  Hammond, 

1  Shadow  of  condescension,  implied  in  this,  strikes  his  Excellency ;  which 
he  hastens  to  retract. 

*  Gentleman's  Magazine  (London,  1814),  Ixxxiv.  p.  418.  Given  there  with- 
out editing ;  no  notice  whence :  clearly  genuine.  —  Note  to  Third  Edition. 
Original,  in  autograph,  endorsed  by  Wharton,  "  rec :  30th  January,  1649, 
from  my  Lord,  Leefetennant  of  Ireland,  from  Ireland,"  is  now  (1848)  in  the 
Fit /.william  Museum,  Cambridge;  Pottscri/tt  here  is  added  from  the  Original 
This  Letter,  and  two  others  to  be  given  by  and  by  (CXLVI.  and  CLXXXI.), 
came  to  the  Fit/willi.uu  Museum,  some  thirty  yours  ago;  discovered  "among 
the  Court-rolls  of  tlie  Mauur  of  Wyuioudliaiu  Crouiwell,  Norfolk." 


508  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND,      i  Jan.  1650. 

young  Colonel  Montague,  Tom  Westrow,  Henry  Lawrence, 
idle  Dick,  men  known  to  us,  and  men  unknown ;  —  of  them 
and  their  abstruse  "reasonings,"  and  communings  with  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  in  St  James's  Park,  we  shall  have  a  hint 
by  and  by.  Some  of  whom  received  full  "  satisfaction,"  and 
others  never  could. 

Here  is  a  kind  of  Epistle  General,  in  a  quite  other  tone, 
intended  to  give  "  satisfaction,"  to  a  quite  other  class,  if  they 
are  capable  of  it. 


OLIVER    CROMWELL'S 
LETTERS     AND     SPEECHES 

WITH    ELUCIDATIONS 

BY 
THOMAS    CARLYLE 


VOL.  II. 


BOSTON 
ALDINE   BOOK    PUBLISHING  CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


CONTENTS. 


$art  V. 

CAMPAIGN    IN    IRELAND   (Continued). 

PAOB 

DECLARATION  FOR  THE  UNDECEIVING  OP  DELUDED  PEOPLE      .    .  3 

LETTER  CXIX.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 25 

CXX.    To  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  CAIIIR  CASTLE  ....  30 

CXXI.     To  PRESIDENT  BRADSHAW 32 

CXXII.    To  THE  GOVERNOR,  MAYOR,  AND  ALDERMEN  or 

KlLKENNEY 33 

CXXIII.    To  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  KILKENNY 35 

CXXIV.    To  THE  SAME 37 

CXXV.    To  THE  MAYOR  OF  KILKENNY 38 

CXXVI.    To  THE  SAME 40 

CXXVIT.    To  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  KILKENNY 41 

CXXVIII.    To  THE  SAME .42 

CXX  IX.    To  THE  DUBLIN  COMMISSIONERS *3 

CXXX.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 44 

CXXXI.    To  RICHARD  MAYOR 51 

CX  XX II.    To  RICHARD  CROMWELL 52 

TIIF.  SQUIRE  PAPERS 60 


iv  CONTENTS. 

Part  VI. 

WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.     1650-1661. 

PAQB 

WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND 95 

LETTER  CXXXIII.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 101 

CXXXIV.    To  RICHARD  MAYOR 103 

CXXXV.    To  PRESIDENT  BRADSHAW 106 

CXXXVI.    To  SCOTS  COMMITTEE  OF  ESTATES  ....  110 

CXXXVII.    To  GEN.  LESLEY 116 

CXXXVIII.    To  THE  COUNCIL  OF  STATE 119 

BATTLE  OF  DTJNBAR 122 

LETTER  CXXXIX.    To  SIR  A.  HASELRIG 124 

PROCLAMATION 133 

LETTER  CXL.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 134 

CXLI.    To  SIR  A.  HASELRIG 141 

CXLII.    To  PRESIDENT  BRADSHAW 143 

CXLII1.    To  MRS.  CROMWELL 145 

CXLIV.    To  RICHARD  MAYOR 146 

CXLV.    To  LIEUT.-GEN.  IRETON 147 

CXLVI.    To  LORD  WHARTON 149 

CXL VII.    To  GOVERNOR  DUNDAS 153 

CXLVIII.    To  THE  SAME 156 

QUERIES 162 

PROCLAMATION  :  INHABITANTS  HAVE  FREE  LEAVE  TO  COME  AND  Go  164 

LETTER  CXLIX.    To  PRESIDENT  BRADSHAW 165 

CL.    To  SCOTS  COMMITTEE  OF  ESTATES      ....  171 

CLI.    To  COL.  STRAHAN 174 


CONTENTS. 


PROCLAMATION  :  MOSS-TROOPEBS  ............  177 

LETTER  CLII.    To  GOVERNOR  OP  BORTHWICK  CASTLE   ....  178 

CLH1.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL  .........  179 

CLIV.    To  GOVERNOR  DUNDAS   .........  184 

CLV.     "                          "    ..........  185 

CLVI.      "          "              "   ..........  187 

CLVU.      "          "              "    ..........  189 

CLVI1I.      "           "               "    ..........  189 

CLIX.      "          "  •            "    ..........  191 

CLX.      "           "               "   ..........  192 

PASS     .....................  192 

PROCLAMATION   ..................  193 

LETTER  CLXI.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL      ........  194 

CLXII.    To  COL.  HACKER  ...........  197 

CLXIII.    To  GEN.  LESLEY   ...........  199 

CLXIV.    To  SCOTS  COMMITTEE  OP  ESTATES    .....  203 

CLXV.    To  COMMITTEE  OP  ARMY    ........  205 

CLXVI.    To  REV.  DR.  GREENWOOD  ........  209 

CLXVII.    To  THE  SAME    ............  212 

CLXV1II.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL      ........  213 

CLXIX.    To  THE  SAME    ............  215 

CLXX.    To  PRESIDENT  BRADSHAW  ........  218 

CLXXI.    To  MRS.  CROMWELL  ..........  219 

CLXXII.    To  HON.  A.  JOHNSTOK   .........  221 

SECOND  VISIT  TO  GLASGOW  .......    .......  224 

LETTER  CLXXIII.    To  MRS.  CROMWELL  .........  228 

CLXX  IV.    To  PRESIDENT  UKADSUAW  230 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

CLXXV.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 232 

CLXXVI.    To  PRESIDENT  BRADSHA.W 234 

CLXXVII.     To  THE  SAME 235 

CLXXVIII.    To  RICHARD  MAYOR 237 

CLXXIX,    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 240 

CLXXX.    To  THE  SAME 240 

CLXXXI.    To  LORD  WHARTON 246 

BATTLE  OF  WORCESTER 248 

LETTER  CLXXXII.    To  HON.  W.  LENTHALL 251 

CLXXXIII.    To  THE  SAME  252 


Part  VII. 

THE   LITTLE    PARLIAMENT.     1651-1658. 

THE  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT 261 

LETTER  CLXXXIV.    To  REV.  J.  COTTON 267 

CLXXXV.    To  MR.  HUNGERFORD 279 

CLXXXVI.    To  A.  HUNGERFORD,  ESQ 285 

CLXXXVIL     To  LIEUT.-GEN.  FLEETWOOD 287 

CLXXXVIII.    To  MR.  PARKER 295 

SUMMONS , 297 

SPEECH  I.    OPENING  OF  THE  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT 298 

LETTER  CLXXXIX.    To  LLEUT..GEN.  FLEETWOOD 329 

CXC.    To  COMMITTEE  OF  CUSTOMS 331 

CXCI.    To  H.  WESTON,  ESQ 332 

LIST  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT 340 

LISTS  OF  THE  EASTERN-ASSOCIATION  COMMITTEES  .    .         ...  368 


CONTENTS.  vii 
Part  Vin. 

FIRST   PROTECTORATE   PARLIAMENT.     1654. 

PAQB 

LETTER  CXCII.    To  RICHARD  MAYOR 389 

CXCIII.    To  LOKD  FLEETWOOD 391 

CXCrV.  To  COL.  ALLURED ^.  .  392 

CXCV.  To  SIR  T.  VYNER 394 

SPEECH  II.  MEETING  OP  THE  FIRST  PROTECTORATE  PARLIAMENT  397 

III.  To  THE  FIRST  PROTECTORATE  PARLIAMENT  .  .  .  420 

LETTER  CXCVI.  To  R.  BENNET,  Esq. 451 

CXCVIL  To  CAPTAIN  CROOK 452 

SPEECH  IV.  DISSOLUTION  OP  THE  FIRST  PROTECTORATE  PAB- 

LLAMENT 456 

Part  IX. 

THE   MAJOR-GENERALS.     1655-1656. 

CHRONOLOGICAL  ..,,.„.                      .'...,,  483 


OLIVER    CROMWELL'S    LETTERS 
AND    SPEECHES 

PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND 

(CONTINUED). 

WITH    ELUCIDATIONS. 


vou  xnn. 


OLIVER    CROMWELL'S    LETTERS 
AND    SPEECHES. 


DECLARATION    OF   THE  LORD  LIEUTENANT  OF 
IRELAND. 

FOR  THE  UNDECEIVING  OF  DELUDED  PEOPLE. 

THE  "  Supreme  Council  of  Kilkenny,"  still  more  the  Occult 
u  Irish  Hierarchy  "  which  was  a  main  element  thereof,  remains, 
and  is  like  to  remain,  a  very  dark  entity  in  History:  little 
other,  after  all  one's  reading,  than  a  featureless  gaunt  shadow; 
extinct,  and  the  emblem  to  us  of  huge  noises  that  are  also 
extinct.  History  can  know  that  it  had  features  once:  —  of 
>•  dark-visaged  Irish  Noblemen  arid  Gentlemen ;  dark- 
visaged  Abbases  O'Teague,  and  an  Occult  Papist  Hierarchy ; 
earnestly  planning,  perorating,  excommunicating,  in  a  high 
Irish  tone  of  voice :  alas,  with  general  result  which  Nature 
found  untrue.  Let  there  be  noble  pity  for  them  in  the  hearts 
of  the  noble.  Alas,  there  was  withal  some  glow  of  real  Irish 
Patriotism,  some  light  of  real  human  valor,  in  those  old  hearts  : 
but  it  had  parted  company  with  Fact;  came  forth  enveloped 
in  such  hu;_,re  cmlx>diment  of  headlong  ferocity,  of  violence, 
hatred,  noise,  and  general  unveracity  and  incoherency,  as  —  as 
brought  a  Cromwell  upon  it  at  last!  These  reflections  might 
lead  us  far.  — 

What  we  have  to  say  here  is,  that  in  -the  present  expiring 
condition  of  the  Irish  Rebellion,  nearly  trodden  to  destruction 
now,  it  has  been  jml^'-il  very  fitting.  That  there  be  an  end  of 
excommunication  fur  the  present,  aud  a  real  attempt  at  union 


4  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  1650. 

instead.  For  which  object  there  has,  with  much  industry, 
been  brought  about  a  "  Conventicle,"  or  general  Meeting  of  the 
Occult  Hierarchy,  at  a  place  called  Clonmacnoise,  in  the  inontli 
of  December  last.  Clonmacnoise,  "Seven  Churches  of  Clon- 
macuoise ; "  some  kind  of  Abbey  then  ;  now  a  melancholy  tract 
of  ruins,  "on  some  bare  gravelly  hills,"  among  the  dreary 
swamps  of  the  Shannon  ;  nothing  there  but  wrecks  and  death, 
—  for  the  bones  of  the  Irish  Kings  lie  there,  and  burial  there 
was  considered  to  have  unspeakable  advantages  once :  —  a  Ruin 
now,  and  dreary  Golgotha  among  the  bogs  of  the  Shannon; 
but  an  Abbey  then,  and  fit  for  a  Conventicle  of  the  Occult 
Hierarchy,  "  which  met  on  the  4th  of  December,  1649,"  for 
the  purpose  above  said.  There,  of  a  certainty,  in  the  cold 
days  of  December,  1649,  did  the  Occult  Hierarchy  meet,  — 
warmed,  we  hope,  by  good  log-fires  and  abundant  turf,  —  and 
"  for  somewhat  less  than  three  weeks "  hold  consulta- 
tion. The  real  issue  of  which  has  now,  after  two  hundred 
years,  come  to  be  very  different  from  the  then  apparent 
one  ! 

The  then  apparent  issue  was  a  "  Union ; "  worthless  "  super- 
ficial Union,"  as  Carte  *  calls  it ;  skin-deep,  which  was  broken 
again  within  the  month,  and  is  of  no  interest  to  us  here.  But 
it  chanced  also  that,  to  usher  in  this  worthless  "  Union."  the 
Occult  Hierarchy  published  in  print  a  Manifesto,  or  general 
Injunction  and  Proclamation  to  the  Irish  People ;  which  Mani- 
festo coming  under  the  eye  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  provoked 
an  Answer  from  him.  And  this  Answer,  now  resuscitated,  and 
still  fit  to  be  read  by  certain  earnest  men,  Irish  and  other : 
this  we  may  define  as  the  real  issue  for  us,  such  as  it  is.  One 
of  the  remarkablest  State-Papers  ever  issued  by  any  Lord 
Lieutenant ;  which,  if  we  could  all  completely  read  it,  as  an 
earnest  Editor  has  had  to  try  if  he  could  do,  till  it  became 
completely  luminous  again,  and  glowed  with  its  old  veracity 
and  sacred  zeal  and  fire  again,  might  do  us  all  some  good 
perhaps !  — 

The  Clonmacnoise  Manifesto  exists  also,  as  a  small  brown 
Pamphlet  of  six  leaves,  "  printed  at  Kilkenny  and  reprinted 

l  Life  ofOrmond,  ii.  105-110. 


1650.  DECLARATION.  5 

at  London  in  January,  1G49 ; "  l  but  is  by  no  means  worth 
inserting  here.  It  is  written  in  a  very  smooth,  indeed  vague 
and  faint  style,  the  deeply  discrepant  humors  at  Clonmacnoise 
not  admitting  of  any  other  for  their  "  superficial  Union  ; "  and 
remains,  in  the  perusal,  mostly  insignificant,  and  as  if  obliter- 
ated into  dim-gray,  —  till  once,  in  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  fiery 
illumination,  some  traits  of  it  do  come  forth  again.  Here  is  our 
short  abstract  of  it,  more  than  sufficient  for  present  purposes. 

"  The  Kilkenny  Pamphlet  starts  by  a  preamble,  in  the  form 
of  Public  Declaration ;  setting  forth,  with  some  brevity,  That 
whereas  various  differences  had  existed  in  the  Catholic  Party, 
said  differences  do  now  and  shall,  blessed  be  Heaven,  all  recon- 
cile themselves  into  a  real  '  Union ; '  real  Union  now,  by  these 
presents,  established,  decreed,  and  bound  to  exist  and  continue  : 
—  signed  duly  by  all  the  Occult  Hierarchy,  twenty  Bishops 
more  or  less,  Antonius  Clonmacnosensis  among  the  rest.  This 
is  the  first  part  of  the  Clonmacnoise  Manifesto  :  this  is  to  be 
read  in  every  Church  for  certain  Sundays ;  and  do  what  good 
it  can.  —  Follows  next,  similarly  signed,  a  short  set  of  '  Acts,' 
special  Orders  to  Priests  and  People  at  large,  as  to  what  they 
are  to  do  by  way  of  furthering  said  Union,  and  bringing  good 
success  to  the  Cause.  Among  which  Orders  we  recognize  one 
for  masses,  universal  prayers  (not  wholly  by  machinery,  we 
hope) ;  and,  with  still  more  satisfaction,  another  for  decisively 
putting  down,  or  at  least  in  every  way  discountenancing,  those 
bands  called  '  Idle-Boys  '  (ancestors  of  Captain  Kock,  one  per- 
ceives), who  much  infest  the  country  at  present. 

"Our  Manifesto  then,  thirdly,  winds  up  with  an  earnest 
admonition,  or  Exhortation  General,  to  the  People  of  Ireland 
high  and  low,  Not  to  be  deceived  with  any  show  of  clemency, 
or  '  moderate  usage/  exercised  upon  them  hitherto  ;  inasmuch 
as  it  is  the  known  intention  of  the  English  Parliament  to  ex- 
terminate the  whole  of  them ;  partly  by  slaughter,  partly  by 
banishment '  to  the  Tobacco  Islands '  and  hot  West-India  locali- 
whither  many  have  already  been  sent.  Known  intention ; 

1  King's  Pamphlet*,  largo  4to,  no.  43,  §  5  ;  the  London  Reprint,  or  the  day 
of  purchasing  it  by  tin-  «<M  <  dated  with  the  peu  "31*>t  Jou  usury," 

1640-40 


6  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  1650. 

as  can  be  deduced  by  the  discerning  mind  from  clear  symp- 
toms, chiefly  from  these  two:  First,  that  they,  the  English 
Parliament,  have  passed  an  <  Act  of  Subscription/  already  dis- 
posing of  Irishmen's  estates  to  English  Money-lenders  :  and 
then  second,  That  they  have  decided  to  extirpate  the  Catholic 
Religion,  —  which  latter  fact,  not  to  speak  of  their  old  Scotch 
Covenant  and  the  rest,  may  be  seen  with  eyes,  even  from  this 
Lord  Lieutenant's  own  expressions  in  his  Letter  to  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Ross ;  *  which  are  quoted.  To  extirpate  the  Catholic 
Religion :  how  can  they  effect  this  but  by  extirpating  the  pro- 
fessors thereof  ?  Let  all  Irishmen  high  and  low,  therefore, 
beware ;  and  stand  upon  their  guard,  and  adhere  to  the  super- 
ficial Union ;  slaughter,  or  else  banishment  to  the  Tobacco 
Islands,  being  what  they  have  to  expect."  —  It  is  by  this  third 
or  concluding  portion  of  the  Clonmacnoise  Manifesto  that  the 
Lord  Lieutenant's  wrath  has  been  chiefly  kindled :  but  indeed 
he  blazes  athwart  the  whole  Document,  athwart  it  and  along 
it,  as  we  shall  see,  like  a  destroying  sword,  and  slashes  in 
pieces  it  and  its  inferences,  and  noxious  delusions  and  delud- 
ings,  in  a  very  characteristic  style. 

What  perhaps  will  most  strike  the  careless  modern  reader 
in  the  Clonmacnoise  Manifesto,  with  its  "  inferences  "  of  gen- 
eral extermination,  is  that  "  show  of  moderate  usage  at  pres- 
ent ; "  and  the  total  absence  of  those  "  many  Inhabitants  " 
butchered  at  Drogheda  lately :  total  absence  of  those ;  and  also 
of  the  "  Two  Hundred  Women  in  the  Market-place  of  Wexford," 
who  in  modern  times  have  even  grown  "  Two  Hundred  beauti- 
ful Women  "  (all  young,  and  in  their  Sunday  clothes  for  the 
occasion),  and  figure  still,  in  the  Irish  Imagination,  in  a  very 
horrid  manner.  They  are  known  to  Abbe  Macgeohegan,  these 
interesting  Martyrs,  more  or  less ;  to  Philopater  Irenseus,  to 
my  Lord  Clarendon,  Jacobite  Carte,  and  other  parties  divided 
by  wide  spaces  and  long  centuries  from  them ;  but  not  to  this 
Occult  Hierarchy  sitting  deliberative  close  at  hand,  and  doing 
their  best  in  the  massacre  way,  who  are  rather  concerned  to 
guard  us  against  shows  of  clemency  exercised  hitherto  !  This 
circumstance,  and  still  more  what  Cromwell  himself  says  on 
1  See  vol.  xvii.  p.  482. 


iflgo.  DECLARATION.  7 

the  subject  of  "  massacring,"  will  strike  the  modern  reader  ; 
and  the  "  Two  Hundred  Women,"  and  some  other  things,  I 
persuade  myself,  will  profitably  vanish  from  the  Market-place 
henceforth  ! 

So  soon  as  convenient,  that  wretched  chimera  will  do  well 
to  vanish  ;  —  and  also,  I  think,  a  certain  terrible  fact,  which 
the  Irish  Imagination  pretends  to  treat  sometimes  as  a  chimera, 
might  profitably  return,  and  reassert  itself  there.  The  massacre 
of  1641  was  not,  we  will  believe,  premeditated  by  the  Leaders 
of  the  Rebellion  ;  but  it  is  an  awful  truth,  written  in  sun-clear 
evidence,  that  it  did  happen  ;  —  and  the  noble-minded  among 
the  men  of  Ireland  are  called  to  admit  it,  and  to  mourn  for  it, 
and  to  learn  from  it  !  To  the  ear  of  History  those  "  ghosts  " 
still  shriek  from  the  Bridge  of  Portnadown,1  if  not  now  for 
just  vengeance  on  their  murderers,  yet  for  pity  on  them,  for 
horror  at  them  :  and  no  just  man,  whatever  his  new  feelings 
may  be,  but  will  share  more  or  less  the  Lord  Lieutenant  Crom- 
well's old  feelings  on  that  matter.  It  must  not  be  denied,  it 
requires  to  be  admitted  !  As  an  act  of  blind  hysterical  fury, 
very  blind  and  very  weak  and  mad,  and  at  once  quite  misera- 
ble and  quite  detestable,  it  remains  on  the  face  of  Irish  His- 
tory ;  and  will  have  to  remain  till  Ireland  cease,  much  more 
generally  than  it  has  yet  done,  to  mistake  loud  bluster  for 
inspired  wisdom,  and  spasmodic  frenzy  for  strength;  —  till,  let 
us  say,  Ireland  do  an  wjual  act  of  magnanimous  forbearance,  of 
valor  in  the  silent  kind  !  Of  which  also  we  have  by  no  means 
lost  hope.  No:  —  and  if  among  the  true  hearts  of  Ireland 
tin-re  chanced  to  be  found  one  who,  across  the  opaque  angry 
whirlwind  in  which  all  Cromwell  matters  are  enveloped  for 
him,  could  rocognizo,  in  this  thunder-clad  figure  of  a  Lord 
Lieutenant  now  about  to  speak  to  him,  the  veritable  Heaven's 
Messenger  clad  in  thunder;  and  accept  the  stern  true  message 
he  brings  —  !  Who  knows  ?  That  too,  we  believe,  is  coming  ; 
and  with  it  many  hopeful  things.  But  to  onr  Declaration, 
however  that  may  be. 


1  Atli.hu  it>.  lakni  in  ir.il-i.  in  Sir  John  Temple'*  History  0f  the  Iritk 
Mauiirrr  ninl  l!,/»-llivH  (Manerea's  edition,  L<>ii<l<in,  I^I'J),  j»p.  85-12.1;  M;iy's 
History  of  the  Lun>j  Parliament  ;  ami  the  cuulvuipurary  Booka  /xisii'm. 


8  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND. 


1660. 


A  Declaration  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,,  For  the  Unde- 
ceiving of  Deluded  and  Seduced  People :  which  may  be 
satisfactory  to  all  that  do  not  wilfully  shut  their  eyes 
against  the  light.  In  answer  to  certain  late  Declarations 
and  Acts,  framed  by  the  Irish  Popish  Prelates  and  Clergy, 
in  a  Conventicle  at  Clonmacnoise. 

"  HAVING  lately  perused  a  Book  printed  at  Kilkenny  in  the 
year  1649,  containing  divers  Declarations  and  Acts  of  the 
Popish  Prelates  and  Clergy,  framed  in  a  late  Conventicle  at 
Clonmacnoise,  the  4th  day  of  December  in  the  year  aforesaid, 
—  I  thought  fit  to  give  a  brief  Answer  unto  the  same. 

"  And  first  to  the  first ;  —  which  is  a  Declaration,  wherein 
(having  premised  the  reconciliation  of  some  differences  among 
themselves,  [and  the  hearty  "  Union  "  they  have  now  attained 
to]  they  come  to  state  [the  reasons  of]  their  War,  [grounding 
it]  upon  'the  interest  of  their  Church,  of  his  Majesty  and  the 
Nation,'  and  their  resolution  to  prosecute  the  same  with  unity. 
All  which  will  deserve  a  particular  survey. 

"  The  Meeting  of  the  Archbishops,  Bishops  and  other  Pre- 
lates at  Clonmacnoise  is  by  them  said  to  be  proprio  motu.  By 
which  term  they  would  have  the  world  believe  that  the 
Secular  Power  hath  nothing  to  do  to  appoint,  or  superintend, 
their  Spiritual  Conventions,  as  they  call  them ;  —  although  in 
the  said  meetings  they  take  upon  them  to  intermeddle  in  all 
Secular  Affairs  ;  as  by  the  sequel  appears.  —  But  first  for  their 
'  Union '  they  so  much  boast  of.  If  any  wise  man  shall  seri- 
ously consider  what  they  pretend  the  grounds  of  their  'differ- 
ences '  to  have  been,  and  the  way  and  course  they  have  taken 
to  reconcile  the  same ;  and  their  expressions  thereabout,  and 
the  ends  for  which,  and  their  resolutions  how  to  carry  on  their 
great  Design  declared  for;  he  must  needs  think  slightly  of 
their  said  '  union.' 1  And  also  for  this,  That  they  resolve  all 
other  men's  consent  [and  reconciliation]  into  their  own ;  with- 
out consulting  them  at  all. 

"The  subject  of  this  reconciliation  was,  as  they  say,  'the 

1  "  it  "  in  orig. 


1680.  DECLARATION.  9 

Clergy  and  Laity.*  The  discontent  and  division  itself  was 
grounded  on  the  late  difference  of  opinion  happening  amongst 
the  '  Prelates  and  Laity.'  —  I  wonder  not  at  differences  in 
opinion,  at  discontents  and  divisions,  where  so  Antichristian 
and  dividing  a  term  as  '  Clergy  and  Laity '  is  given  and  re- 
ceived. A  term  unknown  to  any  save  the  Antichristian 
Church,  and  such  as  derive  themselves  from  her:  ab  initio 
nonfult  sic.  The  most  pure  and  primitive  Times,  as  they  best 
knew  what  true  union  was,  so  in  all  addresses  to  the  several 
Churches  they  wrote  unto,  not  one  word  of  this.  The  members 
of  the  Churches  are  styled  '  Brethren,  and  Saints  of  the  same 
household  of  Faith:'  [and]  although  they  had  orders  and 
distinctions  amongst  them  for  administration  of  ordinances, 
—  of  a  far  different  use  and  character  from  yours,  —  yet  it 
nowhere  occasioned  them  to  say,  contemptim,  and  by  way  of 
lessening  in  contradistinguishing,  '  Laity  and  Clergy.'  It  was 
your  pride  that  begat  this  expression.  And  it  is  for  filthy 
lucre's  sake  that  you  keep  it  up :  that  by  making  the  People 
believe  that  they  are  not  so  holy  as  yourselves,  they  might  for 
their  penny  purchase  some  sanctity  from  you ;  and  that  you 
might  bridle,  saddle  and  ride  them  at  your  pleasure ;  and  do 
(as  is  most  true  of  you)  as  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  old 
did  by  their  '  Laity,'  —  keep  the  knowledge  of  the  Law  from 
them,  and  then  be  able  in  their  pride  to  say, '  This  people,  that 
know  not  the  Law,  are  cursed.' 

"  And  no  wonder,  —  to  speak  more  nearly  to  your  *  differ- 
ences '  and  '  union,'  —  if  it  lie  in  the  Prelates'  power  to 
make  the  Clergy  and  the  Laity  go  together  by  the  ears  when 
they  please,  but  that  they  may  as  easily  make  a  simple  and 
senseless  reconciliation!  Which  will  last  until  the  next 
Nuncio  comes  from  Rome  with  supermandatory  advices ;  and 
then  this  Gordian  knot  must  be  cut,  and  the  poor  'Laity' 
forced  to  dance  to  a  new  tune. 

"  I  say  not  this  as  being  troubled  at  your  '  union.'  By  the 
grace  of  God,  we  fear  not,  we  care  not  for  it.  Your  Covenant 
[if  you  understood  it]  is  with  Death  and  Hell !  Your  union 
is  like  that  ut  Simeon  and  Levi :  'Associate  yourselves,  and 
ye  ahull  LKJ  broken  iu  pieces;  take  counsel  together,  and  it 


10  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN    IN  IRELAND.  16JKX 

shall  come  to  naught !  *  —  For  though  it  becomes  us  to  be 
humble  in  respect  of  ourselves,  yet  we  can  say  to  you :  God 
is  not  with  you.  You  say,  Your  union  is  <  against  a  common 
enemy : '  and  to  this,  if  you  will  be  talking  of  '  union/  I  will 
give  y<ai  some  wormwood  to  bite  on  j  by  which  it  will  appear 
God  is  not  with  you. 

"Who  is  it  that  created  this  'common  enemy'  (I  suppose 
you  mean  Englishmen)  ?  The  English  ?  Remember,  ye  hypo- 
crites, Ireland  was  once  united  to  England.  [That  was  the 
original  "union."]  Englishmen  had  good  inheritances  which 
many  of  them  purchased  with  their  money;  they  and  their 
ancestors,  from  you  and  your  ancestors.  They  had  good 
Leases  from  Irishmen,  for  long  times  to  come;  great  stocks 
thereupon ;  houses  and  plantations  erected  at  their  own  cost 
and  charge.  They  lived  peaceably  and  honestly  amongst  you. 
You  had  generally  equal  benefit  of  the  protection  of  England 
with  them;  and  equal  justice  from  the  Laws,  —  saving  what 
was  necessary  for  the  State,  out  of  reasons  of  State,  to  put 
upon  some  few  people,  apt  to  rebel  upon  the  instigation  of 
such  as  you.  You  broke  this  '  union ' !  You,  unprovoked,  put 
the  English  to  the  most  unheard-of  and  most  barbarous  Mas- 
sacre (without  respect  of  sex  or  age)  that  ever  the  Sun  beheld. 
And  at  a  time  when  Ireland  was  in  perfect  Peace.  And  when, 
through  the  example  of  English  Industry,  through  commerce 
and  traffic,  that  which  was  in  the  Natives'  hands  was  better  to 
them  than  if  all  Ireland  had  been  in  their  possession,  and  not 
an  Englishman  in  it.  And  yet  then,  I  say,  was  this  unheard- 
of  villany  perpetrated, — by  your  instigation,  who  boast  of 
'  peace-making '  and  '  union  against  this  common  enemy.'  What 
think  you  by  this  time,  is  not  my  assertion  true  ?  Is  God, 
will  God  be,  with  you  ? 

"  I  am  confident  He  will  not !  And  though  you  would 
comprehend  Old  English,  New  English,  Scotch,  or  whom  else 
you  will,  in  the  bosom  of  your  catholic  charity,  yet  shall 
not  this  save  you  from  breaking.  I  tell  you  and  them,  You 
will  fare  the  worse  for  their  sakes.  Because  I  cannot  but 
believe  some  of  them  go  against,  some  stifle,  their  consciences. 
And  it  is  not  the  fig-leaf  of  pretence  'that  they  tight  for 


1880.  DECLARATION.  II 

their  King,'  will  serve  their  turn ;  when  really  they  fight  iu 
protection  of  men  of  so  much  prodigious  [guiltiness  of] 
blood ;  and  with  men  who  have  declared  the  ground  of  their 
'  union }  and  fighting,  as  you  have  stated  it  in  thie  your  Dec- 
laration, to  be  Bellum  Prtelaticum  et  Religiosum,  in  the  first 
and  primary  intention  of  it.  Especially  when  they  shall 
consider  your  principles :  [and]  that  except  what  fear  makes 
you  comply  with,  —  viz.  that  alone  without  their  concurrence 
you  are  not  able  to  carry  on  your  work  of  War,  —  you  arc 
ready,  whenever  you  shall  get  the  power  into  your  hands, 
to  kick  them  off  too,  as  some  late  experiences  have  suffi- 
ciently manifested !  —  And  thus  we  come  to  the  Design,  you 
being  thus  wholesomely  '  united,'  which  is  intended  to  be 
prosecuted  by  you. 

«*  Your  words  are  these :  '  That  all  and  every  of  us  the  above 
Archbishops,  Bishops  and  Prelates,  are  now,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  as  one  body  united.  And  that  we  will,  as  becometh  charity 
and  our  pastoral  charge,  stand  all  of  us  as  one  entire  body, 
for  the  interests  and  immunities  of  the  Church,  and  of  every 
the  Bishops  and  Prelates  thereof ;  and  for  the  honor,  dignity, 
estate,  right  and  possessions  of  all  and  every  of  the  said 
Archbishops,  Bishops  and  other  Prelates.  And  we  will,  as 
one  entire  and  united  body,  forward  by  our  counsels,  actions 
and  devices,  the  advancement  of  his  Majesty's  Rights,  and 
the  good  of  this  Nation,  in  general  and  in  particular  occa- 
sions, to  our  power.  And  that  none  of  us,  in  any  occasion 
whatsoever  concerning  the  Catholic  religion,  or  the  good  of 
this  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  will  in  any  respect  single  himself; 
or  be  or  seem  opposite  to  the  rest  of  us ;  but  will  hold  firm 
and  entire  in  one  sense,  as  aforesaid,  &c.' 

"And  now,  if  there  were  no  other  quarrel  against  you  but 
this,  whi<:h  you  make  to  be  the  principal  and  first  ground 
of  your  Quarrel :  —  to  wit,  As  so  standing  for  the  rights  of 
your  'Church'  falsely  so  callnl,  ;uul  for  the  rights  of  your 
1  Archbishops,  Bishops  and  Prelates,'  as  to  engage  People 
and  Nations  into  blood  therefor: — this  alone  would  be  your 
con  fusion.  I  aak  you,  Is  it  for  the  '  Lay-fee '  as  you  call  it, 


12  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.  1650. 

or  for  the  Revenue  belonging  to  your  Church,  that  you  will 
after  this  manner  contend?  Or  is  it  your  Jurisdiction,  or 
the  exercise  of  your  Ecclesiastical  Authority  ?  Or  is  it  for 
the  Faith  of  your  Church  ?  Let  me  tell  you,  Not  for  all  or 
any  of  these  is  it  lawful  for  the  Ministers  of  Christ,  as  you 
would  be  thought  to  be,  thus  to  contend.  And  therefore  we 
will  consider  them  apart. 

"For  the  first,  if  it  were  'St.  Peter's  Patrimony,'  as  you 
term  it,  —  that  would  be  somewhat  that  you  lawfully  came 
by!  But  I  must  tell  you,  Your  predecessors  cheated  poor 
seduced  men  in  their  weakness  on  their  death-beds ;  or  other- 
wise tmlawfully  came  by  most  of  this  you  pretend  to.  [Not 
St  Peter's  Patrimony,  therefore,  whosesoever  it  may  be !] 
And  Peter,  though  he  was  somewhat  too  forward  to  draw 
the  sword  in  a  better  cause,  —  yet  if  that  weapon,  not  being 
proper  to  the  business  in  hand,  was  to  be  put  up  in  that 
case,  he  must  not,  nor  would  he,  have  drawn  it  in  this.  And 
that  blessed  Apostle  Paul,  who  said,  '  the  laborer  was  worthy 
of  his  hire,'  chose  rather  to  make  tents  than  be  burdensome 
to  the  Churches.  I  would  you  had  either  of  those  Good 
Men's  spirits ;  on  condition  your  Revenues  were  doubled  to 
what  the  best  times  ever  made  them  to  your  predecessors  !  — 
The  same  answer  may  be  given  to  that  of  your  '  Power  and 
Jurisdiction;'  and  to  that  pre-eminence  of  Prelacy  you  so 
dearly  love.  Only  consider  what  the  Master  of  these  same 
Apostles  said  to  them:  'So  it  shall  not  be  amongst  you. 
Whoever  will  be  chief  shall  be  servant  of  all ! J  For  He 
himself  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister. 
And  by  this  he  that  runs  may  read  of  what  tribe  you  are. 

"And  [now]  surely  if  these,  that  are  outward  things,  may 
not  thus  be  contended  for;  how  much  less  may  the  Doc- 
trines of  Faith,  which  are  the  works  of  Grace  and  the  Spirit, 
be  endeavored  by  so  unsuitable  means !  He  that  bids  us 
1  contend  for  the  Faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints,'  tells  us 
that  we  should  do  it  by  '  avoiding  the  spirit  of  Cain,  Corah, 
and  Balaam ; '  and  by  { building  up  ourselves  in  the  most  holy 
Faith,'  not  pinning  it  upon  other  men's  sleeves.  Praying 
'in  the  Holy  Ghost;'  not  mumbling  over  Matins.  Keeping 


1650.  DECLARATION.  13 

<  ourselves  in  the  love  of  God ; '  not  destroying  men  because 
they  will  not  be  of  our  Faith.  'Waiting  for  the  mercy  of 
Jesus  Christ ; '  not  cruel,  but  merciful !  —  But,  alas,  why  is 
this  said  ?  Why  are  these  pearls  cast  before  you  ?  You  are 
resolved  not  to  be  charmed  from  'using  the  instrument  of 
a  foolish  shepherd'!  You  are  a  part  of  Antichrist,  whose 
Kingdom  the  Scripture  so  expressly  speaks  should  be  'laid 
in  blood ; '  yea  '  in  the  blood  of  the  Saints.'  You  have  shed 
great  store  of  that  already :  —  and  ere  it  be  long,  you  must 
all  of  you  have  '  blood  to  drink ; '  f  even  the  dregs  of  the  cup 
of  the  fury  and  the  wrath  of  God,  which  will  be  poured,  out 
unto  you!'1  — 

"  In  the  next  place,  you  state  the  *  interest  of  his  Majesty,' 
as  you  say  [for  a  ground  of  this  War].  And  this  you  hope 
will  draw  some  English  and  Scotch  to  your  party.  But  what 
'  Majesty '  is  it  you  mean  ?  Is  it  France,  or  Spain,  or  Scot- 
land ?  Speak  plainly  !  You  have,  some  of  you  lately,  been 
harping  —  or  else  we  are  misinformed  —  upon  his  Majesty  of 
,s//'//n  to  be  your  Protector.  Was  it  because  his  Majesty  of 
Scotland  was  too  little  a  Majesty  for  your  purpose  ?  We 
know  you  love  great  Majesties !  Or  is  it  because  he  is  not 
fully  come  over  to  you  in  point  of  religion  ?  If  he  be  short 
in  that,  you  will  quickly  find  out,  upon  that  score,  another 
'Majesty.'  His  Father,  who  complied  with  you  too  much, 
you  rejected;  and  now  would  make  the  world  believe  you 
would  make  the  Son's  interest  a  great  part  of  the  state  of  your 
Quarrel.  —  How  can  we  but  think  there  is  some  reserve  in  this  ? 
And  that  the  Son  has  agreed  to  do  somewhat  more  for  you 
than  ever  his  Father  did  ?  Or  else  tell  us,  Whence  this  new 
zeal  is  ?  That  the  Father  did  too  much  for  you,  in  all  Prot- 
estant judgments, —  instead  of  many  instances  let  this  be 
considered  :  what  one  of  your  own  Doctors,  Dr.  Enos  of  Dublin 
[says];  who,  writing  against  the  Agreement  made  between  the 
Lord  of  Ormond  and  the  Irish  Catholics,  finds  fault  with  it, 
:ind  says  it  was,  'nothing  so  good  as  that  [which]  the  Earl  of 
(Mam.trgan  had  warrant  from  the  King  to  make ;  but  exceeding 
far  short  of  what  the  Lord  George  Digby  had  warrant  to  agree 

in  your  Kittle*    >ud  consider  that  I 


14  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  I860. 

[to],  with  the  Pope  himself  at  Rome,  in  favor  of  the  Irish 
Catholics.' 1  —  I  intend  not  this  to  you  ;  but  to  such  Protestants 
as  may  incline  to  you,  and  join  with  you  upon  this  single 
account,  which  is  the  only  appearing  inducement  to  them. 
[To  them  I  intend  it,]  seeing  there  is  so  much  probability  of 
ill  in  this  abstracted ;  —  and  so  much  certainty  of  ill  in  fighting 
for  the  Romish  Religion  against  the  Protestant ;  and  fighting 
[along]  with  men  under  the  guilt  of  so  horrid  a  Massacre. 
From  participating  in  which  guilt,  whilst  they  take  part  with 
them,  they  will  never  be  able  to  assoil  themselves,  either 
before  God  or  good  men. 

"In  the  last  place,  you  are  pleased, — having,  after  your 
usual  manner,  remembered  yourselves  first,  and  '  his  Majesty,' 
as  you  call  him,  next ;  like  a  man  of  your  tribe,  with  his  Ego 
et  Rex  meus,  —  you  are  pleased  to  take  the  People  into  con- 
sideration. Lest  they  should  seem  to  be  forgotten ;  or  rather 
you  would  make  me  believe  they  are  much  in  your  thoughts. 
Indeed  I  think  they  are  !  Alas,  poor  '  Laity ' !  That  you  and 
your  King  might  ride  them,  and  jade  them,  as  your  Church 
hath  done,  and  as  your  King  hath  done  by  your  means,  almost 
in  all  ages !  —  But  it  would  not  be  hard  to  prophesy,  That  the 
beasts  being  stung  and  kicking,  this  world  will  not  last  always. 
Arbitrary  power  [is  a  thing]  men  begin  to  be  weary  of,  in 
Kings  and  Churchmen ;  their  juggle  between  them  mutually 
to  uphold  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  Tyranny  begins  to  be  trans- 
parent. Some  have  cast  off  loth ;  and  hope  by  the  grace  of 
God  to  keep  so.  Others  are  at  it !  Many  thoughts  are  laid  up 
about  it,  which  will  have  their  issue  and  vent.2  This  principle, 
That  People  are  for  Kings  and  Churches,  and  Saints  are  for 
the  Pope  or  Churchmen,  as  you  call  them,  begins  to  be  ex- 
ploded ;  —  and  therefore  I  wonder  not  to  see  the  Fraternity  so 
much  enraged.  I  wish  '  the  People '  wiser  than  to  be  troubled 
at  you ;  or  solicitous  for  what  you  say  or  do. 

"  But  it  seems,  notwithstanding  all  this,  you  would  fain  have 

them  believe  it  is  their  good  you  seek.     And  to  cozen  them, 

in  deed  and  in  truth,  is  the  scope  of  your  whole  Declaration, 

and  of  your  Acts  and  Decrees  in  your  foresaid  Printed  Book. 

1  See,  vol.  xvii.  p.  243.  2  Paris  City  A.D.  1789-1 795 ) 


1650.  DECLARATION.  15 

Therefore  to  discover  and  unveil  those  falsities,  and  to  let 
them  [the  People]  know  what  they  are  to  trust  to  from  me, 
is  the  principal  end  of  this  my  Declaration.  That  if  I  be  not 
able  to  do  good  upon  them,  which  I  most  desire,  —  and  yet  in 
that  I  shall  not  seek  to  gain  them  by  flattery ;  but  tell  them 
the  worst,  in  plainness,  and  that  which  I  am  sure  will  not  be 
acceptable  to  you  ;  and  if  I  cannot  gain  them  [I  say]  —  I  shall 
have  comfort  in  this,  That  I  have  freed  my  own  soul  from  the 
guilt  of  the  evil  that  shall  ensue.  And  on  this  subject  I  hope 
to  leave  nothing  unanswered  in  all  your  said  Declarations  and 
Decrees  at  Cloumacnoise. 

"And  because  you  carry  on  your  matter  somewhat  con- 
fusedly, I  shall  therefore  bring  all  that  you  have  said  into 
some  order;  that  so  we  may  the  better  discern  what  every- 
thing signifies,  and  give  answer  thereunto. 

"  You  forewarn  the  People  of  their  danger ;  which  you  make 
to  consist :  First,  '  in  the  extirpation  of  the  Catholic  Religion ;  '• 
Secondly,  '  in  the  destruction  of  their  Lives ; '  Thirdly,  '  in  the 
ruin  of  their  Fortunes.'  —  To  avoid  all  which  evils  you  fore- 
warn them  :  First,  That  they  be  not  deceived  by  the  Com- 
mander-iu-Chief  of  the  Parliament  Forces :  And  in  the  next 
place,  —  having  stated  [the  ground  of]  your  War,  as  aforesaid, 
—  you  give  them  your  positive  advice  and  counsel  To  engage 
in  blood :  And  [then]  lastly  [you]  bestow  upon  them  a  small 
collation  in  Four  Ecclesiastical  Decrees  or  Orders,  —  which 
will  signify  as  little,  being  performed  by  your  spirit,  as  if  you 
had  said,  nothing.  And  the  obligation  [that  lay  on  you]  to  all 
this  you  make  to  be  your  Pastoral  relation  to  them, '  over  your 
Flocks.' 

"  To  which  last  a  word  or  two.1  I  wonder  how  this  relation 
was  brought  about !  If  they  be  '  Flocks,'  and  you  ambitious 
of  the  relative  term  ?  [Yes,]  you  are  Pastors :  but  it  is  by 
an  antiphrasis,  —  a  minime  pascendo  !  You  either  teach  the 
People  not  at  all ;  or  else  you  do  it,  as  some  of  you  came  to 
this  Conventicle  who  were  sent  by  others,  tanquam  Procura- 

1  The  Lord  Lieutenant  It  r«ry  impatient  with  "  this  last ; "  flies  at  it 
Jir*. 


16  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  1650. 

tores,  —  [teach  them,]  as  your  manner  is,  by  sending  a  com- 
pany of  silly  ignorant  Priests,  who  can  but  say  the  Mass,  and 
scarcely  that  intelligibly ;  or  with  such  stuff  as  these  your  sense- 
less Declarations  and  Edicts  !  —  But  how  dare  you  assume  to 
call  these  men  your  '  Flocks,'  whom  you  have  plunged  into  so 
horrid  a  Kebellion,  by  which  you  have  made  them  and  the 
Country  almost  a  ruinous  heap  ?  And  whom  you  have  fleeced 
and  polled  and  peeled  hitherto,  and  make  it  your  business  to 
do  so  still.  You  cannot  feed  them !  You  poison  them  with 
your  false,  abominable  and  antichristian  doctrine  and  practices. 
You  keep  the  Word  of  God  from  them ;  and  instead  thereof 
give  them  your  senseless  Orders  and  Traditions.  You  teach 
them  '  implicit  belief : '  —  he  that  goes  amongst  them  may  find 
many  that  do  not  understand  anything  in  the  matters  of  your 
Religion.  I  have  had  few  better  answers  from  any  since  I 
came  into  Ireland  that  are  of  your  Flocks  than  this,  'That 
indeed  they  did  not  trouble  themselves  about  matters  of 
Religion,  but  left  that  to  the  Church.'  Thus  are  your  '  Flocks ' 
fed  ;  and  such  credit  have  you  of  them.  But  they  must  take 
heed  of  '  losing  their  Religion.'  Alas,  poor  creatures,  what 
have  they  to  '  lose  '  ? 

"  Concerning  this,  [of  losing  their  Religion,]  is  your  grand 
caveat  [however].  And  to  back  this,  you  tell  them  of  '  Reso- 
lutions and  Covenants  to  extirpate  the  Catholic  Religion  out 
of  all  his  Majesty's  Dominions.'  And  you  instance  in  '  Crom- 
well's Letter  of  the  19th  October,  1649,  to  the  then  Governor 
of  Ross,' J  repeating  his  words,  which  are  as  follows,  viz.  '  For 
that  which  you  mention  concerning  liberty  of  conscience,  I 
meddle  not  with  any  man's  conscience.  But  if  by  liberty  of 
conscience,  you  mean  a  liberty  to  exercise  the  Mass,  I  judge 
it  best  to  use  plain  dealing,  and  to  let  you  know,  Where  the 
Parliament  of  England  have  power ;  that  will  not  be  allowed 
of.'  And  this  you  call  a  '  tyrannical  Resolution ; '  which 
you  say  hath  been  put  in  execution  in  Wexford,  Ross  and 
Tredah. 

"Now  let  us  consider.  First,  you  say,  The  design  is,  to 
extirpate  the  Catholic  Religion.  Let  us  see  your  honesty 

1  See  vol.  xvii.  p.  482. 


1650.  DECLARATION.  17 

herein.  Your  word  '  extirpate  '  is  as  ill  collected  from  these 
grounds,  and  as  senseless  as  the  word  'Catholic,'  ordinarily 
used  by  you  when  you  mention  Catholic  Roman  Church.  The 
word  '  extirpate '  means  [ruin  of]  a  thing  already  rooted  and 
established :  which  word  [is]  made  good  by  the  proof  of  '  Cove- 
nants,' by  that  Letter  expressing  the  non-toleration  of  the  Mass 
(wherein,  it  seems,  you  place  all  the  '  Catholic  Religion,'  and 
there  you  show  some  ingenuity),1  and  [by]  your  instance  of 
what  was  practised  in  the  three  Towns  afore  mentioned :  do 
these  prove,  either  considered  apart  or  all  together,  the  '  extir- 
pation '  of  the  Catholic  Religion  ? 

"  By  what  Law  was  the  Mass  [ever  rooted,  or]  exercised  in 
these  places,  or  in  any  the  Dominions  of  England  or  Ireland, 
or  Kingdom  of  Scotland  ?  You  were  intruders  herein ;  you 
were  open  violators  of  the  known  Laws !  And  yet  you  call 
the  'Covenant/  and  that  [refusal]  in  the  Letter,  and  these 
practices  [at  Wexford,  Ross  and  Tredah],  'extirpation*  of 
the  Catholic  Religion,  —  [which  had]  thus  again  [been]  set 
on  foot  by  you,  by  the  advantage  of  your  Rebellion,  and  shak- 
ing off  the  just  Authority  of  the  State  of  England  over  you  I 
Whereas,  I  dare  be  confident  to  say,  You  durst  not  own  the 
saying  of  one  Mass,  [for]  above  these  eighty  years  in  Ireland. 
And  [only]  through  the  troubles  you  made,  and  through  the 
ries  you  brought  on  this  Nation  and  the  poor  People 
tlicrnof,  —  your  numbers,  which  is  very  ominous,  increasing 
with  the  [numbers  of  the]  wolves,  through  the  desolations  you 
made  in  the  Country;  —  [only  by  all  this]  did  you  recover 
:i  the  public  exercise  of  your  Mass !  And  for  the  main- 
ice  of  this,  thus  gained,  you  would  make  the  poor  People 
1 .  licve  that  it  is  ghostly  counsel,  and  given  in  love  to  them  as 
your  '  Flocks,'  That  thoy  should  run  into  Wars,  and  venture 
.  and  all  upon  such  a  ground  as  this  !  But  if  God  be 
jilt-ascil  to  unveil  you  of  your  sheeps-clothing,  that  they  [the 
People]  may  see  how  they  have  been  deluded,  and  by  whom, 
I  shall  exceedingly  rejoice;  and  indeed  for  their  sakes  only 
have  I  given  you  these  competent  characters,  — for  their  good, 
if  (Jfxl  shall  so  bless  it. 

1   Mf:ui-«  "  iii"onnonsno«i,"  M  tumal. 


18  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  i860. 

"  And  now  for  them  [the  People  of  Ireland],  I  do  ^articu- 
larly  declare  what  they  may  expect  at  my  hands  in  thia  point. 
Wherein  you  will  easily  perceive  that,  as  I  neither  have  [flat- 
tered] nor  shall  flatter  you,  so  neither  shall  I  go  about  to  delude 
them  with  specious  pretences,  as  you  have  ever  done. 

"  First,  therefore  :  I  shall  not,  where  I  have  power,  and  tbp 
Lord  is  pleased  to  bless  me,  suffer  the  exercise  of  the  Mass. 
where  I  can  take  notice  of  it.  [No,]  nor  [in  any  way]  suffer 
you  that  are  Papists,  where  I  can  find  you  seducing  the  People, 
or  by  any  overt  act  violating  the  Laws  established  ;  but  if  you 
come  into  my  hands,  I  shall  cause  to  be  inflicted  the  punish- 
ments appointed  by  the  Laws,  —  to  use  your  own  term,  secun- 
dum  gravitatem  delicti*  —  upon  you ;  and  [shall  try]  to  reduce 
things  to  their  former  state  on  this  behalf.2  As  for  the  Peo- 
ple, what  thoughts  they  have  in  matters  of  Religion  in  their 
own  breasts  I  cannot  reach ;  but  shall  think  it  my  duty,  if 
they  walk  honestly  and  peaceably,  Not  to  cause  them  in  the 
least  to  suffer  for  the  same.  And  shall  endeavor  to  walk 
patiently  and  in  love  towards  them,  to  see  if  at  any  time  it 
t;hall  please  God  to  give  them  another  or  a  better  mind.  And 
all  men  under  the  power  of  England,  within  this  Dominion, 
are  hereby  required  and  enjoined  strictly  and  religiously  to 
do  the  same. 

"To  the  second  [danger  threatened]  ;  which  is  'the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Lives  of  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Nation:'  —  to 
make  it  good  that  this  is  designed,  they  8  give  not  one  reason. 
Which  is  either  because  they  have  none  to  give;  or  else  for 
that  they  believe  the  People  will  receive  everything  for  truth 
they  say,  —  which  they  have  too  well  taught  them,  and  God 
knows  the  People  are  too  apt,  to  do.  But  I  will  a  little  help 
them.  They  speak  indeed  of  'rooting  out  the  Common  Peo- 
ple ; '  and  also,  by  way  of  consequent,  that  the  extirpating  the 
Catholic  Religion  is  not  to  be  effected  without  the  '  massacring, 
destroying  or  banishing  the  Catholic  Inhabitants.'  Which 

1  A  phrase  in  their  Pamphlet. 

2  No  cozening  here  ! 

8  Is  now  addressing  the  People ;  has  unconsciously  turned  away  from  the 
Priests,  and  put  them  into  the  third  person. 


1650.  DECLARATION.  19 

how  analogical  an  argument  this  is,  I  shall  easily  make  appear 
by  and  by. 

"  Alas,  the  generality  of  '  the  Inhabitants '  are  poor  '  Laity ' 
as  you  call  them,  and  ignorant  of  the  grounds  of  the  '  Catholic 
religion.' l  Are  they,  then,  so  interwoven  with  your  Church 
Interest  as  that  the  absence  of  them  makes  your  'Catholic 
Religion '  fall  to  the  ground  ?  We  know  you  think  not  so. 
You  reckon  yourselves,  and  yourselves  only,  the  pillars  and 
supporters  thereof ;  and  the  Common  People  [useful]  as  far 
as  they  have  the  exercise  of  club-law,  and,  like  the  ass  you 
ride  on,  obey  your  commands.  But  concerning  these  relations 
of  your  Religion  [and  your  right  to  practise  it],  enough  has 
been  spoken  in  another  place ;  —  only  you  love  to  mix  things 
for  your  advantage. 

"But  [now]  to  your  logic.  Here  is  your  argument:  The 
design  is  to  extirpate  the  Catholic  Religion ;  but  this  is  not  to 
be  done  but  by  the  massacring,  banishing  or  otherwise  destroy- 
ing the  Catholic  Inhabitants :  ergo  it  is  designed  to  massacre, 
banish  and  destroy  the  Catholic  Inhabitants.  —  To  try  this 
no-concluding  argument, —  [nothing-concluding]  but  yet  well 
rnnugh  agreeing  with  your  learning,  —  I  give  you  this  di- 
lemma ;  by  which  it  will  appear  That,  whether  your  Religion 
be  true  or  false,  this  will  not  follow :  — 

"  If  your  Religion  be  the  true  Religion,  yet  if  a  Nation  may 
degenerate  from  the  true  Religion,  and  apostatize,  as  too  many 
have  [evidently]  done,  —  (through  the  seducements  of  your 
Unman  Church  [say  we]), — then  it  will  not  follow  that  men 
must  be  '  massacred,  banished  or  otherwise  destroyed,'  neces- 
sarily;  no,  not  as  to  the  change  of  the  true  Religion  in  a  Na- 
tion or  Country  !*  Only,  this  argument  doth  wonderfully  well 
agree  with  your  principles  and  practice;  you  having  chiefly 
uiade  use  of  fire  and  sword,  in  all  the  changes  in  Religion  that 

1  Unimportant  they,  to  the  vigor  or  decline  of  it. 

*  A  subtle  "  dilemma,"  and  very  Oliverian ;  seems  to  eat  itself  like  a 
Serpeut-of-eternity,  and  l>e  very  circular  reasoning ;  yet  grounds  itself,  if 
examined,  upon  sharp  just  insight,  im<l  has  n-al  logical  validity.  "  Tail  y«ur 
Religion  trne,  men  have  changed  from  it  without  being  massacred  :  admit  it 
to  be  fal.-w,  will  you  say  thry  m-rd  massacring?  Whatever  Religion  you  may 
have,  I  think  you  have  nut  much  Logic  to  spare  !  " — 


20  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  1650. 

you  have  made  in  the  world.  [But  I  say,]  if  it  be  chang-e  of 
your  Catholic  Religion  so  called,  it  will  not  follow :  because 
there  may  be  found  out  another  means  than  '  massacring, 
destruction  and  banishment ; '  to  wit,  the  Word  of  God ;  which 
is  able  to  convert.  A  means  which  you  as  little  know  as  prac- 
tise ;  which  indeed  you  deprive  the  People  of !  [That  means 
may  be  found ;]  together  with  humanity,  good  life,  equal  and 
honest  dealing  with  men  of  a  different  opinion ;  —  which  we 
desire  to  exercise  towards  this  poor  People,  if  you,  by  your 
wicked  counsel,  make  them  not  incapable  to  receive  it,  by 
putting  them  into  blood ! 

"  And  therefore,  by  this  also  [which  you  talk  of  massacring], 
your  false  and  twisted  dealing  may  be  a  little  discovered. 
Well ;  your  words  are,  'massacre,  destroy  and  banish.'  —  Good 
now :  give  us  an  instance  of  one  man  since  my  coming  into  Ire- 
land, not  in  arms,  massacred,  destroyed  or  banished ;  concerning 
the  massacre  or  the  destruction  of  whom  justice  hath  not  been  done, 
or  endeavored  to  be  done.1  As  for  the  other  of  banishment,  I 
must  now  speak  unto  the  People,  whom  you  would  delude, 
and  whom  this  most  concerns ;  that  they  may  know  in  this 
also  what  to  expect  at  my  hands. 

"  The  question  is  of  the  destruction  of  life ;  or  of  that  which 
is  but  little  inferior  to  it,  to  wit,  of  banishment.  [Xow  First  .•] 
I  shall  not  willingly  take  or  suffer  to  be  taken  away  the  life 
of  any  man  not  in  arms,  but  by  the  trial  to  which  the  People 
of  this  Nation  are  subject  by  Law,  for  offences  against  the 
same.  And  [Secondly],  as  for  the  banishment,  it  hath  not 
hitherto  been  inflicted  on  any  but  such  who,  being  in  arms, 
might  justly,  upon  the  terms  they  were  taken  [under],  have 
been  put  to  death  :  —  as  [might]  those  who  are  instanced  in 
your  Declaration  to  be  '  sent  to  the  Tobacco  Islands/  And 
therefore  I  do  declare,  That  if  the  People  be  ready  to  run  to 
arms  by  the  instigation  of  their  Clergy  or  otherwise,  such  as 
God  by  His  providence  shall  give  into  my  hands  may  expect 
that  or  worse  measure  from  me  ;  but  not  otherwise. 

1  "  Concerning  the  two  first  of  which,"  in  orig.  The  italics,  in  this  pas- 
sage, are  mine ;  and  can  be  removed  so  soon  as  Macgeohegan,  Carte,  Claren- 
don and  Company,  have  got  to  be  well  understood. 


ir>50.  DECLARATION.  21 

"  Thirdly,  as  to  that  of  '  the  ruin  of  their  Fortune.'  You 
instance  the  Act  of  Subscription,1  '  whereby  the  estates  of  the 
Inhabitants  of  Ihis  Nation  are  sold,  so  as  there  reinaineth  now 
no  more  but  to  put  the  Purchasers  in  possession ; '  and  that  for 
this  cause  are  the  Forces  drawn  out  of  England.  And  that  you 
might  carry  the  Interest  far,  [so  as]  to  engage  the  Common 
sort  of  People  with  you,  you  farther  say  to  them,  That  '  the 
moderate  usage  [hitherto]  exercised  to  them  is  to  no  other  end 
but  to  our  private  advantage,  and  for  the  better  support  of  our 
Army ; '  [we]  intending  at  the  close  of  our  '  conquest,'  as  you 
term  it,  '  to  root  out  the  Common  People  also,  and  to  plant  the 
Luid  with  Colonies  to  be  brought  hither  out  of  England.'  This, 
consisting  of  divers  parts,  will  ask  distinct  answers. 

"  And  first,  to  the  Act  of  Subscription.  It 's  true  there  is 
such  an  Act ;  —  and  it  was  a  just  one.  For  when,  by  your 
execrable  Massacre  and  Rebellion,  you  had  not  only  raised  a 
bloody  War  to  justify  the  same ;  and  thereby  occasioned  the 
exhausting  the  Treasure  of  England  in  the  prosecution  of  so 
just  a  War  against  you,  —  was  it  not  a  wise  and  just  act  in 
the  State  to  raise  money  by  escheating  the  Lauds  of  those  who 
had  a  hand  in  the  Rebellion  ?  Was  it  not  fit  to  make  their 
Estates  to  defray  the  charge,  who  had  caused  the  trouble  ? 
The  best  therefore  that  lies  in  this  argument  is  this,  —  and 
that  only  reaching  to  them  who  have  been  in  arms,  for  farther 
it  goes  not :  '  You  have  forfeited  your  Estates,  and  it  is  likely 
they  will  be  escheated  to  make  satisfaction  ;  and  therefore  you 
had  better  fight  it  out  than  repent  or  give  off  now ;  —  or  [else], 

1  At  the  first  breaking  out  of  the  Irish  Rebellion  into  an  Irish  Massacre, 
the  King's  Exchequer  being  void,  and  the  case  like  a  case  of  conflagration,  ;ui 
Act  was  passed,  engaging  the  Public  Faith,  That  whoever  would  "  subscribe  " 
money  towards  suppressing  the  said  Rebellion  in  Ireland,  and  detestable  and 
horrible  Massacre  of  Protestants  there,  should,  with  liberal  interest,  be  n-ji.r-1 
from  the  forfeited  Estates  of  the  Rebels, — so  soon  as  they  were  got.  Thi.s  is 
the  "  Act  of  Sulwcription  "  spoken  of  here.  His  Majesty  said:  "  How  will 
that  answer?  It  is  like  selling  the  bear's  skin  before  you  have  caught  your 
bear."  A  bargain,  nevertheless,  which  hundreds  and  thousands  entered  into, 
with  free  puree  and  overflowing  heart ;  "  above  a  Quarter  of  a  Million  "  raised 
by  it ;  generous  emotion,  and  tragic  terror  and  pity,  lending  sanction  to  doubt- 
ful prbfit-and-loHs.  A  very  wioe  and  just  Act  <>f  Parliament,  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant  think* ;  which  did  abu  fulul  ita  engagements  by  aud  by. 


22  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN    IN   IRELAND.  1650. 

see  what  mercy  you  may  find  from  the  State  of  England.  And 
seeing  holy  Church  is  engaged  in  it,  we  will,  by  one  means  or 
another,  hook  in  the  Commons,  and  make  them  sensible  that 
they  are  as  much  concerned  as  you,  though  they  were  never  in 
arms,  or  came  quickly  off  ! '  —  And  for  this  cause  doubtless  are 
these  two  coupled  together  ;  by  which  your  honest  dealing  is 
manifest  enough. 

"  But  what  ?  Was  the  English  Army  brought  over  for  this 
purpose,  as  you  allege  ?  Do  you  think  that  the  State  of  Eng- 
land will  be  at  Five  or  Six  Millions'  charge  merely  to  procure 
Purchasers  to  be  invested  in  that  for  which  they  did  disburse 
little  above  a  Quarter  of  a  Million  ?  Although  there  be  a  Jus- 
tice in  that  also,  which  ought,  and  I  trust  will  be  seasonably 
performed  toward  them.  —  No,  I  can  give  you  a  better  reason 
for  the  Army  coming  over  than  this.  England  hath  had  ex- 
perience of  the  blessing  of  God  in  prosecuting  just  and  right- 
eous Causes,  whatever  the  cost  and  hazard  be  ! 1  And  if  ever 
men  were  engaged  in  a  righteous  Cause  in  the  world,  this  will 
scarce  be  a  second  to  it.  We  are  come  to  ask  an  account  of 
the  innocent  blood  that  hath  been  shed ;  and  to  endeavor  to 
bring  to  an  account  —  by  the  blessing  and  presence  of  the 
Almighty,  in  whom  alone  is  our  hope  and  strength  —  all  who, 
by  appearing  in  arms,  seek  to  justify  the  same.  We  come  to 
break  the  power  of  a  company  of  lawless  Rebels,  who  having 
cast  off  the  Authority  of  England,  live  as  enemies  to  Human 
Society ;  whose  principles,  the  world  hath  experience,  are,  To 
destroy  and  subjugate  all  men  not  complying  with  them.  We 
come,  by  the  assistance  of  God,  to  hold  forth  and  maintain  the 
lustre  and  glory  of  English  Liberty 2  in  a  Nation  where  we  have 
an  undoubted  right  to  do  it ;  —  wherein  the  People  of  Ireland 

1  Hear  this  Lord  Lieutenant ! 

2  "  Liberty,"  here,  which  much  astonishes  our  Irish  friends,  is  very  far 
from  meaning  what  in  most  modern  dialects  it  now  does.     "  Liberty,"  with 
this  Lord  Lieutenant,  means  "  rigorous  settled  Obedience  to  Laws  that  are 
just."    Which  it  is  very  noble  indeed  to  settle,  "  and  hold  forth  and  maintain  " 
against  all  men.    Laws  grounded  on  the  eternal  Fact  of  Things,  —  which  is 
a  much  preferable  "  ground  "  to  the  temporary  Fiction  of  Things,  as  set  forth 
at  any  Clonmacnoise,  Kilkenny,  or  other  Supreme  Centre-of -Jargon,  there  or 
elsewhere,  that  has  been  or  that  can  be  ! 


1650.  DECLARATION.  23 

(if  they  listen  not  to  such  seducers  as  you  are)  may  equally 
participate  in  all  benefits ;  to  use  [their]  liberty  and  fortune 
equally  with  Englishmen,  if  they  keep  out  of  arms. 

"  And  now,  having  said  this  to  you,  I  have  a  word  to  them  ; 
that  in  this  point,  which  concerns  them  in  their  estates  and 
fortunes,  they  may  know  what  to  trust  to.  Such  as  have  been 
formerly  in  arms,  may,  submitting  themselves,  have  their  cases 
presented  to  the  State  of  England ;  —  where  no  doubt  the  State 
will  be  ready  to  take  into  consideration  the  nature  and  quality 
of  their  actings,  and  deal  mercifully  with  them.  As  for  those 
now  in  arms,  who  shall  come  in,  and  submit,  and  give  Engage- 
ments for  their  future  quiet  and  honest  carriage,  and  submis- 
sion to  the  State  of  England,  I  doubt  not  but  they  will  find 
like  merciful  consideration  ;  —  except  only  the  Leading  Per- 
sons and  principal  Contrivers  of  this  Rebellion,  whom  I  am 
confident  they  will  reserve  to  make  examples  of  Justice,  what- 
soever hazards  they  incur  thereby.  —  And  as  for  such  Private 
Soldiers  as  lay  down  their  arms,  and  shall  live  peaceably  and 
honestly  at  their  several  homes,  they  shall  be  permitted  so  to 
do.  —  And  [in  general],  for  the  first  two  sorts,  '  for  such  as 
have  been  or  as  now  are  in  arms  and  shall  submit/  I  shall 
humbly  and  effectually  represent  their  cases  to  the  Parliament, 
as  far  as  becomes  the  duty  and  place  I  bear.  P>ttt  as  for  those 
who,  notwithstanding  all  this,  persist  and  continue  in  arms, 
they  must  expect  what  the  Providence  of  God,  in  that  which 
is  falsely  called  the  Chance  of  War,  will  cast  upon  them. 

••  For  such  of  the  Nobility,  Gentry  and  Commons  of  Ireland 
as  have  not  been  actors  in  this  Rebellion,  they  shall  and  may 
expect  the  protection  in  their  Goods,  Liberties  and" Lives  which 
I  -aw  gives  them  ;  and  in  their  husbandry,  merchandising, 
manufactures  and  other  trading  whatsoever,  the  same.  They 
1>»  h.iving  themselves  as  becomes  honest  and  peaceable  men; 
testifying  their  good  affections,  upon  all  occasions,  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  State  of  England,  equal  justice  shall  be  done  them 
with  the  English.  They  shall  bear  proportionably  with  them 
in  teixes.  And  if  the  Soldiery  be  insolent  upon  them,  upon 
r<mipl:iint  ;ui(l  proof,  it  shall  l>e  punished  with  utmost  severity, 
and  they  protected  equally  with  Englishmen. 


24  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  1650. 

"  And  having  .said  this,  and  purposing  honestly  to  perform 
it,  —  if  this  People  shall  headily  run  on  after  the  counsels  of 
their  Prelates  and  Clergy  and  other  Leaders,  I  hope  to  be  free 
from  the  misery  and  desolation,  blood  and  ruin,  that  shall 
befall  them;  and  shall  rejoice  to  exercise  utmost  severity 
against  them. 

[OLIVER  CROMWELL.]  1 

[Given  at  YOUGHAL,  —  January,  1649.J  " 

This  Declaration,  as  appears  here,  does  not  date  or  even  ex- 
pressly sign  itself :  but  by  search,  chiefly  in  a  certain  Manu- 
script Fragment,  which  will  by  and  by  concern  us  farther,2  we 
find  that  it  was  drawn  up  at  Youghal  after  the  15th,  and  came 
forth  printed  at  Cork  before  the  29th  of  January ;  on  which 
latter  day  the  Army  took  the  field  again.  And  so  we  leave 
this  Declaration  ;  —  one  of  the  remarkablest  State-Papers  ever 
published  in  Ireland  since  Strongbow,  or  even  since  St.  Patrick, 
first  appeared  there. 


LETTERS   CXIX.-CXXI. 

THB  Speaker's  Letter  of  Recall  has  never  yet  reached  Ire- 
land ;  and  the  rumor  of  it  already  has ;  which,  as  we  intimated, 
sets  the  Enemy  on  fresh  schemes,  whereof  advantage  might 
be  taken.  The  unwearied  Lord  Lieutenant,  besides  his  labors 
known  to  us,  has  been  rehabilitating  Courts  of  Justice  in 
Dublin,  settling  contributions,  and  doing  much  other  work  ; 
and  now,  the"  February  or  even  January  weather  being  unusu- 

1  Declaration,  &c.  as  above  given.  Licensed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Army. 
Printed  at  Cork :  and  reprinted  at  London,  by  E.  Griffin,  and  are  to  be  sold  in  the 
Old  Bailey;  March  21st,  1649.  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  462,  §  6. 
In  Ayscongh  MSS.  no.  4769  (a  Fragment  of  an  anonymous  Contemporary 
Narrative,  which  will  by  and  by  be  more  specially  referred  to),  are  some  two 
pages  of  this  Declaration,  transcribed  from  the  Cork  Edition :  the  concluding 
words  are  not  "  exercise  utmost  severity  against  them,"  but  "  act  severity 
against  them,"  which  probably  is  the  true  reading. 

*  Ayscongh  MSS.  no.  47G9  (Fragment  of  a  Narrative,  referred  to  in  the 
previous  Note),  pp.  100  et  seq. 


16W.  LETTER  CXTX.    CASTLETOWN.  25 

ally  good,  he  takes  the  field  again,  in  hopes  of  perhaps  soon 
finishing.  The  unhappy  Irish  are  again  about  excommuni- 
cating one  another ;  the  Supreme  Council  of  Kilkenny  is  again 
one  wild  howl ;  and  Ormond  is  writing  to  the  King  to  recall 
him.  Now  is  the  Lieutenant's  time;  the  February  weather 
being  good ! 

LETTER  CXIX. 

HERE  is  another  small  excerpt  from  Bulstrode,  which  we 
may  take  along  with  us ;  a  small  speck  of  dark  Ireland  and  its 
affairs  rendered  luminous  for  an  instant.  To  which  there  is 
reference  in  this  Letter.  We  saw  Enniscorthy  taken  on  the 
last  day  of  September,  the  "  Castle  and  Village  of  Enniscorthy," 
"  which  belongs  to  Mr.  Robert  Wallop ; "  a  Garrison  was 
settled  there ;  and  this  in  some  three  months'  time  is  what 
becomes  of  it. 

9th  January,  1649,  Letters  reach  Bulstrode,  perhaps  a  fort- 
night after  date,  "That  the  Enemy  surprised  Enniscorthy 
Castle  in  this  manner :  Some  Irish  Gentlemen  feasted  the 
Garrison  Soldiers;  and  sent  in  women  to  sell  them  strong- 
water,  of  which  they  drank  too  much  ;  and  then  the  Irish  fell 
upon  them,  took  the  Garrison,  and  put  all  the  Officers  and 
Soldiers  to  the  sword."  Sharp  practice  on  the  part  of  the  Irish 
Gentlemen ;  and  not  well  advised  !  Which  constrained  the 
Lord  Lieutenant,  when  he  heard  of  it,  to  order  "  that  the  Irish," 
P.ipist  or  suspected  Irish,  "  should  be  put  out  of  such  Garrisons 
as  were  in  the  power  of  Parliament,"  1  —  sent  to  seek  quarters 
elsewhere. 

"  For  the  Honorable   William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"CASTLETOWN,  15th  February,  164'J. 

"MR.  SPEAKER,  —Having  refreshed  our  men  for  some  short 
time  in  our  Winter-quarters,8  and  health  being  pretty  well  re- 
covered, we  thought  fit  to  take  the  field  ;  and  to  attempt  such 
things  as  God  by  His  providence  should  lead  us  to  upon  the 
Enemy. 

»  Whitlocke,  p.  421.  '  Youghal  had  been  the  bead-quarter 


26  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  15  Feb 

"  Our  resolution  was  to  fall  into  the  Enemy's  quarters  two 
ways.  The  one  party,  being  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  troops  of 
horse  and  dragoons  and  about  two  thousand  foot,  were  ordered 
to  go  up  by  the  way  of  Carrick  into  the  County  of  Kilkenny 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Reynolds  ;  whom  Major-General 
Ireton  was  to  follow  with  a  reserve.  I  myself  was  to  go  by 
the  way  of  Mallow,1  over  the  Blackwater,  towards  the  County 
of  Limerick  and  the  County  of  Tipperary,  with  about  twelve 
troops  of  horse,  and  three  troops  of  dragoons,  and  between  two 
and  three  hundred  foot. 

''  I  began  my  march  upon  Tuesday  the  nine-aud-twentieth 
of  January,  from  Youghal :  and  upon  Thursday  the  one-and- 
thirtieth,  I  possessed  a  Castle  called  Kilkenny,  upon  the  edge 
of  the  County  of  Limerick ;  where  I  left  thirty  foot.  From 
thence  I  marched  to  a  Strong-house  belonging  to  Sir  Richard 
Everard  (called  Clogheeu),2  who  is  one  of  the  Supreme  Coun- 
cil ;  where  I  left  a  troop  of  horse  and  some  dragoons.  From 
thence  I  marched  to  Roghill  Castle,  which  was  possessed  by 
some  Ulster  foot,  and  a  party  of  the  Enemy's  horse ;  which 
upon  summons  (I  having  taken  the  Captain  of  horse  prisoner 
before)  was  rendered  to  me.  These  places  being  thus  pos- 
sessed gave  us  much  command  (together  with  some  other  holds 
we  have)  of  the  White-Knights'  and  Roche's  Country ;  and 
of  all  the  land  from  Mallow  to  the  Suir-side  ;  —  especially  by 
[help  of]  another  Castle,  called  Old  Castletown  [which],  since 
my  march,  [was]  taken  by  my  Lord  of  Broghil.  Which  I 
had  sent  to  his  Lordship  to  endeavor  ;  as  also  a  Castle  of  Sir 
Edward  Fitzharris,  over  the  Mountains  in  the  County  of  Lim- 
erick ;  —  I  having  left  his  Lordship  at  Mallow,  with  about  six 
or  seven  hundred  horse  and  four  or  five  hundred  foot,  to  pro- 
tect those  parts,  and  your  interest  in  Munster ;  lest  while  we 
were  abroad,  Inchiquin,  whose  forces  lay  about  Limerick  and 
the  County  of  Kerry,  should  fall  in  behind  us.  His  Lordship 
drew  two  cannon  to  the  aforesaid  Castle  ;  which  having  sum- 
moned, they  refused.  His  Lordship,  having  bestowed  about 

1  "  Muyallo  "  he  writes,  and  "  Mayallo." 

2  "  Cloghern  "  in  the  old  Newspaper ;  but  it  seems  to  be  misprinted,  as 
almost  all  these  names  are.     "  Roghill "  I  find  nowhere  now  extant. 


1660.  LETTER  CXIX.    CASTLETOWN.  27 

ten  shot  upon  it,  which  made  their  stomachs  come  down,  —  he 
gave  all  the  soldiers  quarter  for  life ;  and  shot  all  the  Officers, 
being  six  in  number,  to  death.  Since  the  taking  of  these  Gar- 
risons, the  Irish  have  sent  their  commissioners  to  compound 
for  their  contribution  as  far  as  the  walls  of  Limerick. 

"  I  marched  from  Roghill  Castle  over  the  Suir,  with  very 
much  difficulty;  and  from  thence  to  Fethard,  almost  in  the 
heart  of  the  County  of  Tipperary ;  where  was  a  Garrison  of 
the  Enemy.  The  Town  is  most  pleasantly  seated ;  having  a 
very  good  Wall  with  round  and  square  bulwarks,  after  the  old 
manner  of  fortifications.  We  came  thither  in  the  night,  and 
indeed  were  very  much  distressed  by  sore  and  tempestuous 
wind  and  rain.  After  a  long  march,  we  knew  not  well  how  to 
dispose  of  ourselves ;  but  finding  an  old  Abbey  in  the  suburbs, 
ami  some  cabins  and  poor  houses,  —  we  got  into  them,  and 
had  opportunity  to  send  [the  Garrison]  a  summons.  They 
shot  at  my  trumpet ;  and  would  not  listen  to  him,  for  an  hour's 
space  :  but  having  some  Officers  in  our  party  whom  they  knew. 
I  sent  them,  To  let  them  know  I  was  there  with  a  good  part 
of  the  Army.  We  shot  not  a  shot  at  them ;  but  they  were 
very  angry,  and  fired  very  earnestly  upon  us  ;  telling  us,  It  was 
not  a  time  of  night  to  send  a  summons.  But  yet  in  the  end, 
tin  (rovernor  was  willing  to  send  out  two  commissioners,  —  I 
think  rather  to  see  whether  there  was  a  force  sufficient  to  force 
him,  than  to  any  other  end.  After  almost  a  whole  night  spent 
in  treaty,  the  Town  was  delivered  to  me  the  next  morning,  upon 
terms  which  we  usually  call  honorable;  which  I  was  the  will- 
in  •_,'»•!•  to  give,  because  I  had  little  above  two  hundred  foot,  and 
in-  it  her  ladders  nor  guns,  nor  anything  else  to  force  them. 
That  night,  there  being  about  seventeen  companies  of  the 
Ulster  foot  in  Cashel,  above  five  miles  from  thence,  the}'  quit 
it  in  some  disorder ;  and  the  Sovereign  and  the  Aldermen  sent 
to  me  a  petition,  desiring  that  I  would  protect  them.  Which 
I  have  also  made  a  quarter. 

"  From  thence  I  marched  towards  Callan ;  hearing  that 
Colonel  Reynolds  was  there,  with  the  Party  before  mentioned. 
When  I  e.ime  thither,  I  found  he  had  fallen  upon  the  Enemy's 
horse,  ami  nmt.-.l  th-Mii  (l.«'in-,'  about  a  hundred),  with  Lis 


28  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN    IN*   IRELAND  15 Feb. 

forlorn ;  [he]  took  my  Lord  of  Ossory's  Captain-Lieutenant, 
and  another  Lieutenant  of  Lorse,  prisoners;  —  and  one  of 
those  who  betrayed  our  Garrison  of  Euniscorthy ;  whom  we 
hanged.  The  Enemy  had  possessed  three  Castles  in  the 
Town;  one  of  them  belonging  to  one  Butler,  very  consider- 
able; the  other  two  had  about  a  hundred  or  hundred  and 
twenty  men  in  them,  —  which  [latter]  he  attempted;  and 
they,  refusing  conditions  seasonably  offered,  were  put  all  to 
the  sword.  Indeed  some  of  your  soldiers  did  attempt  very 
notably  in  this  service :  —  I  do  not  hear  there  were  six  men  of 
ours  lost.  Butler's  Castle  was  delivered  upon  conditions,  for 
all  to  march  away,  leaving  their  arms  behind  them.  Wherein 
I  have  placed  a  company  of  foot  and  a  troop  of  horse,  under 
the  command  of  my  Lord  Colvil ;  the  place  being  six  miles 
from  Kilkenny.  From  hence  Colonel  Keynolds  was  sent  with 
his  regiment  to  remove  a  Garrison  of  the  Enemy's  from 
Knocktofer  (being  the  way  of  our  communication  to  Ross) ; 
which  accordingly  he  did. 

"  We  marched  back  with  the  rest  of  the  body  to  Fethard l 
and  Cashel:  where  we  are  now  quartered,  —  having  good 
plenty  both  of  horse  meat  and  man's  meat  for  a  time ;  and 
being  indeed,  we  may  say,  even  almost  in  the  heart  and  bowels 
of  the  Enemy ;  ready  to  attempt  what  God  shall  next  direct. 
And  blessed  be  His  name  only  for  this  good  success ;  and  for 
this  [also],  That  we  do  not  find  our  men  are  at  all  consider- 
ably sick  upon  this  expedition,  though  indeed  it  hath  been 
very  blustering  weather.  — 

"  I  had  almost  forgot  one  business :  The  Major-General  was 
very  desirous  to  gain  a  Pass  over  the  Suir ;  where  indeed  we 
had  none  but  by  boat,  or  when  the  weather  served.  Where- 
fore, on  Saturday  in  the  evening,  he  marched  with  a  party  of 
horse  and  foot  to  Ardfinnan ;  where  was  a  Bridge,  and  at  the 
foot  of  it  a  strong  Castle.  Which  he,  about  four  o'clock  the 
next  morning,  attempted;  —  killed  about  thirteen  of  the  Ene- 
my's outguard;  lost  but  two  men,  and  eight  or  ten  wounded : 
the  Enemy  yielded  the  place  to  him,  and  we  are  possessed  of 

1  Letter,  "  Fethard,  9th  February,"  to  Colonel  Phayr,  Governor  of  Cork, 
for  reinforcements :  Appendix,  No.  18. 


LETTER  CXIX.    CASTLETOWM.  X- 

it,  —  being  a  very  considerable  Pass,  and  the  nearest  to  our 
Pass  at  Cappoquin  over  the  Blackwater,  whither  we  can  bring 
guns,  ammunition,  or  other  things  from  Youghal  by  water, 
and  [then]  over  this  Pass  to  the  Army.  The  County  of 
Tipperary  have  submitted  to  £1^00  a  month  contribution, 
although  they  have  six  or  seven  of  the  Enemy's  Garrisons 
yet  upon  them. 

u  Sir,  I  desire  the  charge  of  England  as  to  this  War  may  be 
abated  as  much  as  may  be,  and  as  we  know  you  do  desire, 
out  of  your  care  to  the  Commonwealth.  But  if  you  expect 
your  work  to  be  done,  if  the  marching  Army  be  not  constantly 
paid,  and  the  course  taken  that  hath  been  humbly  represented, 
—  indeed  it  will  not  be  for  the  thrift  of  England,  as  far  as 
England  is  concerned  in  the  speedy  reduction  of  Ireland.  The 
money  we  raise  upon  the  Counties  maintains  the  Garrison 
forces;  and  hardly  that.  If  the  active  force  be  not  main- 
tained, and  all  contingencies  defrayed,  how  can  yon  expect  but 
to  have  a  lingering  business  of  it  ?  Surely  we  desire  not  to 
spend  a  shilling  of  your  treasury,  wherein  our  consciences 
do  not  prompt  us.  We  serve  you  ;  we  are  willing  to  be  out 
of1  our  trade  of  war;  and  shall  hasten,  by  God's 


and  grace,  to  the  end  of  our  work,  as  the  laborer  doth  to  be 
at  his  rest.  This  makes  us  bold  to  be  earnest  with  you  for 
Uf^UHHMV  supplies:  —  that  of  money  is  one.  And  there  be 
some  other  things,  —  which  indeed  I  do  not  think  for  your 
service  to  speak  of  publicly,  which  I  shall  humbly  represent 
to  the  Council  of  State,  —  wherewith  I  desire  we  may  be 
accommodated. 

"Sir,  the  Lord,  who  doth  all  these  things,  gives  hopes  of  a 
speedy  issue  to  this  business;  and,  I  am  persuaded,  will  gra- 
ckmsly  appear  in  it.  And  truly  there  is  no  fear  of  the  strength 
f  enemies  round  about,  nor  of 


tongues  at  home.  God  hath  hitherto  fenced  yon  against  all 
those,  to  wonder  and  •iiHMiiifinl  ;  they  are  tokens  of  your 
iiy  and  success  :  —only  it  will  be  good  for  700,  and  us 


that  serve  you,  to  fear  the  Lord  ;  to  fear  unbelief,  self-seeking 
>  to  bare  <kwe  wish. 


30  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  is  Feb. 

confidence  in  an  arm  of  fiesh,  and  opinion  of  any  instruments 
that  they  are  other  than  as  dry  bones.     That  God  be  merciful 
in  these  things,  and  bless  you,  is  the  humble  prayer  of,  Sir, 
"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." l 

Commons  Journals,  25th  February,  1649-50:  "A  Letter 
from  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  from  Castletown,  15° 
Felruarii,  1649,  was  this  day  read;  and  ordered  to  be  forth- 
with printed  and  published.  Ordered,  That  a  Letter  of  Thanks 
be  sent  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland ;  and  that  Mr.  Scott 
do  prepare  the  Letter ;  and  that  Mr.  Speaker  do  sign  the  same 
Resolved,  That  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  have  the  use 
of  the  Lodgings  called  the  Cockpit,  of  the  Spring  Garden  and 
St.  James's  House,  and  the  command  of  St.  James's  Park." 

This  Letter  of  Thanks,  and  very  handsome  Resolution  did, 
as  we  shall  find,  come  duly  to  hand.  The  Cockpit  was  then 
and  long  afterwards  a  sumptuous  Royal  "Lodging"  in  White- 
hall ;  Henry  the  Eighth's  place  of  Cock-fighting :  —  stood  till 
not  very  long  ago,  say  the  Topographers,  where  the  present 
Privy-Council  Office  is.  The  Cromwell  Family  hereupon 
prepared  to  remove  thither ;  not  without  reluctance  on  Mrs. 
Cromwell's  part,  as  Ludlow  intimates. 


LETTER  CXX. 

DEEP  sunk  among  the  Paper-Masses  of  the  British  Museum 
is  an  anonymous  Fragment  of  a  Narrative  of  Oliver's  Campaign 
in  Ireland ;  Fragment  copied,  as  would  seem,  several  genera- 
tions ago,  from  an  earlier  Original,  the  beginning  and  end  of 
which  were  already  lost,  —  torn  off  by  careless  hands,  and  con- 
sumed as  waste-paper.  The  Copyist,  with  due  hopeful  punc- 
tuality, has  left  blank  leaves  at  the  beginning  and  end :  but 
to  no  purpose ;  they  are  and  continue  blank  loaves.  In  this 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromuxlliana,  p.  77) ;  see  also  Commons  Journals,  25th 
February,  1649-50. 


1660.  LETTER  CXX.    BEFORE  CAHIR.  31 

mutilated  obscure  state,  it  lies  among  the  Manuscripts  of  the 
British  Museum;  —  will  perhaps  be  printed  by  some  Dryas- 
dust Society,  in  time.1  It  is  by  no  means  a  Narrative  of  much 
merit:  entirely  anonymous,  as  we  say,  without  specific  date 
or  outward  indication  of  any  kind ;  but  written  as  if  by  a  con- 
temporary or  even  a  fellow-actor,  in  a  flat,  diffuse,  but  au- 
thentic and  exact  manner.  In  obscure  cases,  as  wo  have 
already  found,  it  is  worth  consulting  here  and  there;  —  con- 
tains,  in  particular,  the  following  and  some  other  unimportant 
Cromwell  Letters,  not  found  elsewhere,  which  we  make  a  duty 
of  preserving. 

"  For  the  Governor  of  Cahir  Castle :  These. 

"  [BEFORE  CAHIR,]  24th  Feb.  1649. 

"SiR, — Having  brought  the  Army  and  my  cannon  near  this 
place,  —  according  to  my  usual  manner  in  summoning  places, 
I  thought  fit  to  offer  you  Terms,  honorable  for  soldiers  :  That 
you  may  march  away,  with  your  baggage,  arms  and  colors ; 
free  from  injury  or  violence.  But  if  I  be  necessitated  to  bend 
my  cannon  upon  you,  you  must  expect  the  extremity  usual  in 
such  cases. 

"  To  avoid  blood,  this  is  offered  to  you  by 

"  Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

What  became  of  Cahir  Castle,  of  it  and  of  others,  will  ap- 
pear in  the  next  Letter. 

1  It  is  already  printed,  and  has  been  for  a  hundred  years,  —  though  the 
sleepy  Catalogues  give  no  sign!  As  Appendix  to  the  Reprint  of  [Borlace's) 
Hillary  of  the  Irish  Rebellion  (Dublin,  1743),  the  Piece  is  given  entire,  with 
"Mr.  Cliffe,  Ireton's  S..r«t:iry,"  specified  as  Author.  The  Museum  Copy 
"  want*  only  some  three  lines  at  one  end  and  fifteen  at  the  other  ; "  and  has 
"  insignificant  verbal  variations  "  from  the  Printed  Copy,  where  they  have 
been  collated.  Our  sole  authority  here  is  still  the  Manuscript  (Note  to  Third 
Edition.) 

1  Narrative  Fragment  (iu  Aysc-ough  MSS.  no.  4769  cited  above). 


32  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN    IN   IRELAND.  6  March, 


LETTER  CXXI. 

[For  the  Honorable  John  Bradshaw,  Esquire,  President  of  the 
Council  of  State :  These.] 

"  CASHEL,  5th  March,  1649. 

"  [SiR,]  — .  .  .It  pleaseth  God  still  to  enlarge  your  interest 
here.  The  Castle  of  Cahir,  very  considerable,  built  upon  a 
rock,  and  seated  in  an  island  in  the  midst  of  the  Suir,  was 
lately  rendered  to  me.  It  cost  the  Earl  of  Essex,  as  I  am  in- 
formed, about  eight  weeks'  siege  with  his  army  and  artillery.1 
It  is  now  yours  without  the  loss  of  one  man.  So  also  is  the 
Castle  of  Kiltinan  j  a  very  large  and  strong  Castle  of  the  Lord 
of  Dunboyne's  ;  this  latter  I  took  in  with  my  cannon,  without 
the  loss  of  a  man. 

"  We  have  taken  the  Castle  of  Golden  Bridge,  another  pass 
upon  the  Suir ;  as  also  the  Castle  of  Dundrum,  at  which  we 
lost  about  six  men,  —  Colonel  Zanchy,  who  commanded  the 
party,  being  shot  through  the  hand.  We  have  placed  another 
strong  Garrison  at  Ballynakill,  upon  the  edge  of  King's  and 
Queen's  Counties.  We  have  divers  Garrisons  in  the  County 
of  Limerick  ;  and  by  these  we  take  away  the  Enemy's  sub- 
sistence, and  diminish  their  contributions.  By  which  in  time 
I  hope  they  will  sink.  .  .  . 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  8 

1  In  1599  (Camden  ;  in  Kennet,  ii.  614) ;  but  the  "  eight  weeks  "  are  by  no 
means  mentioned  in  Camdeii !  The  Castle,  a  rather  extensive  building,  over- 
looking from  its  rock  "  the  left  bank  of  the  main  stream  of  the  River,"  is  now 
a  barrack  for  soldiers.  Anciently,  and  still,  a  chief  place  of  the  Butler 
Family. 

8  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  77) ;  see  also  Commons  Journals  (vi, 
381),  12th  March,  1649-50. 


1650.  LETTER  CXXII.    BEFORE   KILKENNY.  33 


LETTERS   CXXII.-CXXXII. 

HENRY  CROMWELL,  "  Colonel  Henry,"  and  the  Lord  Broghil 
are  busy  with  Inchiquin  in  Limerick  County,  to  good  purpose; 
as  other  Colonels  are  with  other  rebels  elsewhere,  everywhere ; 
and  "  our  Enemies  will  not  stand,  but  have  marched  to  Kil- 
kenny." Kilkenny  once  taken,  "  it  is  not  thought  they  will 
be  able  to  recruit  their  Army,  or  take  the  field  again  this 
summer."  On  Friday,  22d  March,  the  Lord  Lieutenant  comes 
in  view  of  Kilkenny :  here,  out  of  dim  old  pamphlets  and 
repositories,  readjusted  into  some  degree  of  clearness,  is  suf- 
ficient record  of  what  befell  there.  The  first  Summons  goes 
on  Friday  evening:  — 


LETTER  CXXII. 

"To  the  Governor,  and  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  of  the  City  of 
Kilkenny:  These. 

"  [BEFORE  KILKENNY,]  22d  March,  1649. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  My  coming  hither  is  to  endeavor,  if  God 
so  please  to  bless  me,  the  reduction  of  the  City  of  Kilkenny 
to  their  obedience  to  the  State  of  England; — from  which, 
by  an  unheard-of  Massacre  of  the  innocent  English,  you  have 
endeavored  to  rend  yourselves.  And  as  God  hath  begun  to 
judge  you  with  His  sore  plagues,  so  will  He  follow  you  until 
He  hath  destroyed  you,  if  you  repent  not.  Your  Cause  hath 
been  judged  already  in  England  upon  them  who  did  abet  your 
evils:1  what  may  the  l'riiu:ip:ils  then  expect  ?  — 

1  Connor  Lord  Macgnire  (State  Trials,  iv.  654-754,  7th  Feb.  1644-5),  ho 
and  others  have  had  pulilic  trial,  doom  and  death,  long  ttince,  for  that :  l>y  the 
I>aw  of  England,  well  ascertained,  known,  and  acted  on,  this  long  while,  it  is 
death  to  have  been  concerned  in  that. 
VOL.  xvin.  3 


34  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN  IRELAND.        23  March, 

"  By  this  free  dealing,  you  see  I  entice  you  not  to  a  com- 
pliance. You  may  have  Terms  [such  as]  may  save  you  in 
your  lives,  liberties  and  estates,  according  to  what  may  be 
fitting  for  me  to  grant  and  you  to  receive.  If  you  choose  for 
the  worst,  blame  yourselves.  In  confidence  of  the  gracious 
blessing  and  presence  of  God  with  His  own  Cause,  which  by 
many  testimonies  this  is,  —  I  shall  hope  for  a  good  issue  upon 
my  endeavors. 

"  Expecting  a  return  from  you,  I  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

In  Kilkenny  are  two  military  Governors,  one  of  the  City, 
one  of  the  Castle ;  a  Mayor  with  his  Citizens  and  civic  Func- 
tionaries; not  to  speak  of  Priests,  miscellaneous  clerical  or 
other  wreck  of  the  once  Supreme  Council  of  Kilkenny,  now 
hastily  exploded :  all  of  whom  this  Letter  of  Friday  evening 
throws  into  the  natural  agitation,  —  into  the  necessity  of  some 
swift  resolution  conjunct  or  several.  On  the  morrow  morning, 
Butler,  "Sir  Walter  Butler,"  Governor  of  the  City,  answers 
with  lion  heart,  or  at  least  with  lion  voice  and  face,  laconically 
in  the  name  of  all :  — 

"For  General  Cromwell. 

"  KILKENNY,  23  Martii,  1649. 

"  SIB,  —  Your  Letter  I  have  received  ;  and  in  answer  there- 
of :  —  I  am  commanded  to  maintain  this  City  for  his  Majesty  ; 
which,  by  the  power  of  God,  I  am  resolved  to  do.  —  Sir, 

"Your  servant, 

"WALTER  BUTLER." 

So  that  we  have  nothing  for  it  but  to  "  take  the  best  view 
we  can  where  to  plant  our  batteries;"  —  send,  in  the  mean 
while,  another  Letter  with  more  precise  explanation  of  our 
terms,  —  Letter  now  lost,  —  which  probably  occupies  the  Gov- 

1  Narrative  Fragment  (in  Ayscough  MSS.  no.  4769) :  found  likewise,  with 
date  23d  March,  in  King's  Pamphlets,  sin.  4to,  no.  464,  art.  2;  where  the 
rest  of  these  Kilkenny  Letters  are. 


1650.  LETTER  CXXIII.    BEFORE   KILKENNY.  35 

ernor  and  Civic  Authorities  during  Saturday  and  Sunday ;  and 
on  Monday  morning,  by  which  time  our  batteries  too  are  about 
ready,  produces  from  the  Governor  new  emphatic  refusal : 

u  For  General  Cromwell. 

"  KILKENNY,  25  Martii,  1649  [should  be  1650|. 

"  SIB,  —  Your  last  Letter  I  received,  and  in  answer :  —  I  have 
such  confidence  in  God  to  maintain  this  place  as  I  will  not 
lose  it  upon  such  terms  as  you  offer,  but  will  sooner  lose  my 
life  and  the  lives  of  all  that  are  here  rather  than  submit  to 
such  dishonorable  conditions.  So  I  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  servant, 

"WALTER  BUTLER." 

Whereupon,  "  on  Monday,  the  25th,  our  batteries,"  unhappily 
only  consisting  of  three  guns,  will  have  to  open ;  and  for  the 
lion-voiced  Governor  there  goes  off  this  Answer :  — 


LETTER  CXXIII 

"  For  the  Governor  of  Kilkenny. 

"  [BEFORE  KILKENNY,]  25th  March,  1650. 

u  SIR,  —  If  you  had  been  as  clear  as  I  was  in  my  last,1  1 
might  perhaps  have  understood  you  so  as  to  give  you  some 
farther  answer :  but,  you  expressing  nothing  particularly  what 
you  have  to  except  against  in  mine,  I  have  nothing  more  to 
r«  turn  save  this,  That  for  some  reasons  I  cannot  let  your 
Trumpeter  suddenly  come  back,  but  have  sent  you  this  by  a 
Drummer  of  my  own.  I  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

Your  Trumpeter  cannot  suddenly  come  back,  "for  some  rea- 
sons," chiefly  for  this,  — that  our  poor  batteries  are  about  to 
begin  to  play,  and  that,  in  fact,  we  have  a  thought  of  storming 

1  Second  Letter,  now  loot. 

>  King's  Pamphlets,  no.  464,  art.  2,  p.  13. 


36  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.         25  March, 

you.  —  Governor  Butler,  hearing  the  batteries  begin  to  play, 
makes  haste  to  specify  his  conditions }  which  still  seem  rather 
high :  — 

"For  General  Cromwell. 

"KILKENNY,  25  Martii,  1650. 

"SiR, —  Yours  of  this  instant  I  received;  the  particulars 
which  you  would  have  me  express  are  these :  — 

"That  the  Mayor  and  Citizens  and  all  the  other  inhabitants 
and  others  now  resident  in  the  City  and  liberties  thereof,  with 
their  servants,  shall  be  secured  with  their  lives,  liberties,  es- 
tates and  goods,  and  live  in  their  own  habitations  with  all 
freedom :  And  that  our  Clergymen  and  all  others  here  resid- 
ing, of  what  degree,  condition  or  quality  soever,  that  shall  be 
minded  to  depart,  shall  be  permitted  to  depart  safely  hence 
with  their  goods  and  whatsoever  they  have,  to  what  place 
soever  they  please  within  this  realm,  and  in  their  departure 
shall  be  safely  convoyed  :  And  that  the  said  Inhabitants  shall 
have  free  trade  and  traffic  with  all  places  under  the  Parliament 
of  England's  command  and  elsewhere  :  And  that  the  foresaid 
Inhabitants  shall  have  their  arms,  ammunition  and  artillery 
for  their  own  defence,  the  Town  and  liberties  thereof  paying 
such  reasonable  contribution  as  shall  be  agreed  upon,  and  not 
to  be  otherwise  charged :  And  that  the  Governors,  Command- 
ers, Officers  and  Soldiers,  both  horse  and  foot,  now  garrisoned 
as  well  in  the  Castle  as  in  the  City,  without  exception  of  any 
of  them,  shall  safely  march  hence,"  whither  they  list,  "with 
their  arms,  ammunition,  artillery,  bag  and  baggage,  and  what- 
soever else  belongs  to  them  ;  with  their  drums  beating,  colors 
flying,  matches  burning,  and  bullet  in  bouch  [musketeer's 
"  bouch,"  louche  or  cheek,  in  which  at  this  epoch  he  keeps  his 
bullets  for  immediate  use] ;  and  that  they  have  a  competent 
time  for  their  departure  and  carrying  away  their  goods,  with  a 
sufficient  and  safe  convoy.  And  that  Major  Nicholas  Wall, 
and  all  others  Commanders,  Officers  and  Soldiers  who  came 
out  of  the  English  quarters,  now  residing  here,  shall  have  the 
benefit  of  this  Agreement.  Without  which,  I  am  resolved  to 
maintain  this  place,  with  God's  help. 


1660.  LETTER  CXXIV.    BEFORE   KILKENNY.  37 

"  Thus  expecting  your  answer,  and  that  during  this  treaty 
there  shall  be  a  cessation  of  arms,  I  rest,  Sir, 

"Your  servant, 

"WALTER  BUTLER." 

These  terms  are  still  somewhat  lion-voiced ;  but  our  batter- 
ies, such  as  they  are,  continue  playing ;  the  tone,  before  next 
morning,  abates  a  little,  and  this  other  Note  has  gone;  — 
accompanied  by  one  from  the  Mayor,  which  is  now  lost,  but  of 
which  we  can  still  guess  the  purport :  — 

"  For  General  Cromwell. 

"KILKENNY,  25  Martii,  1650. 

"SiR, — Although  I  may  not  doubt,  with  God's  help,  to 
maintain  this  place,  as  I  have  formerly  written, — yet  I  do 
send  the  Bearer  to  let  you  know,  That  I  am  content  to  treat 
with  you  of  the  Proposals  to  be  made  on  either  side,  so  that 
there  be  a  cessation  of  arms  and  all  acts  of  hostility  during 
that  treaty.  So,  expecting  your  answer,  I  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"WALTER  BUTLER." 

Meanwhile,  having  spent  "  about  a  hundred  shot "  upon  it, 
a  breach  discloses  itself,  which  we  hope  is  stormable.  Storm- 
ing party,  on  Tuesday,  the  26th,  is  accordingly  drawn  out, 
waiting  the  signal ;  and  on  another  side  of  the  City,  "  Colonel 
Ewer  with  1,000  men  "  is  to  assault  the  quarter  called  the  Irish 
Town.  These  Answers  go,  to  their  respective  destinations : 


LETTER  CXXIV. 

*For  the  Governor  of  Kilkenny. 

u  [BEFORB  KILKENNY,)  26th  March,  1650. 

"  SIR,  — Except  the  conditions  were  much  bettered,  and  we 
in  a  worse  posture  and  capacity  to  reduce  you  than  before  the 
last  Letters  I  sent  you,  —  I  cannot  imagine  whence  those  high 
Demands  of  yours  arise.  I  hope  in  God,  before  it  be  long 


38  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.        26  March, 

you  may  have  occasion  to  think  other  thoughts ;  to  which  I 
leave  you. 

"  I  shall  not  so  much  as  treat  with  you  on  those  Propositions. 
You  desire  some  articles  for  honor's  sake  ;  which  out  of  hon- 
esty, I  do  deny :  —  viz.  that  of  marching  in  the  equipage  you 
mention  [muskets  loaded,  matches  burning,  &c.].  I  tell  you, 
my  business  is  to  reduce  you  from,  arms,  and  the  country  to 
quietness  and  due  subjection ;  to  put  an  end  to  the  War,  and 
not  to  lengthen  it ;  —  wishing,  if  it  may  stand  with  the  will  of 
God,  this  People  may  live  as  happily  as  they  did  before  the 
bloody  Massacre,  and  better  too.  If  you  and  the  company 
with  you  be  of  those  who  resolve  to  continue  to  hinder  this, 
we  know  Who  is  able  to  reach  you,  and,  I  believe,  will. 

"  For  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Town,  of  whom  you  seem  to 
have  a  care,  you  know  your  retreat 1  to  be  better  than  theirs ; 
and  therefore  it 's  not  impoliticly  done  to  speak  for  them,  and 
to  engage  them  to  keep  us  as  long  from  you  as  they  can.  If 
they  be  willing  to  expose  themselves  to  ruin  for  you,  you  are 
much  beholding  unto  them. 

"  As  for  your  '  Clergymen '  as  you  call  them,  in  case  you. 
agree  for  a  surrender,  they  shall  march  away  safely,  with  their 
goods  and  what  belongs  to  them :  but  if  they  fall  otherwise 
into  my  hands,  I  believe  they  know  what  to  expect  from  me. 
—  If  upon  what  I  proposed  formerly,  with  this  addition  con- 
cerning them,  you  expect  things  to  be  cleared,  I  am  content  to 
have  Commissioners  for  that  purpose.  I  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  servant^ 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  2 


LETTER  CXXV. 

"  To  the  Mayor  of  Kilkenny. 

"  [BEFORE  KILKENNY,]  26th  March,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  Though  I  could  have  wished  you  and  the  Citizens 
had  been  indeed  more  sensible  of  your  own  interests  and  con- 

1  means  of  surety  and  withdrawal. 

*  King's  Pamphlets,  no.  464,  art.  2,  pp.  17,  18. 


LETTER  CXXV.    BEFORE   KILKENNY.  39 

cernments,  —  yet  since  you  are  minded  to  involve  it  so  much 
with  that  of  soldiers,  I  am  glad  to  understand  you,  which 
will  be  some  direction  to  me  what  to  think  and  what  to  do. 
I  rest, 

"  Your  friend, 

"  OLIVEB  CROMWELL."  * 

On  signal  given,  the  storming  party  of  the  breach,  and  Colonel 
Ewer  at  the  Irish  Town  fall  on  :  Colonel  Ewer  with  good  suc- 
cess ;  the  storming  party  with  indifferent  or  bad,  — :  finding, 
alter  the  breach  is  got,  interior  retrenchments,  counterworks, 
palisadoes,  hot  fire  ;  and  drawing  back,  with  the  loss  of  "  Cap- 
tain Frewen,  and  20  or  30  men."  Ewer,  however,  is  master  of 
the  Irish  Town  j  the  breach  is  still  there,  —  more  stormable 
than  Tredah  was,  it  may  be  hoped !  Here  in  the  interim  is 
new  anxious  response  from  the  Mayor :  — 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  General  Cromwell. 

"  KILKENNY,  26th  March,  1650. 

"  RIGHT  HONORABLE,  —  I  received  your  Honor's  Letter  in 
answer  to  mine,  which  I  wrote  unto  your  Honor  in  pursuance 
of  the  Propositions  sent  by  our  Governor  unto  your  Honor,  for 
obtaining  of  the  said  conditions,  —  which  seemed  unto  us  al- 
most befitting  to  be  granted ;  the  military  part  having  exposed 
themselves  for  our  defence ;  which  obligeth  us  not  to  accept 
of  any  conditions  but  such  as  may  be  befitting  them.  I  desire 
your  Honor  to  grant  a  Cessation  of  arms,  and  that  Hostages 
on  both  sides  be  sent,  and  Commissioners  appointed  to  treat 
of  the  conditions.  I  rest, 

"  Your  Honor's  servant, 

"JAMES  ARCHDAKIN,  Mayor  of  Kilkenny" 

To  which  we  answer  :  — 

1  Klug's  Pamphlets,  no.  464,  art  2,  p.  14. 


40  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN  IRELAND.        ae  March, 

LETTER  CXXVI. 
u  For  the  Mayor  of  Kilkenny. 

"  [BEFORE  KILKENNY,]  26th  March,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  Those  whom  God  hath  brought  to  a  sense  of  His 
hand  upon  them,  and  to  amend,  submitting  themselves  thereto 
and  to  the  Power  to  which  He  hath  subjected  them,  I  cannot 
but  pity  and  tender :  and  so  far  as  that  effect  appears  in  you 
and  your  fellow-citizens,  I  shall  be  ready,  without  capitulation, 
to  do  more  and  better  for  you  and  them  upon  that  ground,  than 
upon  the  high  Demands  of  your  Governor,  or  his  capitulations 
for  you. 

"  I  suppose  he  hath  acquainted  you  with  what  I  briefly  of- 
fered yesterday,  in  relation  to  yourself  and  the  Inhabitants ;  — 
otherwise  he  hath  the  more  to  answer  for  to  God  and  man. 
And  notwithstanding  the  advantages  (as  to  the  commanding 
and  entering  the  Town)  which  God  hath  given  us  since  that 
offer,  more  than  we  were  possessed  of  before,  —  yet  I  am  still 
willing,  upon  your  surrender,  to  make  good  the  same  to  the 
City,  and  that  with  advantage. 

"  Now  in  regard  of  that  temper  which  appears  amongst  you 
by  your  Letters,  —  though  I  shall  not  engage  for  more  upon 
the  Governor's  demands  for  you,  whose  power  I  conceive  is 
now  greater  to  prejudice  and  endanger  the  City  than  to  protect 
it ;  [nevertheless,]  to  save  it  from  plunder  and  pillage,  I  [have] 
promised  the  Soldiery  that,  if  we  should  take  it  by  storm,  the 
Inhabitants  shall  give  them  a  reasonable  Gratuity  in  money, 
in  lieu  of  the  pillages ;  and  so  made  it  death  for  any  man  to 
plunder.  Which  I  shall  still  keep  them  to,  by  God's  help, 
although  we  should  be  put  to  make  an  entry  by  force,  —  unless 
I  shall  find  the  Inhabitants  engaging  still  with  the  Governor 
and  [his]  Soldiery  to  make  resistance.  You  may  see  also  the 
way  I  chose  for  reducing  the  place  was  such  as  tended  most 
to  save  the  Inhabitants  from  pillage,  and  from  perishing  pro- 
miscuously the  innocent  with  the  guilty :  —  to  wit,  by  attempt- 
ing places  which  being  possessed  might  bring  it  to  a  surrender, 
rather  than  to  enter  the  City  itself  by  force. 


1050.  LETTER  CXXVII.    BEFOKE   KILKENNY.  41 

"  If  what  is  here  expressed  may  beget  resolution  in  you 
which  would  occasion  your  safety  and  be  consistent  with  the 
end  of  my  coining  hither,  I  shall  be  glad ;  and  rest, 

"  Your  friend, 

"  OLIVER  CKOMWELL."  1 

Urged  by  the  Mayor,  by  Colonel  Ewer,  and  the  course  of 
destiny,  the  Governor's  lion-voice  has  abated  ;  he  writes :  — 

"  For  General  Cromivell. 

"  KILKENNY,  26  Martii,  1650. 

"SiR, —  In  answer  of  your  Letter: — If  you  be  pleased  to 
appoint  Officers  for  a  Treaty  for  the  surrender  of  the  Castle 
and  City  upon  soldier-like  conditions,  I  will  appoint  Officers 
of  such  quality  as  are  in  the  Garrison  ;  —  provided  that  Hos- 
tages of  equality  be  sent  on  both  sides,  and  a  Cessation  of 
arms  be  also  granted  during  the  Treaty.  Assuring  a  perform- 
ance, on  iny  side,  of  all  that  will  be  agreed  upon,  I  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  servant, 

"WALTER  BUTLER. 

"  P.S.  I  desire  to  know  what 's  become  of  my  Trumpeter  I 
employed  two  days  ago." 


LETTER  CXXVIL 
"  To  the  Governor  of  Kilkenny. 

"(BEFORE  KILKENNY],  26th  March,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  That  no  extremity  may  happen  for  want  of  a  right 
understanding,  I  am  content  that  Commissioners  on  each  side 
do  meet,  in  the  Leaguer  at  the  South  side  of  the  City  ;  author- 
ized to  treat  and  conclude.  For  which  purpose,  if  you  shall 
speedily  send  me  the  names  and  qualities  of  the.  Commission- 
ers you  will  send  out,  I  shall  appoint  the  like  number  on  my 
authori/.cd  as  aforesaid,  to  meet  with  them ;  and  shall 

Pamphlet*,  no.  464,  art.  2,  pp.  15,  16. 


42  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.          27  March, 

send  in  a  Safe-conduct  for  the  coming  out  and  return  of  yours. 
As  for  Hostages,  I  conceive  it  needless  and  dilatory.  I  expect 
that  the  Treaty  begin  by  8  of  the  clock  this  evening,  and  end 
by  12 ;  during  which  time  only  will  I  grant  a  Cessation.  Ex- 
pecting your  speedy  answer,  I  rest, 

"Your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." * 

Governor  answers,  at  a  late  hour :  Time  is  too  short ;  im 
possible  to  end  so  soon  ;  "  your  Trumpeter  did  not  arrive  tiL 
nine  : "  —  Commissioners  are  "  Major  John  Crawford,  Captam 
David  Turnbull,  James  Cowley,  Esq.  Recorder  of  this  City, 
and  Edward  Rothe  Merchant ; "  these  will  meet  yours,  where 
specified,  at  six  to-morrow  morning,  —  "  so  as  Hostages  be  sent 
for  their  safe  return ;  for  without  Hostages  the  Gentlemen  will 
not  go." 


LETTER  CXXVIII 

t(  To  the  Governor  of  Kilkenny. 

"  [BEFORE  KILKENNY,]  27th  March,  1650. 

"  SIB,  —  The  reason  of  the  so  late  coming  of  my  answer  was 
because  my  Trumpeter  was  refused  to  be  received  at  the  North 
end  of  the  Town ;  and  where  he  was  admitted,  was  kept  long 
upon  the  Guard. 

"  I  have  sent  you  a  Safe-conduct  for  the  Four  Commissioners 
named  by  you ;  and  if  they  be  such  as  are  unwilling  to  take 
my  word,  I  shall  not,  to  humor  them,  agree  to  Hostages.  I 
am  willing  to  a  Treaty  for  four  hours,  provided  it  be  begun  by 
12  of  the  clock  this  morning :  but  for  a  Cessation,  the  time 
last  appointed  for  it  being  past,  I  shall  not  agree  unto  [it],  to 
hinder  my  own  proceedings. 

"  Your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

After  which  straightway,  with  official  Warrant,  signed  both  by 
the  City  Governor  and  by  the  Castle  one  ("  Ja.  Welsh  "),  come 
1  King's  Pamphlets,  no.  464,  art.  2,  pp.  15,  16.  2  Ibid. 


1650.  LETTER  CXXIX.    CAKRICK-ON-SUIR.  43 

the  Four  Commissioners ;  and  then  speedily  the  Treaty  per- 
fects itself :  City  and  Garrison  surrender  wholly  ;  City  to  pay 
ransom  of  £2,000  at  specified  short  dates,  Recorder  Cowley  and 
Merchant  Rothe  remaining  "  hostages  till  it  be  paid : "  Soldiers 
to  march  out,  "bullet  in  bouch,"  with  all  the  honors  of  war  ; 
but  at  the  end  of  two  miles  to  put  bullet  out  of  bouch,  arms 
:unl  war-honors  wholly  down,  and,  "except  100  muskets  and 
100  pikes  allowed  them  for  defence  against  the  Tories,"  go  off 
in  an  entirely  pacific  form.  Thus  go  they ;  —  and  the  siege 
of  Kilkenny,  happily  for  all  parties,  for  us  here  among  others, 
terminates. 


LETTER  CXXIX. 

A  ROUGH  brief  Note,  on  accidental  business,  "  concerning 
Cork  House ; "  more  interesting  to  the  Boyle  Genealogist?  and 
Publiu  Antiquaries  than  to  us. 

The  "  Commissioners  at  Dublin  "  are  Parliamentary  Com- 
missioners, of  whom  there  have  been  various  successive  «ets, 
the  last  set  just  appointed,1  for  various  administrative  objects, 
—  chiefly,  just  now,  for  "Advancement  of  the  Gospel'1  by 
"  Sale  of  Dean-and-Chapter  Lands,"  to  pay  fit  Preachers  with, 
and  provide  right  Churches  for  them.  "  Cork  House  "  is  nr»t 
Lismore,  but  the  Family  Mansion  in  Dublin ;  it  stood  on  Cork 
Hill  then,  and  has  quite  vanished  now;  the  "Dean  at  Dublin  " 
has  or  had  some  interest  in  it,  which  might  advance  the  Gospel 
if  bestowed  well. 

[To  the  Commissioners  at  Dublin:  These.] 

"  (CABRICK-ON-SDIB],  1st  April,  1650. 

"GENTLEMEN,  —  Being  desired  by  the  Countess  of  Cork 
th:it.  nothing  may  be  done  by  way  of  disposal  of  such  part  of 
Cork  House  as  is  holden  of  the  Dean  in  Dublin  (in  case  my 

1  8th    Man  I),  ]f,4'J-.r>0  ( Common*  Journal*,  vi.  379)  :  "Colonel  John  Ilew- 
,ii.  Governor     t    Dlll.lill,  vn    U..!..-rt   Kin".  \\  iili;ini    !l:«wkin-.  Daniel  Ililtcli- 

IM-M ii.  \Vilii:un  Lawrence,  Kaqre.,  or  any  three  of  them,  with  the  consent  ot 
the  Ixml  Lieutenant." 


44  PARTY.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.  1  April, 

Lord  of  Cork's  interest  be  determined  therein)  ;  and  that  my 
Lord  of  Cork  may  have  the  refusal  thereof  before  any  other, 
in  regard  his  Father  has  been  at  great  charge  in  building 
thereof,  and  some  part  of  the  same  House  is  l  my  Lord's  in- 
heritance, and  in  that  respect  the  other  part  would  not  be  so 
convenient  for  any  other  :  — 

"  Which  motion  I  conceive  to  be  very  reasonable.  And 
therefore  I  desire  you  not  to  dispose  of  any  part  of  the  said 
House  to  any  person  whatsoever,  until  you  hear  farther  from 
me ;  my  Lady  having  undertaken,  in  a  short  time,  as  soon  as 
she  can  come  at  the  sight  of  her  writings  [so  as]  to  be  satis- 
fied what  interest  my  Lord  of  Cork  hath  yet  to  come  therein, 
my  Lord  will  renew  his  term  in  the  said  House,  or  give  full 
resolution  therein.  I  rest, 

"  Your  loving  friend, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  2 

"  My  Lady  of  Cork,"  the  second  Earl's  Wife,  Lord  Broghil's 
sister-in-law,  has  good  access  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  at  pres- 
ent :  —  will  find  her  business  drag,  nevertheless.8 


LETTER  CXXX. 

OFFICIAL  Despatch,  briefly  recapitulating  that  affair  of 
Kilkenny  and  some  others ;  —  points  also  towards  return  to 
England. 

"  For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of 
the  Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"CARRICK,  2<1  April,  1650. 

•  "  MR.  SPEAKER,  —  I  think  the  last  Letter  I  troubled  you 
with,  was  about  the  taking  of  Cahir,  since  which  time  there 
were  taken,  by  beating  up  their  quarters,  two  Colonels,  a 

1  "  being  "  in  orig. 

2  Old  Copy,  "  The  Coppie  of  my  Lord  Lieutenant's  Letter  to  the  Commis- 
sioners at  Dublin  concerniuge  Corke  House ; "  now  in  the  possession  of  Sir 
W.  Betham,  Ulster  King  of  Arms. 

3  Commons  Journals,  vi.  434  ;  Lodge's  Peerage  (Arcbdall's),  i.  170;  &c. 


1660.  LETTER  CXXX.    CARRICK.  45 

Lieutenant-Colonel,  Major,  and  divers  Captains,  all  of  horse : 
Colonel  Johnson,1  Lieutenant-Colonel  Laughern,  and  Major 
Simes,  were  shot  to  death,  as  having  served  under  the  Parlia- 
ment, but  now  taken  up  arms  with  the  Enemy. 

"  Hearing  that  Castlehaveu  and  Lieut.-General  Ferral  were 
about  Kilkenny,  with  their  Army  lying  there  quartered,  and 
about  Carlow  and  Leighlin  Bridge;  and  hearing  also  that 
Colonel  Hewson,  with  a  good  Party  from  Dublin,  was  come  as 
far  as  Ballysonan,2  and  had  taken  it,  —  we  thought  fit  to  send 
an  express  to  him,  To  march  up  towards  us  for  a  conjunction. 
And  because  we  doubted  the  sufficiency  of  his  Party  to  march 
with  that  security  that  were  to  be  wished,  Colonel  Shilbourn 
was  ordered  to  go  with  some  troops  of  horse  out  of  the  County 
of  Wexford,  which  was  his  station,  to  meet  him.  And  because 
the  Enemy  was  possessed  of  the  fittest  places  upon  the  Barrow 
for  our  conjunction,  we  sent  a  Party  of  seven  or  eight  hundred 
horse  and  dragoons  and  about  five  hundred  foot,  to  attempt 
upon  Castlehaven  in  the  rear,  if  he  should  have  endeavored 
to  defend  the  places  against  Colonel  Hewson. 

"  Our  Party,  being  a  light  nimble  Party,  was  at  the  Barrow- 
side  before  Colonel  Hewson  could  be  heard  of ;  and  possessed 
a  House,  by  the  Graigue ;  they  marched  towards  Leighlin,  and 
faced  Castlehaven  at  a  pretty  distance;  but  he  showed  no 
forwardness  to  engage.  Our  Party  not  being  able  to  hear  of 
Colonel  Hewson,  came  back  as  far  as  Thomastown,  a  small 
walled  Town,  and  a  pass  upon  the  Nore,  between  Kilkenny 
and  Ross.  Which  our  men  attempting  to  take,  the  Enemy 
made  no  great  resistance ;  but,  by  the  advantage  of  the  bridge, 
quitted  the  Town,  and  fled  to  a  Castle  about  half  a  mile  dis- 
tant off,  which  they  had  formerly  possessed.  That  night  the 
President  of  Munster*  and  myself  came  up  to  the  Party. 
We  summoned  the  Castle;  and,  after  two  days,  it  was  sur- 
rendered to  us ;  the  Enemy  leaving  their  arms,  drums,  colors 

1  The  other  Colonel,  Randall  Claydon,  was  tried  and  condemned  with  tin- 
other* ;  but  pardoned.  See  Letter  in  Appendix,  No.  20 ;  and  Whitlocke. 
(NaUof  1857.) 

*  See  Whitlocke,  p.  430;  Carte,  ii.  113. 

*  Ireton  (Common*  Journal*,  4th  December,  1649). 


46  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  2  April, 

and  ammunition  behind  them,  and   engaging  never  to  bear 
arms  more  against  the  Parliament  of  England. 

"We  lay  still  after  this  about  two  or  three  days.  The 
President  went  back  to  Fethard,  to  bring  up  some  great  guns, 
with  a  purpose  to  attempt  upon  the  Granny,1  and  some  Castles 
thereabouts,  for  the  better  blocking  up  of  Waterford ;  and  to 
cause  to  advance  up  to  us  some  more  of  our  foot.  In  the  end 
we  had  advertisement  that  Colonel  Hewson  was  come  to 
Leighlin ;  where  was  a  very  strong  Castle  and  pass  over  the 
Barrow.  I  sent  him  word  that  he  should  attempt  it ;  which 
he  did ;  and,  after  some  dispute,  reduced  it.  By  which  means 
we  have  a  good  pass  over  the  Barrow,  and  intercourse  between 
Munster  and  Leinster.  I  sent  Colonel  Hewson  word  that  he 
should  march  up  to  me ;  and  we,  advancing  likewise  with  our 
Party,  met  [him],  —  near  by  Gowran ;  a  populous  Town,  where 
the  Enemy  had  a  very  strong  Castle,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Hammond ;  a  Kentishman,  who  was  a  principal  actor 
in  the  Kentish  Insurrection,3  and  did  manage  the  Lord  Capel's 
business  at  his  Trial.  I  sent  him  a  civil  invitation  to  deliver 
up  the  Castle  unto  me ;  to  which  he  returned  me  a  very  reso- 
lute answer,  and  full  of  height.  We  planted  our  artillery; 
and  before  we  had  made  a  breach  considerable,  the  Enemy 
beat  a  parley  for  a  treaty ;  which  I,  having  offered  so  fairly 
to  him,  refused ;  but  sent  him  in  positive  conditions,  That  the 
soldiers  should  have  their  lives,  and  the  Commission  Officers 
to  be  disposed  of  as  should  be  thought  fit ;  which  in  the  end 
was  submitted  to.  The  next  day,  the  Colonel,  the  Major,  and 
the  rest  of  the  Commission  Officers  were  shot  to  death;  all 
but  one,  who,  being  a  very  earnest  instrument  to  have  the 
Castle  delivered,  was  pardoned.8  In  the  same  Castle  also  we 
took  a  Popish  Priest,  who  was  chaplain  to  the  Catholics  in 
this  regiment ;  who  was  caused  to  be  hanged.  I  trouble  you 
with  this  the  rather,  because  this  regiment  was  the  Lord  of 
Ormond's  own  regiment.  In  this  Castle  was  good  store  of 
provisions  for  the  Army. 

1  Now  a  ruin  near  Waterforcl ;  he  spells  it  "  Granno." 

2  In  1648.     None  of  our  Hammonds.  » 

8  In  Appendix,  No.  20,  is  some  farther  notice  of  this  one. 


1650.  LETTER  CXXX.    CARRICK.  47 

"After  the  taking  of  this  Castle,  it  was  agreed  amongst 
us  to  march  to  the  City  of  Kilkenny.  Which  we  did  upon 
Friday,  the  22d  of  March :  and  coming  with  our  body  within 
a  mile  of  the  Town,  we  advanced  with  some  horse  very  neai 
unto  it ;  and  that  evening  I  sent  Sir  Walter  Butler  and  the 
Corporation  a  Letter.  We  took  the  best  view  we  could  where 
to  plant  our  batteries ;  and  upon  Monday,  the  25th,  our  bat- 
teries, consisting  of  three  guns,  began  to  play.  After  near 
a  hundred  shot,  we  made  a  breach,  as  we  hoped  storinable. 
Our  men  were  drawn  out  ready  for  the  attempt ;  and  Colonel 
Ewer  [was]  ordered,  with  about  one  thousand  foot,  to  endeavor 
to  possess  the  Irish  Town,  much  about  the  time  of  our  storm- 
ing ;  —  which  he  accordingly  did,  with  the  loss  of  not  above 
three  or  four  men.  Our  men  upon  the  signal  fell  on  upon  the 
breach :  which  indeed  was  not  performed  with  usual  courage 
nor  success;  for  they  were  beaten  off,  with  the  loss  of  one 
Captain,  and  about  twenty  or  thirty  men  killed  and  wounded. 
The  Enemy  had  made  two  retrenchments  or  counterworks, 
which  they  had  strongly  palisadoed :  and  both  of  them  did  so 
command  our  breach,  that  indeed  it  was  a  mercy  to  us  we  did 
not  farther  contend  for  an  entrance  there ;  it  being  probable 
that,  if  we  had,  it  would  have  cost  us  very  dear. 

"  Having  possessed  the  Irish  Town ;  and  there  being  another 
Walled  Town  on  the  other  side  of  the  River,  eight  companies 
of  foot  were  sent  over  the  Kiver  to  possess  that.  Which  ac- 
cordingly was  effected,  and  not  above  the  like  number  lost 
that  were  in  possessing  the  Irish  Town.  The  Officer  that  com- 
manded this  party  in  chief  attempted  to  pass  over  the  Bridge 
into  the  City,  and  to  fire  the  Gate ;  which  indeed  was  done 
with  good  resolution;  —  but,  lying  too  open  to  the  Enemy's 
shot,  he  had  forty  or  fifty  men  killed  and  wounded;  which 
was  a  sore  blow  to  us.  We  made  our  preparations  for  a 
second  battery ;  which  was  well  near  perfected :  [but]  the 
Enemy,  seeing  himself  thus  begirt,  sent  for  a  Treaty;  and 
li;ul  it;  and,  in  some  hours,  agreed  to  deliver  up  the  Castle 
ujxm  the  Articles  enclosed.  Which  [accordingly]  we  received 
ui x>n  Thursday,  the  28th  of  March.  — We  find  the  Castle 
exceeding  well  fortified  by  the  industry  of  the  Enemy ;  being 


48  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.          2  April, 

also  very  capacious :  so  that  if  we  had  taken  the  Town,  we 
must  have  had  a  new  work  for  the  Castle,  which  might  have 
cost  much  blood  and  time.  So  that,  we  hope,  the  Lord  hath 
provided  better  for  us ;  and  we  look  at  it  as  a  gracious  mercy 
that  we  have  the  place  for  you  upon  these  terms. 

"  Whilst  these  affairs  were  transacting,  a  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  three  Majors,  eight  Captains,  being  English,  Welsh 
and  Scotch,  with  others,  possessed  of  Cantwell  Castle,1  —  a 
very  strong  Castle,  situated  in  a  bog,  well  furnished  with 
provisions  of  corn,  —  were  ordered  by  Sir  Walter  Butler  to 
come  to  strengthen  the  Garrison  of  Kilkenny.  But  they  sent 
two  Officers  to  me,  to  offer  me  the  place,  and  their  service,  — 
that  they  might  have  passes  to  go  beyond  sea  to  serve  foreign 
states,  with  some  money  to  bear  their  charges :  the  last 
whereof  [likewise]  I  consented  to ;  they  promising  to  do 
nothing  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Parliament  of  England. 
Colonel  Abbot  also  attempted  Ennisnag:  where  were  gotten 
a  company  of  rogues  which  [had]  revolted  from  Colonel 
Jones.2  The  Soldiers  capitulated  for  life,  and  their  two 
Officers  were  hanged  for  revolting.  Adjutant-General  Sadler 
was  commanded  with  two  guns  to  attempt  some  Castles  in 
the  County  of  Tipperary  and  Kilkenny;  which  being  reduced 
[would]  exceedingly  tend  to  the  blocking  up  of  two  consider- 
able Towns.  He  summoned  Pulkerry,  a  Garrison  under 
Clonmel ;  battered  it ;  they  refusing  to  come  out,  stormed 
it;  put  thirty  or  forty  of  them  to  the  sword,  and  the  rest 
remaining  obstinate  were  fired  in  the  Castle.  He  took 
Ballopoin ;  the  Enemy  marching  away,  leaving  their  arms 
behind  them.  He  took  also  the  Granny  and  Donkill,  two 
very  considerable  places  to  Waterford,  upon  the  same  terms. 
—  We  have  advanced  our  quarters  towards  the  Enemy,  a  con- 
.siderable  way  above  Kilkenny ;  where  we  hope,  by  the  gaining 
of  ground,  to  get  subsistence;  and  still  to  grow  upon  the 
Enemy,  as  the  Lord  shall  bless  us. 

1  "Cantwell,"  still  known  among  the  peasantry  by  that  name,  is  now 
called   Sandford's   Court ;   close  upon   Kilkenny ;   "  Donkill "   seems   to    be 
Donhill,  a  ruined   Strength  not  far  from    Waterford.     Of  Pulkerry  and 
Ballopoin,  in  this  paragraph,  I  can  hear  no  tidings. 

2  The  late  Michael  Jones. 


1650.  LETTER  CXXX.    CARKICR.  49 

"Sir,  I  may  not  be  wanting  to  tell  you,  and  renew  it 
again,  That  our  hardships  are  not  a  few;  that  I  think  in 
my  conscience,  if  moneys  be  not  supplied,  we  shall  not  be 
able  to  carry  on  your  work :  —  I  would  not  say  this  to  you, 
if  I  did  not  reckon  it  my  duty  so  to  do.  But  if  it  be  sup- 
plied, and  that  speedily,  I  hope,  through  the  good  hand  of 
the  Lord,  it  will  not  be  long  before  England  will  be  at  an 
cn<l  of  this  charge;  —  for  the  saving  of  which,  I  beseech  you 
help  as  soon  as  you  can !  Sir,  our  horse  have  not  had  one 
mouth's  pay  of  five.  We  strain  what  we  can  that  the  foot 
may  be  paid,  or  else  they  would  starve.  Those  Towns  that 
are  to  be  reduced,  especially  one  or  two  of  them,  if  we  should 
proceed  by  the  rules  of  other  states,  would  cost  you  more 
money  than  this  Army  hath  had  since  we  came  over.  I 
hope,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  they  will  come  cheaper 
to  you :  but  how  we  should  be  able  to  proceed  in  our  attempts 
without  reasonable  supply,  is  humbly  submitted  and  repre- 
sented to  you.  I  think  I  need  not  say,  that  a  speedy  period 
put  to  this  work  will  break  the  expectation  of  all  your 
enemies.  And  seeing  the  Lord  is  not  wanting  to  you,  I  most 
humbly  beg  it,  that  you  would  not  be  wanting  to  yourselves. 

"  In  the  last  place,  it  cannot  be  thought  but  the  taking  of 
those  places,  and  keeping  but  what  is  necessary  of  them, 
must  needs  swallow  up  our  Foot:  and  I  may  humbly  repeat 
it  again,  That  I  do  not  know  of  much  above  two  thousand 
of  your  five  thousand  recruits  come  to  us. — Having  given 
you  this  account  concerning  your  affairs,  I  am  now  obliged  to 
give  you  an  account  concerning  myself,  which  I  shall  do  with 
all  clearness  and  honesty. 

"  I  have  received  divers  private  intimations  of  your  pleasure 
to  have  me  come  in  person  to  wait  upon  you  in  England; 
;us  also  copies  of  Votes  of  the  Parliament  to  that  purpose. 
J'.uf  considering  the  way  they  came  to  me  was  but  [by] 
private  intimations,  and  the  Votes  did  refer  to  a  Letter  to 
be  signed  by  the  Speaker, — I  thought  it  would  have  been 
;uin-li  forward iii'ss  in  me  to  have  loft  my  charge  here, 
until  the  said  Lottor  came ;  it  being  not  fit  for  me  to 

VOL.  XVIII.  4 


50  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  2  April, 

prophesy  whether  the  Letter  would  be  an  absolute  com- 
mand, or  having  limitations  with  a  liberty  left  by  the  Par- 
liament to  me,  to  consider  in  what  way  to  yield  my  obe- 
dience. Your  Letter  came  to  my  hands  upon  Friday  the 
22d  of  March,  the  same  day  that  I  came  before  the  City 
of  Kilkenny,  and  when  I  was  near  the  same.  And  I  under- 
stood by  Dr.  Cartwright,  who  delivered  it  to  me,  that  reason 
of  cross  winds,  and  the  want  of  shipping  in  the  West  of 
England  where  he  was,  hindered  him  from  coming  with  it 
sooner ;  it  bearing  date  the  8th  of  January,  and  not  coming  to 
my  hands  until  the  22d  of  March. 

"The  Letter  supposed  your  Army  in  Winter-quarters,  and 
the  time  of  the  year  not  suitable  for  present  action ;  making 
this  as  the  reason  of  your  command.  And  your  Forces  have 
been  in  action  ever  since  the  29th  of  January  ;  and  your  Let- 
ter, which  was  to  be  the  rule  of  my  obedience,  coming  to 
my  hands  after  our  having  been  so  long  in  action,  —  with 
respect  had  to  the  reasons  you  were  pleased  to  use  therein 
[I  knew  not  what  to  do].  And  having  received  a  Letter 
signed  by  yourself,  of  the  26th  of  February,1  which  men- 
tions not  a  word  of  the  continuance  of  your  pleasure  con- 
cerning my  coming  over,  I  did  humbly  conceive  it  much 
consisting  with  my  duty,  humbly  to  beg  a  positive  signi- 
fication what  your  will  is ;  professing  (as  before  the  Lord) 
that  I  am  most  ready  to  obey  your  commands  herein  with 
all  alacrity ;  rejoicing  only  to  be  about  that  work  which  I 
am  called  to  by  those  whom  God  hath  set  over  me,  which 
I  acknowledge  you  to  be;  and  fearing  only  in  obeying  you, 
to  disobey  you. 

"I  most  humbly  and  earnestly  beseech  you  to  judge  for 
me,  Whether  your  Letter  doth  not  naturally  allow  me  the 
liberty  of  begging  a  more  clear  expression  of  your  command 
and  pleasure.  Which,  when  vouchsafed  unto  me,  will  find 
most  ready  and  cheerful  obedience  from,  Sir, 

"Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 
1  Antea,  p.  30. 

8  King's  Pamphlets,  no.  464,  art.  2;  Newspapers  (in  CromweUiana,  pp. 
78-81).  Printed,  this  Letter  with  the  others  on  Kilkenny,  by  order  of  Par- 


1650.  LETTER  CXXXI.    CARRICK.  51 

LETTER  CXXXL 

HEBE  of  the  same  date,  is  a  Letter  to  Mayor ;  and  then 
a  Letter  to  Richard;  which  concludes  what  we  have  in  Ire- 
land. 

"  For  my  very  loving  Brother  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at 
Hursley  in  Hampshire :  These. 

"CARRICK,  2d  April,  1650. 

"DEAR  BROTHER,  —  For  me  to  write  unto  you  the  state  of 
our  affairs  here  were  more  indeed  than  I  have  leisure  well  to 
do ;  and  therefore  1  hope  you  do  not  expect  it  from  me ;  seeing 
when  I  write  to  the  Parliament  I  usually  am,  as  becomes  me, 
very  particular  with  them ;  and  usually  from  thence  the  knowl- 
edge thereof  is  spread. 

"Only  this  let  me  say,  which  is  the  best  intelligence  to 
Friends  that  are  truly  Christian  :  The  Lord  is  pleased  still  to 
vouchsafe  us  His  presence,  and  to  prosper  His  own  work  in  our 
hands; — which  to  us  is  the  more  eminent  because  truly  we  are 
a  company  of  poor  weak  worthless  creatures.  Truly  our  work 
is  neither  from  our  own  brains  nor  from  our  courage  and 
strength  :  but  we  follow  the  Lord  who  goeth  before,  and 
Cither  what  He  scattereth,  that  so  all  may  appear  to  be  from 
Him. 

"The  taking  of  the  City  of  Kilkenny  hath  been  one  of  our 
last  works  ;  wbich  indeed  I  believe;  hath  been  a  great  discom- 
l'«>-ing  tin-  Knemy, —  it's  so  much  in  their  bowels.  We  have 
taken  many  considerable  places  lately,  without  much  loss. 
What  can  we  say  to  these  things  !  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can 
be  against  us?  \Ylm  can  fight  against  the  Lord  and  pros- 
per? Who  can  resist  His  will?  The  Lord  keep  us  in  His 
love. 

"  I  desire  your  prayers ;  your  Family  is  often  in  mine.  I 
rejoice  to  hear  how  it  hath  pleased  the  Lord  to  deal  with  my 

1  iament ;  meaaenger,  "Richard    Lehunt"  (Colonel   Lehunt,    I  Mi.-vc,  vol. 
xvii    p.  320),  geta  £50.     (Commons  Journal*,  vi.  397,  13th  April,  1GOO.) 


52  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  2  April, 

Daughter.1  The  Lord  bless  her,  and  sanctify  all  His  dispensa- 
tions to  them  and  us.  I  have  committed  my  Son  to  you ;  I 
pray  counsel  him.  Some  Letters  I  have  lately  had  from  him 
have  a  good  savor  :  the  Lord  treasure  up  grace  there,  that  out 
of  that  treasury  he  may  bring  forth  good  things. 

"  Sir,  I  desire  my  very  entire  affection  may  be  presented  to 
my  dear  Sister,  my  Cousin  Ann  and  the  rest  of  my  Cousins,  — 
and  to  idle  Dick  Norton  when  you  see  him.     Sir,  I  rest, 
"  Your  most  loving  brother, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 2 


LETTER  CXXXII. 

u  For  my  beloved  Son  Richard  Cromwell,  Esquire,  at  Hursley 
in  Hampshire :  These. 

"  CARRICK,  2d  April,  1650. 

"DiCK  CROMWELL,  —  I  take  your  Letters  kindly:  I  like 
expressions  when  they  come  plainly  from  the  heart,  and  are 
not  strained  nor  affected. 

"  I  am  persuaded  it 's  the  Lord's  mercy  to  place  you  where 
you  are :  I  wish  you  may  own  it  and  be  thankful,  fulfilling  all 
relations  to  the  glory  of  God.  Seek  the  Lord  and  His  face  con- 
tinually :  —  let  this  be  the  business  of  your  life  and  strength, 
and  let  all  things  be  subservient  and  in  order  to  this !  You 
cannot  find  nor  behold  the  face  of  God  but  in  Christ ;  therefore 
labor  to  know  God  in  Christ ;  which  the  Scripture  makes  to  be 
the  sum  of  all,  even  Life  Eternal.  Because  the  true  knowledge 
is  not  literal  or  speculative ;  [no,]  but  inward ;  transforming 
the  mind  to  it.  It's  uniting  to,  and  participating  of,  the 
Divine  Nature  (Second  Peter,  i.  4) :  '  That  by  these  ye  might 
be  partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature,  having  escaped  the  corrup- 

1  In  a  hopefnl  way,  I  conclude  !     Richard's  first  child,  according  to  Noble's 
registers,  was  not  born  till  3d  November,  1652  (Noble,  i.  189);  a  boy,  who 
died  within  three  weeks.    Noble's  registers,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  are  very 
defective. 

2  Harris,  p.  512. 


i860.  LETTER  CXXXII.    CARRICK.  63 

tion  that  is  in  the  world  through  lust/  It 's  such  a  knowledge 
as  Paul  speaks  of  (Ph  Utopians,  iii.  8-10) :  '  Yea,  doubtless,  and 
I  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord.  For  whom  I  have  suffered  the  loss 
of  all  things;  and  do  count  them  but  dung  that  I  may  win 
Christ,  and  be  found  in  Him,  —  not  having  mine  own  righteous- 
ness which  is  of  the  Law,  but  that  which  is  through  the  Faith 
of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  Faith  ;  —  that 
I  may  know  Him,  and  the  power  of  His  Resurrection,  and  the 
fellowship  of  His  sufferings ;  being  made  conformable  unto  His 
Death.' *  How  little  of  this  knowledge  is  cimong  us  1  My 
weak  prayers  shall  be  for  you. 

"  Take  heed  of  an  unactive  vain  spirit !  Recreate  yourself 
with  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  History :  it 's  a  Body  of  History ; 
and  will  add  much  more  to  your  understanding  than  frag- 
ments of  Story.  —  Intend  2  to  understand  the  Estate  I  have 
settled:  it's  your  concernment  to  know  it  all,  and  how  it 
stands.  I  have  heretofore  suffered  much  by  too  much  trust- 
ing others.  I  know  my  Brother  Mayor  will  be  helpful  to  you 
in  all  this. 

"You  will  think,  perhaps,  I  need  not  advise  you  To  love 
your  Wife  !  The  Lord  teach  you  how  to  do  it ;  —  or  else  it 
will  be  done  ill-favoredly.  Though  Marriage  be  no  instituted 
Sacrament,  yet  where  the  undented  bed  is,  and  love,  this  union 
aptly  resembles  [that  of]  Christ  and  His  Church.  If  you  can 
truly  love  your  Wife,  what  [love]  doth  Christ  bear  to  His 
Church  and  every  poor  soul  therein,  —  who  '  gave  Himself '  for 
it  and  to  it !  —  Commend  me  to  your  Wife ;  tell  her  I  entirely 
love  her,  and  rejoice  in  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  to  her.  I  wish 
her  every  way  fruitful.  I  thank  her  for  her  loving  Letter. 

"  I  have  presented  my  love  to  my  Sister  and  Cousin  Ann  &c. 
in  my  Letter  to  my  Brother  Mayor.  I  would  not  have  him 
alter  his  affairs  because  of  my  debt.  My  purse  is  as  his  :  my 


1  These  oentencea  —  well  known  to  Oliver  ;  familiar  to  him  in  their  phr 
ologj,  and  in  their  flense  too;  and  never  to  \Mfinnlly  forgotten  bj  the  earnest- 
hearted  of  the  Sons  of  Men  —  are  not  quoted  iu  the  Original,  but  merelj 


*  Old  word  for  "  endeavor." 


54  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN   IRELAND.  May, 

present  thoughts  are  but  To  lodge  such  a  sum  for  my  two 
little  Girls  ;  —  it 's  in  his  hand  as  well  as  anywhere.  I  shall 
not  be  wanting  to  accommodate  him  to  his  mind ;  I  would  not 
have  him  solicitous.  —  Dick,  the  Lord  bless  you  every  way. 

I  rest, 

"  Your  loving  Father, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

In  the  end  of  this  month,  "  the  President  Frigate,"  Presi- 
dent Bradshaw  Frigate,  sails  from  Milford  Haven  "to  attend 
his  Excellency's  pleasure,"  and  bring  him  home  if  he  see  good 
to  come.  He  has  still  one  storm  to  do  there  first ;  that  of  Clon- 
mel,  where  "  Two  thousand  foot,  all  Ulster  men,"  are  gathered 
for  a  last  struggle; — the  death-agony  of  this  War,  after  which 
it  will  fairly  die,  and  be  buried.  A  very  fierce  storm,  and  fire- 
whirlwind  of  last  agony ;  whereof  take  this  solid  account  by 
an  eye-witness  and  hand-actor ;  and  so  leave  this  part  of  our 
subject.  The  date  is  10th  May,  1650 ;  "a  Letter  from  Clonmel 
in  Ireland :  "  — 

"  Worthy  Sir,  —  Yesterday,"  Thursday,  9th  May,  "  we 
stormed  Clonmel :  in  which  work  both  officers  and  soldiers 
did  as  much  and  more  than  could  be  expected.  We  had,  with 
our  guns,  made  a  breach  in  their  works  ;  —  where,  after  an 
hot  fight,  we  gave  back  a  while  ;  but  presently  charged  up  to 
the  same  ground  again.  But  the  Enemy  had  made  themselves 
exceeding  strong,  by  double-works  and  traverse,  which  were 
worse  to  enter  than  the  breach ;  when  we  came  up  to  it,  they 
had  cross-works,  and  were  strongly  flanked  from  the  houses 
within  their  works.  The  Enemy  defended  themselves  against 
us  that  day,  until  towards  the  evening,  our  men  all  the  while 
keeping  up  close  to  their  breach  ;  and  many  on  both  sides  were 
slain."  The  fierce  death-wrestle,  in  the  breaches  here,  lasted 

1  Memoirs  of  the  Protector  Oliver  Cromwell,  by  Oliver  Cromwell,  Esquire,  a 
Descendant  of  the  Family  (London,  1822),  i.  369.  An  incorrect,  dull,  insig- 
nificant Book  ;  contains  this  Letter,  and  one  or  two  others,  "  in  possession  of 
the  Cromwell  Family."  —  Another  Descendant,  Thomas  Cromwell  Esquire's 
Oliver  Cromwell  and  his  Tirn>:s  (London,  1821),  is  of  a  vaporous,  gesticnlative, 
Anti-aerial,  still  more  insignificant  character ;  and  contains  nothing  that  iB  not 
common  elsewhere. 


1650.  LETTER  CXXX1I.    CARRICK.  55 

four  hours :  so  many  hours  of  hot  storm  and  continuous  tug 
of  war,  "and  many  on  both  sides  were  slain.  At  night  the 
Enemy  drew  out  on  the  other  side,  and  marched  away  undis- 
covered to  us ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  Clonmel  sent  out  for 
a  parley.  Upon  which,  Articles  were  agreed  on,  before  we 
knew  the  Enemy  was  gone.  After  signing  of  the  Conditions, 
we  discovered  the  Enemy  to  be  gone ;  and,  very  early  this 
morning,  pursued  them ;  and  fell  upon  their  rear  of  stragglers, 
and  killed  above  200,  —  besides  those  we  slew  in  the  storm. 
We  entered  Clonmel  this  morning ;  and  have  kept  our  Condi- 
tions with  them.  The  place  is  considerable  ;  and  very  advan- 
tageous to  the  reducing  of  these  parts  wholly  to  the  Parliament 
of  England." 1  Whitlocke  has  heard  by  other  Letters,  "  That 
they  found  in  Clonmel  the  stoutest  Enemy  this  Army  had  ever 
met  in  Ireland  ;  and  that  there  was  never  seen  so  hot  a  storm, 
of  so  long  continuance,  and  so  gallantly  defended,  either  in 
England  or  Ireland."  * 

The  Irish  Commander  here  was  Hugh  O'Neil,  a  kinsman  of 
Owen  Roe's :  vain  he  too,  this  new  brave  O'Neil !  It  is  a 
lost  Cause.  It  is  a  Cause  he  has  not  yet  seen  into  the  secret 
of,  and  cannot  prosper  in.  Fiery  fighting  cannot  prosper  in 
it ;  no,  there  needs  something  other  first,  which  has  never  yet 
been  done  !  Let  the  O'Neil  go  else-whither,  with  his  fighting 
talent ;  here  it  avails  nothing,  and  less.  To  the  surrendered 
Irish  Officers  the  Lord  Lieutenant  granted  numerous  permis- 
sions to  embody  regiments,  and  go  abroad  with  them -into  any 
country  not  at  war  with  England.  Some  "  Five-and-forty  Thou- 
sand "  Kurisees,  or  whatever  name  they  had,  went  in  this  way 
to  France,  to  Spain,  and  fought  there  far  off ;  and  their  own 
land  had  peace. 

The  Lord  Lieutenant  would  fain  have  seen  Waterford  sur- 
render before  he  went :  but  new  Letters  arrive  from  the  Par- 
liament ;  affairs  in  Scotland  threaten  to  become  pressing.  He 
appoints  Ireton  his  Deputy,  to  finish  the  business  hore ;  rapidly 
in:ik»!s  what  survey  of  Minister,  what  adjustment  of  Ireland, 
military  and  civil,  is  possible  ;  —  steps  on  board  the  President 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwciltana,  p.  61).  -  U  hitlocke,  p.  441. 


56  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN  IN  IRELAND.  May, 

Frigate,  in  the  last  days  of  May,  and  spreads  sail  for  England. 
He  has  been  some  nine  months  in  Ireland ;  leaves  a  very  hand- 
some spell  of  work  done  there. 

At  Bristol,  after  a  rough  passage,  the  Lord  Lieutenant  is 
received  with  all  the  honors  and  acclamations,  "the  great  guns 
firing  thrice ; "  hastens  up  to  London,  where,  on  Friday,  31st 
May,  all  the  world  is  out  to  welcome  him.  Fairfax,  and  chief 
Oiiicers,  and  Members  of  Parliament,  with  solemn  salutation, 
on  Hounslow  Heath :  from  Hounslow  Heath  to  Hyde  Park, 
where  are  Trainbands  and  Lord  Mayors ;  on  to  Whitehall  and 
the  Cockpit,  where  are  better  than  these,  —  it  is  one  wide  tu- 
mult of  salutation,  congratulation,  artillery-volleying,  human 
shouting ;  —  Hero-worship  after  a  sort,  not  the  best  sort.  It 
was  on  this  occasion  that  Oliver  said,  or  is  reported  to  have 
said,  when  some  sycophantic  person  observed,  "  What  a  crowd 
come  out  to  see  your  Lordship's  triumph  !  "  —  "  Yes,  but  if 
it  were  to  see  me  hanged,  how  many  more  would  there 
be  !  " '  — 

Such  is  what  the  Irish  common  people  still  call  the  "  Curse 
of  Cromwell ; "  this  is  the  summary  of  his  work  in  that  coun- 
try. The  remains  of  the  War  were  finished  out  by  Ireton,  by 
Ludlow :  Ireton  died  of  fever,  at  Limerick,  in  the  end  of  the 
second  year  ; 2  and  solid  Ludlow,  who  had  been  with  him  for 
some  ten  months,  succeeded.  The  ulterior  arrangements  for 
Ireland  were  those  of  the  Commonwealth  Parliament  and  the 
proper  Official  Persons;  not  specially  Oliver's  arrangements, 
though  of  course  he  remained  a  chief  authority  in  that  matter, 
and  nothing  could  well  be  done  which  he  with  any  emphasis 
deliberately  condemned. 

There  goes  a  wild  story,  which  owes  its  first  place  in  His- 
tory to  Clarendon,  I  think,  who  is  the  author  of  many  such  : 
How  tfie  Parliament  at  one  time  had  decided  to  "extermi- 
nate "  all  the  Irish  population ;  and  then,  finding  this  would 
not  quite  answer,  had  contented  itself  with  packing  them  all 
off  into  the  Province  of  Connaught,  there  to  live  upon  the 

1  Newspapers  (in  Kimber,  p.  148) ;  Whitlockc,  p.  441. 
8  26th  November,  1651  (Wood  in  voa) :  Ludlow  had  arrived  iu  January  of 
the  same  year  (Memoirs,  i.  322,  332,  &c.). 


1650. 


RETURN   TO  ENGLAND.  67 


moorlands;  and  so  had  pacified  the  Sister  Island.1  Strange 
rumors  no  doubt  were  afloat  in  the  Council  of  Kilkenny,  in 
tho  Conventicle  of  Clonmacuoise,  and  other  such  quarters,  and 
were  kept  up  for  very  obvious  purposes  in  those  days ;  and 
iny  Lord  of  Clarendon  at  an  after  date,  seeing  Puritanism 
hung  on  the  gallows  and  tumbled  in  heaps  in  St.  Margaret's, 
thought  it  safe  to  write  with  considerable  latitude  respecting 
its  procedure.  My  Lord  had,  in  fact,  the  story  all  his  own 
way  for  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  years ;  and,  during  that 
time,  has  set  afloat  through  vague  heads  a  great  many  things. 
His  authority  is  rapidly  sinking;  and  will  now  probably  sink 
deeper  than  even  it  deserves. 

The  real  procedure  of  the  Puritan  Commonwealth  towards 
Ireland  is  not  a  matter  of  conjecture,  or  of  report  by  Lord 
Clarendon ;  the  documentary  basis  and  scheme  of  it  still 
stands  in  black-on-white,  and  can  be  read  by  all  persons.2 
In  this  Document  the  reader  will  find,  set  forth  in  authentic 
business-form,  a  Scheme  of  Settlement  somewhat  different  from 
that  of  "  extermination ; "  which,  if  he  be  curious  in  that  mat- 
ter, he  ought  to  consult.  First,  it  appears  by  this  Document, 
"all  husbandmen,  ploughmen,  laborers,  artificers  and  others 
of  the  meaner  sort "  of  the  Irish  nation  are  to  be,  —  not  exter- 
minated ;  no,  but  rendered  exempt  from  punishment  and  ques- 
tion, as  to  these  Eight  Years  of  blood  and  misery  now  ended ; 
which  is  a  very  considerable  exception  from  the  Clarendon 
Scheme  !  Next,  as  to  the  Ringleaders,  the  Rebellious  Land- 
lords, and  Papist  Aristocracy ;  as  to  these  also,  there  is  a 
(.in  fully  graduated  scale  of  punishments  established,  that  pun- 
ishment and  guilt  may  in  some  measure  correspond.  All  that 
<::m  be  proved  to  have  been  concerned  in  the  Massacre  of  Forty- 
one  ;  for  these,  and  for  certain  other  {Arsons  of  the  turncoat 
species,  whose  names  are  given,  there  shall  be  no  pardon ;  — 
"extermination,"  actual  death  on  the  gallows,  or  perpetual 
banishment  and  confiscation  for  these;  but  not  without  legal 
inquiry  and  due  trial  first  had,  for  these,  or  for  any  one.  Then 

1  ''"tifinuation  nf  Clurentlon'*  Life  (Oxford,  I7<',|),  p.  1  I  !•  &c. 

2  Scobell,  Tart  ii.  |>.  l'J7  (lath  Auguut,  1G5:>);  see  also  p.  317  (27th  Jinn  . 
1656). 


58  PART  V.    CAMPAIGN   IN   IRELAND.  May, 

certain  others,  who  have  been  in  arms  at  certain  dates  against 
the  Parliament,  but  not  concerned  in  the  Massacre :  these  are 
declared  to  have  forfeited  their  estates ;  but  lands  to  the  value 
of  one  third  of  the  same,  as  a  modicum  to  live  upon,  shall  be 
assigned  them,  where  the  Parliament  thinks  safest,  —  in  the 
moorlands  of  Connaught,  as  it  turned  out.  Then  another 
class,  who  are  open  Papists  and  have  not  manifested  their 
good  affection  to  the  Parliament :  these  are  to  forfeit  one 
third  of  their  estates  ;  and  continue  quiet  at  their  peril.  Such 
is  the  Document ;  which  was  regularly  acted  on ;  fulfilled  with 
as  much  exactness  as  the  case,  now  in  the  hands  of  very  exact 
men,  admitted  of.  The  Catholic  Aristocracy  of  Ireland  have 
to  undergo  this  fate,  for  their  share  in  the  late  miseries ;  this 
and  no  other :  and  as  for  all  "  ploughmen,  husbandmen,  artifi- 
cers and  people  of  the  meaner  sort,"  they  are  to  live  quiet 
where  they  are,  and  have  no  questions  asked. 

In  this  way,  not  in  the  way  of  "extermination,"  was  Ire- 
land settled  by  the  Puritans.  Five-and-forty  thousand  armed 
u  kurisees  "  are  fighting,  not  without  utility  we  hope,  far  off 
in  foreign  parts.  Incurably  turbulent  ringleaders  of  revolt  are 
sent  to  the  moorlands  of  Connaught.  Men  of  the  Massacre, 
where  they  can  be  convicted,  of  which  some  instances  occur, 
are  hanged.  The  mass  of  the  Irish  Nation  lives  quiet  under 
a  new  Land  Aristocracy ;  new,  and  in  several  particulars  very 
much  improved  indeed :  under  these  lives  now  the  mass  of 
the  Irish  Nation ;  ploughing,  delving,  hammering ;  with  their 
wages  punctually  paid  them ;  with  the  truth  spoken  to  them, 
and  the  truth  done  to  them,  so  as  they  had  never  before  seen 
it  since  they  were  a  Nation  !  Clarendon  himself  admits  that 
Ireland  flourished,  to  an  unexampled  extent,  under  this  ar- 
rangement. One  can  very  well  believe  it.  What  is  to  hinder 
poor  Ireland  from  flourishing,  if  you  will  do  the  truth  to  it 
and  speak  the  truth,  instead  of  doing  the  falsity  and  speaking 
the  falsity  ? 

Ireland,  under  this  arrangement,  would  have  grown  up  gradu- 
ally into  a  sober  diligent  drab-colored  population ;  developing 
itself,  most  probably,  in  some  form  of  Calvinistic  Protes- 
tantism. For  there  was  hereby  a  Protestant  Church  of  Ire- 


1850.  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.  59 

land,  of  the  most  irrefragable  nature,  preaching  daily  in  all 
its  actions  and  procedure  a  real  Gospel  of  veracity,  of  piety, 
of  fair  dealing  and  good  order,  to  all  men  ;  and  certain 
other  "  Protestant  Churches  of  Ireland,"  and  unblessed  real- 
imaginary  Entities,  of  which  the  human  soul  is  getting  weary, 
would  of  a  surety  never  have  found  footing  there !  But  the 
Ever-blessed  Restoration  came  upon  us.  All  that  arrangement 
was  torn  up  by  the  roots ;  and  Ireland  was  appointed  to  de- 
velop itself  as  we  have  seen.  Not  in  the  drab-colored  Puritan 
way ;  —  in  what  other  way  is  still  a  terrible  dubiety,  to  itself 
and  to  us !  It  will  be  by  some  Gospel  of  Veracity,  I  think, 
when  the  Heavens  are  pleased  to  send  such.  This  "  Curse  of 
Cromwell,"  so  called,  is  the  only  Gospel  of  that  kind  I  can  yet 
discover  to  have  ever  been  fairly  afoot  there. 


SUPPLEMENT   TO   PART  V. 


SQUIEE  PAPERS. 

THE  following  Article  in  Fraser's  Magazine  had  not  the  effect  in- 
tended for  it,  —  of  securing  in  printer's  types  a  certain  poor  defaced 
scantling  of  Cromwell  Letters,  which  had  fallen  to  my  charge  under  cir- 
cumstances already  sorrowful  enough ;  and  then  of  being,  after  some 
slight  peaceable  satisfaction  to  such  as  took  interest  in  it,  forgotten  by  the 
public ;  I  also  being  left  to  forget  it,  and  be  free  of  it.  On  the  contrary, 
the  peaceable  satisfaction  to  persons  interested  was  but  temporary ;  and 
the  public,  instead  of  neglecting  and  forgetting,  took  to  unquiet  guessing, 
as  if  there  lay  some  deeper  mystery  in  the  thing,  perhaps  foul-play  in  it : 
private  guessing,  which  in  a  week  or  two  broke  out  into  the  Newspapers, 
in  the  shape  of  scepticism,  of  learned  doubt  too  acute  to  be  imposed 
upon,  grounding  itself  on  antiquarian  philologies  (internal  evidence  of 
anachronisms),  "  cravat,"  "  stand  no  nonsense,"  and  I  know  not  what. 
The  unwonted  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  the  unsatisfactory  though 
unavoidable  reticences  in  detailing  it,  threw  a  certain  enigmatic  chiaro- 
scuro over  the  transaction,  which,  as  it  were,  challenged  the  idle  wind. 
Since  the  public  had  not  neglected  and  forgotten,  the  public  could  do  no 
other  than  guess.  The  idle  public,  obstinately  resolute  to  see  into  mill- 
stones, could  of  course  see  nothing  but  opacity  and  its  wide  realms ;  got 
into  ever  deeper  doubt,  which  is  bottomless,  "  a  sphere  with  infinite 
radius,"  and  very  easily  arrived  at ;  could  get  into  no  certainty,  which 
is  a  sphere's  centre,  and  difficult  to  arrive  at ;  continued  fencing  with 
spectres,  arguing  from  antiquarian  philologies,  &c.  in  the  Newspapers  ; 
—  whereby,  echo  answering  echo,  and  no  transparency  in  millstones 
being  attainable,  the  poor  public  rose  rapidly  to  a  height  of  anxiety 
on  this  unexpected  matter,  and  raised  a  noise  round  itself,  which,  con- 
sidering the  importance  of  the  subject,  might  be  called  surprising.  In 
regard  to  all  which,  what  could  an  unfortunate  Editor  of  Cromwell 
Letters  do,  except  perhaps  carefully  hold  his  peace  f  The  ancient  house- 


SQUIRE   PAPERS.  61 

keeper,  in  some  innocent  first-floor,  in  the  still  night-time,  throws  a 
potsherd  which  is  in  her  way  into  the  street  of  the  village :  a  most  small 
transaction,  laudable  in  its  kind  ;  but  near  by,  starts  the  observant  street  - 
dog,  who  will  see  farther  into  it :  "  Whaf-thaf?  Bow-wow  !  "  —  and 
so  awakens,  in  what  enormous  geometrical  progression  is  \vell  known, 
all  the  dogs  in  the  village,  perhaps  all  the  dogs  in  the  parish,  and  gradu- 
ally, even  in  the  county  and  in  the  kingdom,  to  universal  vigilant  ob- 
servant "  Bow-wow,  Whaf-thaf?"  in  the  hope  of  seeing  farther  into  it. 
Under  which  distressing  circumstances,  the  ancient  housekeeper  under- 
stands that  her  one  course  is  patience  and  silence ;  that  the  less  she  says 
or  does,  the  sooner  it  will  end  !  —  This  Squire  Controversy  did  not  quite 
terminate  by  nature,  I  think  ;  but  rather  was  suddenly  quenched  by  that 
outburst  of  the  European  revolutions  in  the  end  of  the  February  then 
passing,  which  led  the  public  intellect  into  fruitfuler  departments. 

This  is  not  a  state  of  matters  one  would  wish  to  reawaken  !  Scepti- 
cism, learned  doubt,  in  regard  to  these  Squire  Papers,  I  understand  is 
still  the  prevailing  sentiment ;  and  also  that  silence,  and  the  reflection 
how  small  an  interest,  if  any  whatever,  is  involved  in  the  matter,  are 
the  only  means  of  removing  doubt,  and  of  leading  us  to  the  least  miracu- 
lous explanation,  whatever  that  may  be.  To  myself,  I  confess,  the  phe- 
nomenon is,  what  it  has  always  been,  entirely  inexplicable,  a  miracle 
equal  to  any  in  Bollandus  or  Capgravitis,  unless  these  Squire  Letters 
are  substantially  genuine  :  and  if  their  history  on  that  hypothesis  is  very 
dim  and  strange,  —  on  the  other  hypothesis  they  refuse,  for  me  at  least, 
t«  •  have  any  conceivable  history  at  all.  Antiquarian  philologies,  &c. 
such  as  appeared  in  the  late  universal  "  Whaf-thaf?  "  or  grand  "  Squire 
Controversy  "  never  to  be  revived,  had  naturally  no  effect  in  changing 
one's  opinion,  and  could  have  none.  I  have  since  had  a  visit,  two 
visits,  from  the  Gentleman  himself;  have  conversed  with  him  twice,  at 
large,  upon  the  Letters,  the  burnt  Journal,  and  all  manner  of  adjacent 
topics  :  and  certainly,  whatever  other  notion  I  might  form  of  him,  the 
notion  that  he  either  would  or  could  have  himself  produced  a  Forgery  of 
Cromwell  Letters,  or  been  the  instrument  (for  any  consideration,  much 
more  for  none)  of  another  producing  it,  was  flatly  inconceivable  once 
for  all.  Nay  to  hint  at  it,  I  think,  would  not  be  altogether  safe  for 
Able  Editors  within  wind  of  this  Gentleman !  So  stands  it,  as  it  has 
always  stood,  with  myself,  in  regard  to  this  small  question. 

At  the  same  time,  I  am  well  enough  aware,  the  Gentleman's  account 

of  pnx'eedings  in  the  business  has  nn  amazing  look;  which  only  the 

i.il  knowledge  ,,f  him  conl.l  perhaps  render  less  amazing.     Doubt, 

lo  strangers,  is  very  permissible ;  nay  lo  all,  these  Letters,  l>y  the  verf 


62  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

hypothesis,  are  involved  everywhere  in  liability  to  incorrectness ;  irre- 
coverably stript  of  their  complete  historical  authenticity,  —  and  not  to 
be  admitted,  but  to  be  rigorously  excluded,  except  on  that  footing,  in 
any  History  of  Cromwell ;  —  and,  on  the  whole,  are  in  the  state  of  an 
absurd  entanglement,  connected  with  a  most  provoking  coil  of  such. 
Out  of  which  there  is  only  this  good  door  of  egress  :  That  they  are  in- 
trinsically of  no  importance  in  the  History  of  Cromwell ;  that  they  alter 
nothing  of  his  Life's  character,  add  nothing,  deduct  nothing;  can  be 
believed  or  disbelieved,  without,  to  him  or  to  us,  any  perceptible  result 
whatever ;  —  and  ought,  in  fine,  to  be  dismissed  and  sent  upon  their 
destinies  by  all  persons  who  have  serious  truth  to  seek  for,  and  no  time 
for  idle  guesses  and  riddle-rna-rees  of  the  Scriblerus  and  Nugatory- 
Antiquarian  sort. 

Accordingly  I  had  decided,  as  to  these  Squire  Papers,  which  can  or 
could  in  no  case  have  been  incorporated  into  any  documentary  Life  of 
Cromwell,  not  to  introduce  them  at  all  into  this  Book,  which  has  far 
other  objects  than  they  or  their  questions  of  antiquarian  philology  can 
much  further !  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  urged  by  Mends  who 
believe,  like  myself,  in  the  fundamental  authenticity  of  Squire,  that 
Hereby  would  arise  a  tacit  admission  of  Squire's  spuriousness,  injustice 
done  by  me  to  Squire  and  to  the  antiquarian  philologers  ;  that  many 
readers,  disbelievers  or  not,  would  have  a  certain  wish  to  see  the  Squire 
Papers  ;  —  that,  in  fine,  under  the  head  of  the  semi-romantic  or  Doubt- 
ful Documents  of  Oliver's  History,  and  at  all  events  as  an  accidental 
quite  undoubtful  Document  in  the  history  of  Oliver's  History,  they  would 
have  a  certain  value.  To  all  which  arguments,  not  without  some  slight 
weight,  the  Printer  now  accidentally  adds  another,  That  he  has  room 
for  these  Squire  Papers,  and  even  need  of  them  to  preserve  his  symme- 
tries ;  that  he  can  maintain  an  impassable  wall  between  them  and  the 
Book,  can  insert  them  at  the  end  of  Volume  Second  and  yet  not  in  the 
Volume,  with  ease  and  with  advantage.  Here  accordingly  these  astonish- 
ing Squire  Papers  are  :  concerning  which  I  have  only  one  hope  to  ex- 
press, That  the  public,  thinking  of  them  (in  silence,  if  I  might  advise) 
exactly  what  it  finds  most  thinkable,  will  please  to  excuse  me  from 
farther  function  in  the  matter ;  my  duty  in  respect  of  them  being  now, 
to  the  last  fraction  of  it,  done ;  my  knowledge  of  them  being  wholly 
communicated;  and  my  care  about  them  remaining,  what  it  always  was, 
close  neighbor  to  nothing.  The  Reprint  is  exact  from  Fraser's  Maga- 
zine, except  needful  correction  of  misprints,  and  insertion  of  two  little 
Notes,  which  have  hung  wafered  on  the  margin  this  long  while,  and  are 
duly  indicated  where  they  occur. 

1th  May,  1849. 


SQUIRE  PAPERS.  63 

PHASER'S  MAGAZINE  FOR  DECEMBER,  1847: 
ARTICLE  I. 

THIRTY-FIVE  UNPUBLISHED  LETTERS  OF  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

ON  the  first  publication  of  Oliver  CromweWs  Letters  and  Speeches,  new 
contributions  of  Cromwell  matter,  of  some  value,  of  no  value  and  even 
of  less  than  none,  were,  as  the  general  render  knows,  diligently  forwarded 
to  me  from  all  imarters;  and  turned  to  account,  in  the  Second  Edition  of 
that  work,  as  the  laws  of  the  case  seemed  to  allow.  The  process,  which 
si  ••mod  thon  to  all  practical  intents  completed,  and  is  in  fact  very  lan- 
guid and  intermittent  ever  since,  has  nevertheless  not  yet  entirely  ceased ; 
and  indeed  one  knows  not  when,  if  ever,  it  will  entirely  cease ;  for  at 
longer  and  longer  intervals  new  documents  and  notices  still  arrive; 
though,  except  in  the  single  instance  now  before  us,  I  may  describe  these 
latter  as  of  the  last  degree  of  insignificance ;  hardly  even  worth  "  inserting 
in  an  Appendix,"  which  was  my  bargain  in  respect  of  them.  Whence 
it  does,  at  last,  seem  reasonable  to  infer  that  our  English  Archives  are 
now  pretty  well  exhausted,  in  this  particular ;  and  that  nothing  more, 
of  importance,  concerning  Oliver  Cromwell's  utterances  of  himself  in 
this  world  will  be  gathered  henceforth.  —  Here,  however,  is  a  kind  of 
exception,  in  regard  to  wliich,  on  more  accounts  than  one,  it  has  become 
necessary  for  me  to  adopt  an  exceptional  course;  and  if  not  to  edit,  in 
use  of  elucidating,  the  contribution  sent  me,  at  least  to  print  it 
straightway,  before  accident  befall  it  or  me. 

The  following  Letters,  which  require  to  be  printed  at  once,  with  my 
explicit  testimony  to  their  authenticity,  have  come  into  my  hands  under 
singular  circumstances  and  conditions.  I  am  not  allowed  to  say  that 
the  Originals  are,  or  were,  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  So-and-so,  as  is 
usual  in  like  cases ;  this,  which  would  satisfy  the  reader's  strict  claims  in 
the  matter,  T  have  had  t<>  en^a^e  expressly  not  to  do.  "  Why  notf  "  all 
readers  will  ask,  with  astonishment,  or  perhaps  with  other  feelings  still 
biiporfluous  for  our  present  object.  The  story  is  somewhat  of  an 
absurd  one,  what  may  IK-  called  a  farce-tragedy ;  very  ludicrous  as  well  as 
very  lamentable  ;  —  not  glorious  to  relate  ;  nor  altogether  easy,  under  the 
conditions  prescribed !  Hut  these  Thirty-five  Letters  are  Oliver  Crom- 
well's; and  demand,  of  me  «>|)eeially,  both  that  they  be  piously  pre- 
MTM-d.  and  that  there  be  no  ambiguity,  no  avoidable  mystery  or  other 
foolery,  in  | IP-S. -leiim  of  them  t.i  the  world.  If  the  JjcttcrM  are  not  to 
have,  in  any  essential  or  unessential  respect,  the,  character  of  voluntary 
enigmas;  but  to  be  read,  with  nudism-lied  attention,  in  such  poor  twi- 


64  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

light  of  intelligibility  as  belongs  to  them,  some  explanation,  such  as  can 
be  given,  seems  needful. 

Let  me  hasten  to  say,  then,  explicitly  once  more,  that  these  Letters 
are  of  indubitable  authenticity  :  farther,  that  the  Originals,  all  or  nearly 
all  in  Autograph,  which  existed  in  June  last,  iu  the  possession  of  a  pri- 
vate Gentleman  whose  name  I  am  on  no  account  to  mention,  have  now 
irrecoverably  perished ;  —  and,  in  brief,  that  the  history  of  them,  so  far 
as  it  can  be  related  under  these  conditions,  is  as  follows :  — 

Some  eight  or  ten  months  ago,  there  reached  me,  as  many  had  already* 
done  on  the  like  subject,  a  letter  from  an  unknown  Correspondent  in 
the  distance;  setting  forth,  in  simple,  rugged  and  trustworthy,  though 
rather  peculiar  dialect,  that  he,  my  Unknown  Correspondent,  —  who 
seemed  to  have  been  a  little  astonished  to  find  that  Oliver  Cromwell  was 
actually  not  a  miscreant,  hypocrite,  &c.,  as  heretofore  represented, — 
had  in  his  hands  a  stock  of  strange  old  Papers  relating  to  Oliver:  much 
consumed  by  damp,  and  other  injury  of  time ;  in  particular,  much  "  eaten 
into  by  a  vermin  "  (as  my  Correspondent  phrased  it),  —  some  moth,  or 
body  of  moths,  who  had  boarded  there  in  past  years.  The  Papers,  he 
said,  describing  them  rather  vaguely,  contained  some  things  of  Crom- 
well's own,  but  appeared  to  have  been  mostly  written  by  one  SAMUEL 
SQUIRE,  a  subaltern  in  the  fumed  Regiment  of  Ironsides,  who  belonge*. 
to  "the  Stilton  Troop,"  and  had  served  with  Oliver  "from  the  first 
mount"  of  that  indomitable  Corps,  as  Cornet,  and  then  as  "Auditor/7 
—  of  which  latter  office  my  Correspondent  could  not,  nor  could  I  when 
questioned,  quite  specificate  the  meaning,  but  guessed  that  it  might  be 
something  like  that  of  Adjutant  in  modern  regiments.  This  Auditor 
Squire  had  kept  some  "  Journal,"  or  Diary  of  proceedings,  from  "the 
first  mount  "  or  earlier,  from  about  1642  till  the  latter  end  of  1645,  as  I 
could  dimly  gather  ;  but  again  it  was  spoken  of  as  "  Journals,"  as  "  Old 
Papers,"  "  Manuscripts,"  in  the  plural  number,  and  one  knew  not  defi- 
nitely what  to  expect :  moth-eaten,  dusty,  dreary  old  brown  Papers ; 
bewildered  and  bewildering ;  dreadfully  difficult  to  deciphe.,  as  appeared, 
and  indeed  almost  a  pain  to  the  eye,  —  and  too  probably  to  the  mind. 
Poring  in  which,  nevertheless,  my  Unknown  Correspondent  professed 
to  have  discovered  various  things.  Strange  unknown  aspects  of  affairs, 
moving  accidents,  adventures,  such  as  the  fortune  of  war  in  the  obscure 
Eastern  Association  (of  Lincoln,  Norfolk,  &<•..),  in  the  early  obscure 
part  of  Oliver's  career,  hitherto  entirely  vacant  and  dark  in  all  Histories, 
had  disclosed  themselves  to  my  Unknown  Correspondent,  painfully  spell- 
ing in  the  rear  of  that  destructive  vermin  :  onslaughts,  seizures,  surprises  j 
endless  activity,  audacity,  rapidity  on  the  part  of  Oliver;  strict  general 


SQUIRE   PAPERS.  65 

integrity  too,  nay  rhadamanthine  justice,  and  traits  of  implacable  sever- 
ity connected  therewith,  which  had  rather  shocked  the  otherwise  strong 
but  modern  nerves  of  my  Unknown  Correspondent.  Interspersed,  as  I 
could  dimly  gather,  were  certain  Letters  from  Oliver  and  others  (known 
or  hitherto  unknown,  was  not  said);  kept,  presumably,  by  Auditor 
Squire,  the  Ironside  Subaltern,  as  narrative  documents,  or  out  of  private 
fondness.  As  proof  what  curious  and  to  me  interesting  matter  lay  in 
those  old  Papers,  Journals  or  Journal,  as  my  Unknown  Correspondent 
indiscriminately  named  them,  he  gave  me  the  following  small  Exceipt  : 
illuminating  completely  a  point  on  which  I  had  otherwise  sought  light 
in  vain.  See,  in  Oliver  CromwelTs  Letters  and  Speeches,  Letter  of  5th 
July,  1»»44  ;  which  gives  account  of  Marston-Moor  Battle,  and  contains 
an  allusion  to  Oliver's  own  late  loss,  "Sir,  you  know  my  own  trials  this 
way," — touching  allusion,  as  it  now  proves;  dark  hitherto  for  all 
readers  :  —  Meeting  Colonel  Cromwell  again  after  some  absence,  just  on 
the  edtje  of  Marston  Battle  (it  is  Auditor  Squire  that  writes),  "  I  thought 
he  looked  sad  and  wearied ;  for  he  had  had  a  sad  loss  ;  young  Oliver  got 
killed  to  death  not  long  before,  I  heard:  it  was  near  Kuaresborough, 
and  30  more  got  killed."  l 

Interesting  Papers  beyond  doubt,  my  Unknown  Correspondent  thought. 
On  one  most  essential  point,  however,  he  professed  himself  at  a  painful 
pause :  How  far,  or  whether  at  all,  these  Papers  ought  to  be  communi- 
cated to  the  Public,  or  even  to  myselff  Part  of  my  Correspondent's 
old  kindred  !iad  l>een  Roundheads,  part  had  been  Royalists;  of  both 
which  sorts  plentiful  representatives  yet  remained,  at  present  all  united 
in  kindly  oblivion  of  those  old  sorrows  and  animosities  ;  but  capable  yet, 
as  my  Correspondent  feared,  of  blazing  np  into  one  knew  not  what  fierce 
contradictions,  should  the  question  be  renewed.  That  was  his  persua- 
sion, that,  was  his  amiable  fear.  I  could  perceive,  indeed,  that  my  Cor- 
respondent, evidently  a  simple  and  honorable  man,  felt  obscurely  as  if, 
in  his  own  new  conviction  about  Oliver's  character,  he  possessed  a  dan- 
geroiKs  secret,  which  ought  in  no  wise  to  be  lightly  divulged.  Should 
he  once  inconsiderately  blab  it,  this  heterodox  almost  criminal  secret, 
like  a  fire-spark  among  tindrr  and  dry  ilax  ;  —  how  much  more  if,  by 
publishing  tln.se  private  Pajwrs,  confirmatory  of  the  same,  he  delil»er- 
ntely  shot  it  forth  as  men-  tlame !  Explosion  without  limit,  in  tbo 
family  and  still  wider  circles,  might  ensue.  —  On  the  whole,  ho  would 
consider  of  it ;  was  heartily  disposed  to  do  for  mo,  and  for  the  interests 
of  truth  (with  what  ]H-ril  soever)  all  in  his  power;  —  hojH-d,  for  the  r«-t, 
tube  in  London  s.>.,n,  where,  it  iij'jM-an-d,  the  1'apers  w  re  tlu-u  lyiug 

»  Bn»  MM  vol.  xYii.  p.  48,  n.  1.     (Note  of  1857.) 

VOL.    XTIII.  5 


66  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

in  some  repository  of  his ;  would  there  see  me,  and  do  as  good  will 
guided  hy  wise  caution  might  direct. 

To  all  which  I  could  only  answer  with  thanks  for  the  small  valuable 
hint  concerning  young  Oliver's  death ;  with  a  desire  to  know  more  about 
those  old  Papers  ;  with  astonishment  at  my  Correspondent's  apprehen- 
sion as  to  publishing  them,  which  I  professed  was  inconceivable,  and 
likely  to  fly  away  as  a  night-dream  if  he  spoke  of  it  in  intelligent  circles; 
—  and  finally  with  an  eager  wish  for  new  light  of  any  authentic  kind 
on  Oliver  Cromwell  and  his  acts  or  sayings,  and  an  engagement  that 
whatever  of  that  sort  my  Correspondent  did  please  to  favor  me  with, 
should  be  thankfully  turned  to  use,  under  such  conditions  as  he  might 
see  good  to  prescribe.  And  here,  after  a  second  or  perhaps  even  a  third 
letter  and  answer  (for  several  of  these  missives,  judged  at  first  to  be 
without  importance,  are  now  lost),  which  produced  no  new  information 
to  me,  nor  any  change  in  my  Correspondent's  resolutions,  the  matter 
had  to  rest.  To  an  intelligent  Friend,  partly  acquainted  in  my  Corre- 
spondent's country,  I  transmitted  his  letters  ;  with  request  that  he  would 
visit  this  remarkable  possessor  of  old  Manuscripts;  ascertain  for  me, 
more  precisely,  what  he  was,  and  what  they  were ;  and,  if  possible,  per- 
suade him  that  it  would  be  safe,  for  himself  and  for  the  universe,  to  let 
me  have  some  brief  perusal  of  them  !  This  Friend  unfortunately  did  not 
visit  those  my  Correspondent's  localities  at  the  time  intended :  so,  hear- 
ing nothing  more  of  the  affair,  I  had  to  wait  patiently  its  ulterior  devel- 
opments; the  arrival,  namely,  of  my  Correspondent  in  Town,  and  the 
opening  of  his  mysterious  repositories  there.  Not  without  surmises  that 
perhaps,  after  all,  there  might  be  little,  or  even  nothing  of  available,  in 
them ;  for  me  nothing,  but  new  dreary  labor,  ending  in  new  disappoint- 
ment and  disgust ;  tragic  experience  being  already  long  and  frequent, 
of  astonishingly  curious  old  Papers  on  Oliver,  vouchsafed  me,  with  an 
effort  and  from  favor,  by  ardent  patriotic  correspondents,  —  which,  after 
painful  examination,  proved  only  to  be  astonishing  old  bundles  of  in- 
anity, dusty  desolation  and  extinct  stupidity,  worthy  of  oblivion  and 
combustion:  surmises  tending  naturally  to  moderate  very  much  my 
eagerness,  and  render  patience  easy. 

So  had  some  mouths  passed,  and  the  affair  been  pretty  well  forgotten, 
when,  one  afternoon  in  June  last,  a  heavy  Packet  came  by  Post :  recog- 
nizable even  on  the  exterior  as  my  Unknown  Correspondent's :  and 
hereby,  sooner  than  anticipation,  and  little  as  I  could  at  first  discern  it, 
had  the  catastrophe  arrived.  For  within  there  lay  only,  in  the  mean 
while,  copied  accurately  in  ray  Correspondent's  hand,  those  Five-and- 
thirty  Letters  of  Oliver  Cromwell  which  the  Public  are  now  to  read  : 
this,  with  here  and  there  some  diligent  though  rather  indistinct  annota- 


SQUIRE   PAPERS.  67 

tion  by  my  Correspondent,  where  needful;  and,  in  a  Note  from  himself, 
some  vague  hint  <>f  his  having  been  in  Town  that  very  day,  and  eveu 
on  the  point  of  calling  on  me,  had  not  haste  and  the  rigor  of  railways 
hindered;  hints  too  about  the  old  dangers  from  Royalist  kimln •<! 
In-ing  now  happily  surmounted,  —  formed  the  contents  of  my  heavy 
Pack,  t. 

'!'!"•  n  nding  of  these  old  Cromwell  Letters,  by  far  the  most  curious 
that  had  ever  come  to  me  from  such  a  source,  produced  an  immediate 
earnest,  almost  passionate  request  to  have  sight  of  that  old  "Journal  by 
Samuel  Squire',"  under  auy  terms,  on  any  guarantee  I  could  offer.  "Why 
should  my  respectable  obliging  Correspondent  still  hesitate?  These 
/•>',  I  assured  him,  if  lie  but  sold  the  Originals  as  Autographs,  were 
worth  hundreds  of  pounds;  the  old  Journal  of  an  Ironside,  since  such 
it  really  seemed  to  be,  for  he  had  named  it  definitely  in  the  singular,  not 
"Journals"  and  "Papers"  as  heretofore,  —  I  prized  as  probably  the 
••urious  document  in  the  Archives  of  England,  apiece  not  to  lie 
estimated  in  tens  of  thousands.  It  had  become  possible,  it  seemed  prob- 
able and  almost  certain,  that  by  diligent  study  of  those  old  Papers,  by 
examination  of  them  as  with  microscopes,  in  all  varieties  of  lights,  the 
veritable  figure  of  Cromwell's  Ironsides  might  be  called  into  day.  to  be 
si  i  n  by  men  once  more,  face  to  face,  in  the  lineaments  of  very  life!  A 
journey  in  chase  of  this  unknown  Correspondent  and  his  hidden  Papers  ; 
any  journey,  or  effort,  seemed  easy  for  such  a  prize. 

A  I. is.  alas,  by  return  of  post,  there  arrived  a  Letter  beginning  with 
these  words :  "  What  you  ask  is  impossible,  if  you  offered  me  the  B;mk 
of  Kngland  for  security:  the  Journal  is  ashes,"  —  all  was  ashes  !  My 
wonderful  Unknown  Correspondent  had  at  last,  it  would  appear,  having 
screwed  his  rourairi;  to  the  sticking  place,  rushed  up  to  Town  by  rail ; 
proceeded  straight  to  his  hidden  repositories  here;  sat  down,  with  closed 
lips,  with  concentred  faculty,  and  copied  me  exactly  the  Cromwell  K<  t- 
ill  words  of  Cromwell's  own  (these  he  had  generously  considered 
mine  by  a  kind  of  right);  —  which  once  done  he,  still  with  closed  lips, 
with  s.i.-rti.-i.il  eyes,  and  torriblo  hand  and  mood,  had  gathered  all  his 
old  Puritan  Papers  great  and  small,  Ironside  "Journal,"  Cromwell 
I  whatever  else  there  might  bo,  and  stornly  consumed 
them  with  lire.  Let  Royalist  quarrels,  in  the  family  or  wider  circles, 
arise  now  if  they  could  ;  —  "  much  evil,"  said  ho  mildly  to  mo,  "hereby 
lies  buried."  The  element  of  "  resolution,"  one  may  well  add,  "  is  strong 
in  our  family;"  utirh.inueablc  by  men,  sc.ucely  by  the  vory  gods!  — 
And  so  all  was  ashes  ;  and  a  strange  speaking  Apparition  of  tho  Past,  and 
of  a  Past  more  precimis  than  any  other  is  or  <-:m  !>«•,  had  sunk  ayain  into 
the  duad  depths  of  Night.  Irrecoverable  i  all  the  royal  cxclu  IJIK T  coulJ 


68  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

not  buy  it  back !     That,  once  for  all,  was  the  fact ;  of  which  I,  and 
mankind  in  general,  might  now  make  whatsoever  we  pleased. 

With  my  Unknown  Correspondent  I  have  not  yet  personally  met ; 
nor  can  I  yet  sufficiently  explain  to  myself  this  strange  procedure  of  his, 
which  naturally  excites  curiosity,  amid  one's  other  graver  feelings.  The 
Friend  above  alluded  to,  who  has  now  paid  that  visit,  alas  too  late,  de- 
scribes him  to  me  as  a  Gentleman  of  honorable  frank  aspect  and  manners ; 
still  in  his  best  years,  and  of  robust  manful  qualities ;  —  by  no  means, 
in  any  way,  the  feeble,  chimerical  or  distracted  Entity,  dug  up  from 
the  Seventeenth  Century  and  set  to  live  in  this  Nineteenth,  which  some 
of  my  readers  might  fancy  him.  Well  acquainted  with  that  old  Journal, 
"  which  went  to  200  folio  pages ; "  and  which  he  had  carefully,  though 
not  with  much  other  knowledge,  read  and  again  read.  It  is  suggested 
to  me,  as  some  abatement  of  wonder  :  "  He  has  lived,  he  and  his,  for 
300  years,  under  the  shadow  of  a  Cathedral  City  :  you  know  not  what 
kind  of  Sleepy  Hollow  that  is,  and  how  Oliver  Cromwell  is  related  to 
it,  in  the  minds  of  all  men  and  uightbirds  who  inhabit  there !  This 
Gentleman  had  felt  that,  one  way  or  other,  you  would  inevitably  in  the 
end  get  this  MS.  from  him,  and  make  it  public ;  which,  what  could  it 
amount  to  but  a  new  Guy-Faux  Cellar,  and  Infernal  Machine,  to  ex- 
plode his  Cathedral  City  and  all  its  coteries,  and  almost  dissolve  Nature 
for  the  time  being  ?  Hence  he  resolved  to  burn  his  Papers,  and  avoid 
catastrophes." 

But  what  chiefly,  or  indeed  exclusively,  concerns  us  here,  is  that, 
from  the  first,  and  by  all  subsequent  evidence,  I  have  seen  this  Gentle- 
man to  be  a  person  of  perfect  veracity,  and  even  of  scrupulous  exactitude 
in  details ;  so  that  not  only  can  his  Copies  of  the  Cromwell  Letters  be 
taken  as  correct,  or  the  correctest  he  could  give,  but  any  remark  or 
statement  of  his  concerning  them  is  also  to  be  entirely  relied  on.  Let 
me  add,  for  my  own  sake  and  his,  that,  with  all  my  regrets  and  con- 
demnations, I  cannot  but  dimly  construe  him  as  a  man  of  much  real 
worth ;  and  even  (though  strangely  inarticulate,  and  sunk  in  strange 
environments)  of  a  certain  honest  intelligence,  energy,  generosity  ;  which 
ought  not  to  escape  recognition,  while  passing  sentence  ;  —  least  of  all 
by  one  who  is  forced  unwillingly  to  relate  these  things,  and  whom,  as 
is  clear,  he  has  taken  great  pains,  and  made  a  strong  effort  over  himself, 
to  oblige  even  so  far.  —  And  this  is  what  I  had  to  say  by  way  of  Intro- 
duction to  these  new  Letters  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  which  are  now  all  that 
remains  to  the  world  or  me  from  that  adventure. 

With  regard  to  the  Letters  themselves,  they  may  now  be  read  without 
farther  preface.  As  will  be  seen,  they  relate  wholly  to  the  early  part  of 


SQUIRE   PAPERS.  69 

Oliver's  career;  to  that  obscure  period,  hitherto  vacant  or  nearly  so  in 
all  Histories,  while  "  Colonel  Cromwell "  still  fought  and  struggled  in 
the  Eastern  Association,  under  Lord  Grey  of  Groby,  under  the  Earl  of 
Manchester,  or  much  left  to  his  own  shifts ;  and  was  not  yet  distinguished 
by  the  public  from  a  hundred  other  Colonels.  They  present  to  us  the 
same  old  Oliver  whom  wo  knew,  but  in  still  more  distinct  lineaments 
and  physiognomy  ;  the  features  deeply,  even  coarsely  marked,  —  or,  as 
it  were,  enlarged  to  the  gigantic  by  unexpected  nearness.  It  is  Oliver 
left  to  hiniM  If ;  stript  bare  of  all  conventional  draperies;  toiling,  wrest- 
ling as  for  life  and  death,  in  his  obscure  element ;  none  looking  over  him 
but  Heaven  only.  He  "  can  stand  no  nonsenses ; n  he  is  terribly  in  earn- 
est ;  will  have  his  work  done,  —  will  have  God's  Justice  done  too,  and 
the  Everlasting  Laws  observed,  which  shall  help,  not  hinder,  all  manner 
of  work !  The  Almighty  God's  commandments,  these,  of  which  this 
work  is  one,  are  great  and  awful  to  him ;  all  else  is  rather  small,  and 
not  awful.  He  has  pity,  —  pity  as  of  a  woman,  of  a  mother,  we  have 
known  in  Oliver ;  and  rage  also  as  of  a  wild  lion,  where  need  is.  He 
rushes  direct  to  his  point:  "  If  resistance  is  made,  pistol  him  ;  "  "  Wear 
them  (these  uniforms),  or  go  home ;  "  "  Hang  him  out  of  hand ;  ho 
wantonly  killed  the  poor  widow's  boy :  God  and  man  will  be  well  pleased 
to  see  him  punished  !  "  The  attentive  reader  will  catch  not  only  curious 
minute  features  of  the  old  Civil  War,  in  these  rude  Letters;  but  more 
clearly  than  elsewhere  significant  glimpses  of  Oliver's  character  and 
ways :  and  if  any  reader's  nerves,  like  my  Correspondent's,  be  too 
modern,  —  all  effeminated  in  this  universal,  very  dreary,  very  portentous 
babble  of  "  abolishing  Capital  Punishments"  &c.  &c.,  and  of  sending 
Judas  Iscariot,  Courvoisier,  Prasliu,  Tawell,  and  Natures  own  Scoun- 
drels, teachable  by  no  hellebore,  "  to  the  schoolmaster,"  instead  of  to 
the  hangman,  or  to  the  cesspool,  or  somewhere  swiftly  out  of  the  way 
•'  schoolmaster"  not  having  yet  overtaken  all  his  otJter  hopefuler 
work,  by  any  manner  of  means  !)  —  perhaps  the  sight  of  a  great  natural 
I  him. in  Soul  once  more,  iu  whom  the  stamp  of  the  Divinity  is  not  <[uiie 
abolished  by  Ages  of  Cant,  and  hollow  Wiggery  of  every  kind,  einiiii^ 
now  in  an  age  of "  Abolition  Principles,"  may  do  such  reader  some 
good  !  I  understand,  one  of  my  Correspondent's  more  minute  reasons 
fur  huniiiii:  tin-  Inm.Mde  Journal  was,  that  it  showed  Cromwell  uncom- 
monly impatient  of  scoundrels,  from  time  to  time;  and  might  have 
shocked  some  people!  — 

I  print  these  Letters  according  to  their  date,  so  far  as  the  date  in 

i;iv.  n  ;  nr  as  the  unwritten  -h*..  c.m  be  ascertained  or  inferred,  —  which 

rse  is  imt  always  ]*>.-sil>le  :   more  especially  since  the  accom|t.iiiy- 

iug  "  Journal  "  wan  destroyed.      Wuii  some  hesitation,  I  decide  to  print 


70  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

with  modern  spelling  and  punctuation,  there  being  no  evidence  that  the 
partially  ill-spelt  Copies  furnished  me  are  exact  to  Oliver's  ill-spelling ; 
which  at  all  events  is  insignificant,  the  sense  having  nowhere  been  at 
all  doubtful.  Commentary,  except  what  Auditor  Squire  and  his  Tran- 
scriber have  afforded,  I  cannot  undertake  to  give ;  nor  perhaps  will 
much  be  needed.  Supplementary  words  added  by  myself  are  marked 
by  brackets,  as  was  the  former  wont ;  annotations,  if  inserted  in  the  body 
of  the  Letter,  are  in  Italics  within  brackets.  —  And  now  to  business, 
with  all  brevity. 

Nos.  I.-VI. 

THE  first  Six  Letters  are  of  dates  prior  to  the  actual  breaking  out  of 
the  Civil  War,  but  while  its  rapid  approach  was  too  evident  j  and  bring 
to  view,  in  strange  lugubrious  chiaroscuro,  Committees  of  "  Association 
for  mutual  Defence"  (or  however  they  phrased  it),  and  zealous  Indi- 
viduals, SAMUEL  SQUIRE  among  others,  tremulously  sitting  in  various 
localities,  —  tremulous  under  the  shadow  of  High  Treason  on  the  oue 
aand,  and  of  Irish  Massacre  on  the  other; — to  whom  of  course  the 
lonorable  Member's  communications,  in  such  a  season,  were  of  breath- 
less interest.  The  King  has  quitted  his  Parliament ;  and  is  moving 
northward,  towards  York  as  it  proved,  in  a  more  and  more  menacing 
attitude. 

I.  The  address,  if  there  ever  was  any  except  a  verbal  one  by  the 
Bearer,  is  entirely  gone,  and  the  date  alsoj  but  may  be  supplied  by 
probable  conjecture  :  — 

[To  the  Committee  of  Association  at  Huntingdon.] 

[LONDON,  March,  1641.] 

"  DEAE  FRIENDS,  —  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  King  may  go  through 
Huutingdou  on  his  way  to  Stamford.  Pray  keep  all  steady,  and  let  no  peace 
be  broken.  Beg  of  all  to  be  silent ;  or  it  may  mar  our  peaceable  settling  this 
sad  business.  Such  as  are  on  the  Comity  Array  bid  go ;  all  of  you  protect, 
at  cost  of  life,  the  King  from  harm,  or  foul  usage  by  word  or  deed,  —  as  you 
love  the  Cause.  — From  your  faithful  [word  lost  ?]  OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

The  Transcriber,  my  Unknown  Correspondent,  adds  from  the  burnt 
Journal  this  Note  :  "Journal  mentioned  a  sad  riot  at  Peterborough  on 
the  King's  going  to  Stamford,  between  the  Townsmen  and  the  Array." 
March,  1641,  as  is  known,  means  1642  according  to  the  modern  style: 
Newyear's-day  is  25th  March. 


SQUIRE  PAPERS.  71 

IT.  The  date  exists,  though  wrong  written,  from  haste:  but  the 
address  must  be  supplied  :  — 

"  To  the  Committee  of  Association  at  Stilton. 

"  ELY,  April,  lltb  day,  1641  [_for  1642  ;  miswritten, 
Jfeteyear* '&-day  being  still  recent]. 

"DEAR  FRIENDS,  —  The  Lord  has  hardened  his  {the  King's]  heart  more 
ami  in. >re  :  [he  has]  refused  to  hear  reason,  or  to  care  for  our  Cause  or  Re- 
i  or  Peace. 

"  Let  our  Friends  have  notice  of  the  sad  news.  I  will  be  with  you  at 
Onndle,  if  possible,  early  next  week  ;  say  Monday,  as  I  return  now  to  London 
this  day.  Things  go  on  as  we  all  said  they  would.  We  are  all  on  the  point 
of  now  openly  declaring  ourselves  .  now  may  the  Lord  prosper  us  in  the  good 
Cause! 

"  Commend  me  in  brotherly  love  to  onr  chosen  Friends  and  vessels  of  the 
Lord  :  I  name  no  one,  to  all  the  same.  I  write  myself  —  your  Friend  in  the 
Lord's  Cause,  O. 

"  P.S.  Be  sure  and  pnt  up  with  no  affronts.  Be  as  a  bundle  of  sticks ;  let 
the  offence  to  one  be  as  to  all.  The  Parliament  will  back  us." 

IIL  "  To  Mr.  Samuel  Squire  [subsequently  Cornet  and  Auditor  SquireJ. 

"  LONDON,  3d  May,  1642. 

"  DBAB  FRIEND,  —  I  heard  from  our  good  friend  W.  [  Wildman  t]  how 
zealous  in  the  good  Cause  you  were.  We  are  all  alive  here,  and  sweating 
hard  to  beat  those  Papists :  may  the  Lord  send  to  us  His  holy  aid  to  over- 
come them,  and  the  Devils  who  seek  to  do  evil. 

"  Say  to  your  Friends  that  wo  have  made  up  our  Demands  to  the  control 
of  the  Navy,  and  Trainbands  of  the  Counties'  Militia,  also  all  Forts  and 
Castles :  and,  with  God's  aid,  we  will  have  them  if  he  \tlie  King]  likes  or 
dislikes.  For  he  is  more  shifty  every  day.  We  must  do  more  also,  unless 
he  does  that  which  is  right  in  the  sight  of  (in, I  and  man  to  his  People. 

"  I  shall  ri.ini.  to  Onndle,  in  my  way  down,  this  time;  as  I  learn  you  live 
there  a  great  time  now.  So  may  yon  prosper  in  all  your  undertakings,  and 
in  iv  the  Lord  God  protect  and  watch  over  you.  Let  them  all  know  our 
mind.  —  From  your  Friend,  0.  C." 

IV.  To  the  Committee  of  Auociation  [at  Cambridge]. 

"  I/oxnoN  [June,  IMS] 

"  QBNTLKMEN, —  I  have  sent  yon,  l>y  HoMx-s's  \Vain.  those  you  know  of. 
Yon  most  get  lead  as  yon  may  :  —  the  Chun-hcs  liavc  enough  and  to  span  »u 
them!  We  shall  see  the  Lord  will  supply  us.  Hr«-«l  «ull  ^our  motions 
[lean  wtll  your  drill-*x*rci*f\  :  and  laugh  not  at  ROM'S  Dutch  tongue  ;  he  is  a 


72  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

zealous  servant,  and  we  may  go  farther  and  get  worse  man  to  our  hand  than 
lie  is. 

"  I  learn  from  R.  you  get  offences  from  the  Bullards  at  Stamford.1  Let 
them  heed  well  what  they  are  about,  or  [ere]  they  get  a  cake  more  than  they 
bargain  for,  for  their  penny.  —  V.  says  that  many  come  ill  to  the  time  fixed 
for  muster  :  pray  heed  well  their  loss  of  time ;  for  I  assure  you,  if  once  we  let 
time  pass  by,  we  shall  seek  in  vain  to  recover  it.  The  Lord  helpeth  those 
who  heed  His  commandments  :  and  those  who  are  not  punctual  in  small  mat- 
ters, of  what  account  are  they  when  it  shall  please  Him  to  call  us  forth,  if 
we  be  not  watchful  and  ready  7  Pray  beat  up  those  sluggards.  —  I  shall  be 
over,  if  it  please  God,  next  Tuesday  or  Wednesday.  I  rest,  till  then,  your 
Friend  and  Well-wisher,  O.  C." 

My  Correspondent,  who  rather  guesses  this  Letter  to  have  gone  to 
Huntingdon,  subjoins  in  reference  to  it,  the  following  very  curious  Note 
gathered  from  his  recollections  of  the  burnt  Journal:  — "  Huntingdon 
regiment  of  Horse.  Each  armed  and  horsed  himself;  except  Mr.  Olr  Crom- 
well's Troop  of  Slepe  Dragoons,  of  some  30  to  40  men,  mostly  poor  men 
or  very  small  freeholders  :  these  the  Journal  mentioned  often  ;  I  mean 
the  Slepe  Troop  of  hard-handed  fellows,  who  did  as  he  told  them,  and 
asked  no  questions.  The  others,  despite  all  that  has  been  said  and 
written,  armed  themselves  and  horsed  also.  I  mean  the  celebrated 
Tawnies  or  Ironsides.  They  wore  brown  coats,  —  as  did  most  Farmers 
and  little  country  Freeholders  ;  and  so  do  now,  as  you  or  me  tnay  see 
any  day.  —  Oliver  had  some  &00  foot  also  armed  by  him,  who  did  great 
service." 

V.  No  date,  no  address  now  left.  Probably  addressed  to  the  Com- 
mittee at  Cambridge,  or  whichever  was  the  central  Committee  of  those 
Associations  ;  and,  to  judge  by  the  glorious  ripeness  to  which  matters 
have  come,  dated  about  the  beginning  of  July.  A  very  curious  Letter. 
We  have  prospered  to  miracle  ;  the  Eastern  Fen  regions  are  all  up  or 
rising,  and  RoyaHsm  quite  put  down  there,  impossible  as  that  once 
seemed.  Miraculous  success  ;  —  and  greater  is  yet  coming,  if  we  knew 
it! 

1  Note  to  the  Reprint.  "Bnllards,"  printed  in  Fraser  with  a  mark  of  interro- 
gation, has  attracted  the  notice  of  a  helpful  Correspondent,  or  of  more  than  one. 
"Bullards,"  equivalent  to  Bull-wards,  I  now  find,  is  au  old  name  or  nickname  for 
the  Stamford  people,  Stamford  being  famous  for  bull-baiting,  and  gifted  with  be- 
quests to  promote  that  branch  of  enterprise:  :<  for  which  legacy,"  says  one  Mr. 
Lowe  of  those  parts,  "every  Bvllard,  in  gratitude,  ought  to  drink  the  joint  memory 
of  —  two  heroes  named  by  Mr.  Lowe:  see  Hone's  Ewry-Day  Book^  i.  1482. 


SQU1BE   PAPERS.  73 

[To .] 

"LoiTOON,  July,  1642. 

"DEAR  FRIENDS,  —  Yonr  Letters  gave  me  great  joy  at  reading  your 
great  progress  in  behalf  of  our  great  Cause. 

"  Verily  I  do  thiuk  tlie  Lord  is  with  me'.  I  do  undertake  strange  things, 
yet  ilo  I  go  tlirough  witli  them,  to  great  profit  and  gladness,  and  furtherance 
of  the  Lord's  threat  Work.  I  do  feel  myself  lifted  on  by  a  strange  force,  I 
cuinot  tell  why.  JJy  night  and  by  day  I  am  urged  forward  on  the  great 
Work.  As  sure  as  God  appeared  to  Joseph  in  a  dream,  also  to  Jacob,  He 
also  ha,-i  diieited —  [.tume  K-<I,;/S  mien  mil  l/i/  Moths] —  Therefore  I  shall  uot 
[ear  what  man  ran  do  unto  me.  1  feel  lie  giveth  me  the  light  to  see  the  great 
darkness  that  surrounds  us  at  noonday.  —  to  my  — lit  — ly  \Jicc  ii-ord*  gone, 
by  moths],  I  have  been  a  stray  sheep  from  the  Fold ;  but  I  feel  I  am  born 
again ;  I  have  cast  off  —  | ;;«»//«  again  ;  nearly  three  lines  lost]  — 

"(I  have]  sent  you  300  more  Carbines  and  600  Suaphauces;  also  300 
Lances,  which  when,  complete  I  shall  send  down  by  the  Wain  with  16  barrel* 
Powder. 

"  We  [of  the  Parliament]  declare  ourselves  now,  and  raise  an  Army  forth- 
with:  Essex  and  Bedford  are  our  men.  Throw  off  fear,  as  I  shall  be  with 
you  I  get  a  Troop  ready  to  begin  ;  and  they  will  show  the  others.  Truly  I 
feel  I  am  Siloatn  of  the  Lord ;  my  soul  is  with  you  in  the  Cause.  I  sought 
the  Lord  ;  and  found  this  writteu  in  the  First  Chapter  of  Zephaniah,  the 
3d  verse :  '  See,  I  will  consume,'  &c.  [Here  is  the  rest  of  the.  passayc:  "  Consume 
man  and  l>east ;  I  will  consume  the  fowls  of  heaven,  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea, 
and  the  stumbling-blocks  with  the  wicked;  and  I  will  cut  off  man  from  off  the 
land,  saith  the  Lord."] 

"  Surely  it  is  a  sign  for  us.  So  I  read  it.  For  I  seek  daily,  and  do  nothing 
without  first  so  seeking  the  Lord. 

"  I  have  much  to  say  to  you  all,  when  I  do  see  you.    Till  I  so  do,  the  Lord 

1)0  with  you;  may  His  grace  abound  in  all  your  houses.     Peace  be  among 

yon,  loving  Friends:  so  do  I  pray  daily  for  your  souls'  health.     I  pray  also, 

»w  you  also  (do],  for  His  mercy  to  soften  the  heart  of  the  King. — 

HIM  to  the  end;  t/ie  tiynaturc  itself  half  eaten  :  indistinctly  guessaWe  to  hare 

•MB/] 

"  1  [shall  be  at]  Godmanchester.  (if  it  please  the  Lord,  on]  Monday. 

"  [OL]IVBK  CROM[WKLI.]." 

VI.  No  date;  presumably,  August,  1642,  at  Ely  or  somewhere  in 
that  region;  where  Parliament  musters  or  "surveys"  are  going  on,  and 
Itralililrs  with  recusant  Royalists  are  rife,  —  in  one  of  which  the  excel- 
lent Mr.  Sjiriirif  has  got  a  stroke.  My  Corresjxuident,  the  Transcriber, 
thinkd  "  htwse  at  I't-terlMiriMi^li  "  must  mean  merely  quarters  in  a  house 
thu  house  or  home  of  Squire  appearing  in  .il.it.-  Letter  to  1><  .it 
Ouudle. 


74  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

"  To  Mr.  Squire,  at  his  House,  Peterborough. 

[No  date.] 

"  SIB,  —  I  regret  much  to  hear  your  sad  news.  I  regret  much  that  worthy 
vessel  of  the  Lord,  Sprigg,  came  to  hurt. 

"  I  hope  the  voice  of  the  Lord  will  soften  the  Malignant's  heart  even  yet  at 
the  eleventh  hour :  we  rejoice  at  the  [hope]  much ;  —  but  do  keep  it  quiet,  and 
not  to  take  air. 

"  We  had  a  rare  survey  about  us ;  and  did  much  good.  I  expect  to  see  you 
all  at  Stilton  on  Tuesday.  To  prevent  hindrance,  bring  your  swords  and  -K 
[hieroglyph  for  muskets  1].  —  From  your  Friend,  O.  C-" 


Nos.  VII— XXIV. 

VII.  Keinton  or  Edgehill  Battle,  the  first  clear  bursting  into  flame 
of  all  these  long-smouldering  elements,  was  fought  on  Sunday,  23d 
October,  1642.  The  following  Eighteen  Letters,  dated  or  approxi- 
mately datable  all  but  some  two  or  three,  bring  us  on,  in  a  glimmering 
fitful  manner,  along  the  as  yet  quite  obscure  and  subterranean  course  of 
Colonel  Cromwell,  to  within  sight  of  the  Skirmish  at  Gainsborough, 
where  he  dared  to  beat  and  even  to  slay  the  Hou.  Charles  Cavendish, 
and  first  began  to  appear  in  the  world. 

[To  Auditor  Squire.] 

"  WISBEACH,  this  day,  llth  November,  1642. 

"  DEAR  FRIEND,  —  Let  the  Saddler  see  to  the  Horse-gear.  I  learn,  from 
one,  many  are  ill-served.  If  a  man  has  not  good  weapons,  horse  and  harness, 
he  is  as  naught.  I  pray  you  order  this :  —  and  tell  Raiusborough  I  shall  see 
to  that  matter  [of  his] ;  but  do  not  wrong  the  fool.  —  From  your  Friend, 

"  O.  C." 

VIII-  The  following  is  dated  the  same  day,  apparently  at  a  sub- 
sequent hour,  and  to  the  same  person :  — 

[To  Auditor  Squire.] 

"  NOVEMBER,  llth  day,  1642 

"  Take  Three  Troops,  and  go  to  Downham ;  I  care  not  which  they  be. 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL," 

IX.  "Stanground"  is  in  the  Peterborough  region;  "  Alister  yow 
Music"  means  "  Alister  jour  Trumpeter,"  of  whom  there  will  be  other 
mention.  Oliver  finds  himself  at  a  terrible  pinch  for  inouey  : — there 


SQUIRE  PAPERS.  75 

are  curious  glimpses  into  that  old  House  by  Ely  Cathedral  too,  and  the 
"  Mother  "  and  the  "  Dame  "  there  !  — 

"  To  Mr.  Samuel  Squire,  at  his  Quarters  at  Stanground. 

"  29th  KOVKHBEB,  1642. 

"DEAR  FHIEXD, —  I  have  not  at  this  moment  Five  Pieces  by  me;  loan  I 
can  get  none ;  aud  without  money  a  man  is  as  naught.  Pray  now  open  thy 
pocket,  and  lend  me  150  Pieces  until  my  rent-day ,  when  I  will  repay,  —  or 
say  100  Pieces  until  then.  Pray  send  me  them  by  Alister  your  Music ;  he  is 
a  cautious  man. 

"  Tell  W.  I  will  not  have  his  men  cut  folk's  grass  without  proper  com- 
pensation.  If  you  pass  mine,  say  to  my  Dame  I  have  gone  into  Essex :  my 
boose  is  open  to  yon ;  make  no  scruple  ;  do  as  at  your  house  at  Oundle,  or  I 
shall  be  cross.  —  If  you  please  ride  over  to  Chatteris,  and  order  the  quartering 
of  those  [that]  Suffolk  Troop,  —  I  hear  they  have  been  very  bad ;  — and  let  no 
more  such  doings  be.  Bid  11.  horse  1  any  who  offend ;  say  it  is  my  order,  and 
show  him  this. 

"  Pray  do  not  forget  the  100  Pieces  ;  and  bid  Alister  ride  haste.  I  shall  be 
at  Biggleswade  at  II.  Send  me  the  accounts  of  the  week,  if  possible  by  the 
Trumpet ;  if  not,  send  them  on  by  one  of  the  Troopers.  It  were  well  he 
rode  to  Bury,  and  wait  [uxtited]  my  coming. 

"  I  hope  you  have  forwarded  my  Mother  the  silks  yon  got  for  me  in  Lon- 
don ;  also  those  else  for  my  Dame.  If  not,  pray  do  not  fail.  —  From  your 
Friend,  "OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

"  W."  I  suppose  means  Wildman,  "  R."  Rainsborough.  My  Cor- 
respondent annotates  here :  "  The  Journal  ofteu  mentioned  trouble  they 
[the  officers  generally]  got  into  from  the  mm  taking,  without  leave,  hay 
and  corn  from  Maliguauts,  whom  Oliver  never  allowed  to  be  robbed,  — 
but  paid  for  all  justly  to  friend  aud  foe." 

X.  "  To  Cornet  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  Tansor:  These. 

"  HiJNTlHODON,  22cl  Jannnry,  1612. 

«  8i»,  —  News  has  come  in,  and  I  want  yon.  Tell  my  Son  to  ride  over  his 
men  to  me,  as  I  want  to  see  him.  Tell  White  and  Wildman  also  I  want  tli< -m. 
Be  sure  you  come  too :  do  not  delay. 

"  I  liave  ill  UCWB  of  the  men  under  my  Son  :  tell  him  from  me  I  must  not 
have  it.  Bring  me  over  those  Papers  yon  know  of,  Desborow  has  come  in 
with  good  »poil,  —  some  £3,000  I  reckon.  Your  Friend, 

•«  O.  ("  C."  rotted  off.}  - 

I  That  i.x,  ir<*»lr»-kor»t  (u«*d  as  a  verb).  —  "  Do  military  men  of  these  times 

tnnl«  ritanil  the  w<xx!i»n  horw  'f     He  i*  a  men-  triangular  ridtfe  or  roof  of  wood,  set 

MI   four  MU-kt,  with  alc-ur-l  lu-ad  and   tail  supcnuMcd ;  ;m«l  you  ride  him  bare- 

iln-  wurl.l,  fri-<|iii>iitly  with  mii-krN  tied  to  your  feet,  —  in  a  very 

-  rrwmwtlfi  Letters  and  Spetche*,  vol.  xvii.  p.  421. 


76  SQUIRE   PAPERS, 

Dated  on  the  morrow  after  this,  is  the  oelebrated  Letter  to  Robert 
Barnard,  Esquire,  now  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Gosford:1  "  Subtlety 
may  deceive  you,  integrity  never  will ! " 

XI.  Refers  to  the  Lowestoff  exploit ;  2  and  must  bear  date  12th  March, 
1642-3,  —  apparently  from  Swaffham,  Downham,  or  some  such  place  on 
the  western  side  of  Norfolk. 

"  For  Captain  Berry,  at  his  Quarters,  Oundle.     Haste. 

[Date  gone  by  moths :  —  12th  March,  1642.] 

"  DEAR  FRIEND  —  We  have  secret  and  sure  hints  that  a  meeting  of  the 
Malignants  takes  place  nt  Lowestoff  on  Tuesday.  Now  I  want  your  aid ;  so 
come  with  all  speed  on  getting  this,  with  your  Troop ;  and  tell  no  one  your 
route,  but  let  me  see  you  ere  sundown.  —  From  your  Friend  and  Commandant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

Auditor  Squire  had  written  in  his  Journal,  now  burnt :  "  He  [Oliver] 
got  his  first  information  of  this  business  from  the  man  that  sold  fish  to 
the  Colleges  [at  Cambridge] ,  who  being  searched,  a  Letter  was  found 
on  him  to  the  King,  and  he  getting  rough  usage  told  all  he  knew." 

XII.  Date  and  address  have  vanished;  eaten  by  moths;  but  can  in 
part  be  restored.     Of  the  date,  it  would  appear,  there  remains  dimly  "  the 
last  figure,  which  looks  like  a  5 : "  that  will  probably  mean  "  March 
15,"  which  otherwise  one  finds  to  be  about  the  time.     The  scene  is  still 
the  Fen-country ;  much  harassed  by  Malignants,  necessitating  searches 
for  arms,  spy-journeys,  and  other  still  stronger  measures  !    "  Montague," 
we  can  dimly  gather,  is  the  future  Earl  of  Sandwich;  at  present  "  Cap- 
tain of  the  St.  Neot's  troop,"  a  zealous  young  Gentleman  of  eighteen  ; 
who,  some  six  mouths  hence,  gets  a  commission  to  raise  a  regiment  of 
his  own ;  of  whom  there  is  other  mention  by  and  by. 

[To  Cornet  Squire.] 

[ 15th  MARCH,  1642.] 

"DEAR  FRIEND,  —  I  have  no  great  mind  to  take  Montague's  word  about 
that  Farm.  I  learn,  behind  the  oven  is  the  place  they  hide  them  [the  arms]  ; 
BO  watch  well,  and  take  what  the  man  leaves  ;  —  and  hang  the  fellow  out  of 
hand  [out-a-hand] ,  and  I  am  your  warrant.  For  he  shot  a  boy  at  Filton-bee 
by  the  Spinney,  the  Widow's  son,  her  only  support :  so  God  and  man  must 
rejoice  at  his  punishment. 

"  I  want  you  to  go  over  to  Stamford  :  they  do  not  well  know  you ;  ride 
through,  and  learn  all ;  and  go  round  by  Spalding,  and  so  home  by  Wisbee 

l  Letters  and  Speeches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  125.        2  Ibid.  vol.  xvii.  p.  131. 


SQUIRE   PAPERS.  77 

[Wubcach].    See  15,  8,  92  ;  and  bring  me  word.  —  Wildman  is  gone  by  way 
of  Lincoln  :  you  may  meet  ;  but  do  not  know  him  ;  he  will  not  yon. 

"  I  would  you  rould  get  into  Lynn  ;  for  I  fear  they  are  building  a  neat 
there  we  must  rifle,  I  sadly  fear.  —  You  will  hear  of  me  at  Downham  :  if  not, 
seek  me  at  Ely  ;  my  Son  will  say  my  Quarters  to  you.  —  From  your  Friend, 

"  O.  C." 

XTTT.  No  date,  no  address  ;  the  Letter  itself  a  ruined  fragment,  "  in 
<  H  Ivor's  hand."  For  the  rest  see  Letters  and  Speeches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  137. 
"  Russell,"  I  suppose,  is  Russell  of  Chippenhain,  the  same  whose  daugh- 
t«-r  Henry  Cromwell  subsequently  married. 

[To  Cornet  Squire.] 

[No  date  :  —  Cambridge  (23d  ?)  March,  1642.] 

"  SIR,  —  Send  me  by  Alister  a  list  of  the  Troop,  and  the  condition  of  men 
and  horses  ;  also  condition  of  the  arms.  Ride  over  to  St.  Neot's,  and  see 
Montague  his  Troop,  and  my  Son's  Troop  ;  and  call  on  your  way  back  at 
Huntingdon,  and  see  to  Russell's  (I  hear  his  men  are  ill  provided  in  boots)  ; 
and  bid  them  heed  a  sudden  call  :  I  expect  a  long  ride. 

"  I  shall  want  200  Pieces  :  bring  me  them,  or  else  send  them  by  a  sure 
hand.  —  You  mentioned  to  my  Wife  of  certain  velvets  you  had  in  London, 
come  over  in  your  Father's  ship  from  Italy  :  now,  as  far  as  Twenty  Pieces 
go,  buy  th  —  [torn  off",  signature  and  all].  [OLIVEB  CKOMWELL.J  " 

XIV.  "  To  Mr.  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  Godmanchester  . 

"CAMBRIDGE,  2Cth  March,  1642  [mtsiarittenfor  1643; 
Neiey  ear*  s-day  wot  yesterday], 

"  SIR,  —  Since  we  came  back,  I  learn  no  men  have  got  the  money  I 
ordered.  Let  me  hear  no  more  of  this  ;  but  pay  as  I  direct,  —  as  we  are 
about  hard  work,  I  think.  Yours  to  mind,  OLIVEB  CROMWELL." 

The  "  bard  work"  of  this  Letter,  and  "  long  ride"  of  last,  refer  to 
the  same  matter;  which  did  not  take  effect  after  all,  much  as  Colonel 
urged  it. 


XV.  "  Direction  gone:  Letter  generally  much  wasted."  Refers,  seem- 
ingly, to  those  "Plunderers"  or  "  Camdeners"  from  the  Stamford  side, 
concerning  whom,  about  the  beginning  of  this  April,  there  is  much 
talk  and  terror,  and  one  «.tlicr  Lrtti-r  hy  Cromwoll,  already  printc.  I.1 
"  Bt-rry"  is  the  future  Major-General  ;  once  "  Clerk  in  the  Ironworks," 
Kicli.tnl  Baxter's  frieud;  of  whom  there  was  already  ineution  in  the 
Lowest*  iff  affair. 

1  Letter*  and  Spetchet,  vol.  xvn.  p.  138. 


78  SQUIRE   PAPERS. 

[To  Cornet  Squire.] 
"  ELY,  this  30th  day  [rest  rotted  off:  March,  IMS]. 

" hope  yon  to  bring  me  that     want  in  due  time,  —  we  shall,  if  it 

please  God,  be  at  S  waff  ham  ;  —  and  hear  of  me  at  1 1  [name  in  cipher],  who 
will  say  to  you  all  needful. 

"  Mind  and  come  on  in  strength,  as  they  are  out  to  mischief,  and  some  — 
[guess  at  their  numlter,  illerjiUe]  — Troops,  but  ill-armed.  Tell  Berry  to  ride  in, 
also  Montague  ;  and  cut  home,  as  no  mercy  ought  to  be  shown  those  rovers, 
who  are  only  robbers  and  not  honorable  soldiers.  —  Call  at  Cosey  :  I  learn  he 
has  got  a  case  of  arms  down ;  fetch  them  off  ;  also  his  harness,  —  it  lies  in  the 
wall  by  his  bed-head  :  fetch  it  off ;  but  move  not  his  old  weapons  of  his  Fath- 
er's, or  his  family  trophies.  Be  tender  of  this,  as  you  respect  ray  wishes  of 
one  Gentleman  to  another. 

"  Bring  me  two  pair  Boot-hose,  from  the  Fleming's  who  lives  in  London 
Lane  ;  also  a  new  Cravat :  —  I  shall  be  much  thankful.  I  rest,  your  Friend, 

"  OLIVEK  CROMWELL." 

"  London  Lane,"  I  understand,  is  in  Norwich.  Let  us  hope  "  the 
Fleming  "  has  a  good  fleecy-hosiery  article  there,  and  can  furnish  one's 
Cornet;  for  the  weather  is  still  cold  !  — 

From  Norwich  and  the  Fleming,  hy  faint  reflex,  we  perceive  farther 
that  "  Cosey  "  must  be  Costessey,  vernacularly  "  Cossy,"  Park  :  seat  of 
the  old  Roman-Catholic  Jerninghams  (now  Lords  Stafford),  who  are 
much  concerned  in  these  broils,  to  their  heavier  cost  in  time  coming. 
Cossy  is  some  four  miles  east  of  Norwich ;  will  lie  quite  handy  for 
Squire  and  his  Troop  as  they  ride  hitherward,  being  on  the  very 
road  to  Swaffham.1 

XVI.  "  Mr.  Samuel  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  Peterborough,  in  Bridge  Street 
there :  Haste. 

"ST.  NEOT'S,  3d  April,  1643. 

"  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  required  by  the  Speaker  to  send  up  those  Prisoners 
we  got  in  Suffolk  [at  Lowesloff,  $-c.]  ;  pray  send  me  the  Date  we  got  them, 
also  their  Names  in  full,  and  quality.  I  expect  I  may  have  to  go  up  to  Town 
also.  I  send  them  up  by  Whalley's  Troop  and  the  Slepe  Troop ;  my  Son  goes 
with  them.  You  had  best  go  also,  to  answer  any  questions  needed. 

"  I  shall  require  a  new  Pot  [kind  of  Helmet] ;  mine  is  ill  set.  Buy  me  one 
in  Tower  Street ;  a  Fleming  sells  them,  I  think  his  name  is  Vandelenr  :  get 
one  fluted,  and  good  barrets  ;  and  let  the  plume-case  be  set  oa  well  behind.  I 
would  prefer  it  lined  with  good  shamoy  leather  to  any  other. 

"  I  have  wished  them  return  [tJie  tico  Troops  to  return]  by  way  of  Suffolk 

1  This  Paragraph  is  due  to  a  Correspondent  (Jan.  1848),  after  Fraser,  where 
"  Cosey  "  was  printed  with  a  quaere,  "  Cosey  (?)  "  —  (Note  to  the  Reprint,  1860) 


SQUIRE  PAPERS.  79 

home ;  BO  remind  them.  Do  see  after  the  3  [undecipherable  cipher].  81  is  play- 
ing fox :  I  hold  a  letter  of  his  he  sent  to  certain  ones,  which  I  got  of  one  who 
carried  it.  If  you  light  on  him,  pray  take  care  of  him,  and  bring  him  on  to 
me.  I  cannot  let  each  escape ;  life  and  property  is  lost  by  each  villains.  If 
resistance  is  given,  pistol  him.  No  nonsense  can  bo  held  with  nucli :  lie  is  as 
dangerous  au  a  mad  bull,  and  must  be  quieted  by  some  means.  This  villain  got 
our  men  into  a  strife  near  Fakenham,  some  three  weeks  since  ;  and  two  got 
shot  down,  and  nine  wounded  ;  and  the  others  lost  some  twenty  or  thirty  on 
their  side ;  and  all  for  his  mischief. 

"  Let  me  see  you  as  soon  as  needs  will  allow.  Mind  Henry  come  to  no  ill 
in  Loudou.  1  look  to  yuu  to  heed  him.  —  From  your  Friend, 

"OLIVER  CKOMWELL." 

Squire  endorses :  "We  went  up  with  the  Treasure;  and  got  sadly 
mauled  coming  back,  but  beat  the  ruffians  [rujfinns]  at  Chipping,  but 
lost  near  all  our  baggage." 

XVII.  These  plundering  "  Ca'ndishere,"  called  lately  "  Camdenere  " 
from  Noel  Viscount  Camden  their  principal  adherent  in  these  Southern 
parts,  are  outskirts  or  appendages  of  the  Marquis  of  Newcastle's  North - 
••HI  <>r  "Papist"  Anny,  and  have  for  Commander  the  Hon.  Charles 
Cavendish,  Cousin  of  the  Marquis  ;  whence  their  name.  They  are  fast 
Ho\viug  Southward  at  present,  in  spite  of  the  Fairfaxes,  — to  the  terror 
<>f  men.  Our  first  distinct  notice  of  them  by  Oliver;  the  last  will  fol- 
low by  and  by. 

"  To  Mr.  Squire,  at  hit  Quarter*,  Oundle :  These.    Pott  haste,  haste. 

"  STILTON,  12th  April  thl»  d»y  [IMS]. 

"  SIR,  —  Pray  show  this  to  Berry,  and  advise  [rifinify  to]  him  to  ride  in,  and 
join  me,  l.v  four  days'  time ;  as  these  Ca'ndishers,  I  hear,  are  over,  tearing  and 
rol.hing  all,  poor  and  rich.  —  \moth»\  —  Many  poor  souls  slain,  and  cattle 
moved  off.  Stamford  is  taken,  and  Lord  Noel  [Note]  has  put  some  300  to 
garrison  it. 

"  Send  on  word  to  Biggleswade,  to  hasten  those  alow  fellows.  We  are  upon 
no  child's-play  ;  and  most  hare  all  help  at  we  [they]  may.  —  At  same  time,  I 
will  buy  your  Spanish  Headpiece  you  showed  me ;  I  will  give  you  Five  Pieces 
for  it,  and  my  Scots  on«;  at  all  rates,  I  will  fain  have  it. — So  rest,  \--.nr 
Frii-ud,  O.  C." 

"  The  East  Foot  [from  Suffolk,  jf-r.]  are  come  in,  to  some  too  men,  I  learn. 
Hay  M>  to  those  Biggleawade  dormice." 

Squire  ha*  jotted  cm  this  Letter:  "  writ  12th  April,  1642  [ionium •• 
l'>n],  at  we  were  upon  our  Line., In  riding." 


80  SQUIRE   PAPERS. 

X  VUL   "  To  Mr.  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  Oundle :  These.     Haste. 

"ELY,  this  13th  day  April,  1642  [for  1643]. 

"  SIR,  —  J  got  your  Letter  and  the  Headpiece  [See  Nos.  16, 17],  I  find  we 
want  much  ere  we  march.  Our  Smiths  are  hard  [on]  work  at  shoes.  Press 
me  Four  more  Smiths  as  you  come  on  :  I  must  have  them,  yea  or  nay ;  say  I 
will  pay  them  fee,  and  let  go  after  shoeing,  —  home,  and  no  hindrances. 

"  I  am  glad  Berry  is  of  our  mind  ;  and  in  so  good  discipline  of  his  men, — 
next  to  good  arms,  sure  victory,  under  God.  —  I  am,  your  Friend,  O.  C." 

XIX.  "  To  Mr.  S.  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  Oundle :  These.     Haste. 

"  ELY,  this  day,  Monday  [ 1643]. 

"  SIR,  —  The  Pay  of  the  three  Troops  is  come  down  ;  therefore  come  over 
by  Twelve  to-morrow,  and  see  to  it.  I  can  hear  nothing  of  the  man  that  was 
sent  me  out  of  Suffolk  and  Essex.  I  fear  he  is  gone  off  with  the  money.  If 
so,  our  means  are  straitened  beyond  my  power  to  redeem ;  —  so  must  beg  of 
you  to  lend  me  200  Pieces  more,  to  pay  them  ;  and  I  will  give  you  the  order  on 
my  Farm  at  Slepe,  as  security,  if  Parliament  fail  payment,  which  I  much 
doubt  of. 

"  I  got  the  money  out  of  Norfolk  last  Friday  :  it  came,  as  usual,  ill ;  and 
lies  at  my  Son's  quarters  safely  :  also  the  Hertfordshire  money  also  [sic], 
which  lies  at  his  quarters  also.  The  money  which  was  got  from  the  man  at 
Boston  is  all  gone  :  I  had  to  pay  20  per  centum  for  the  changing  it,  and  then 
take  Orders  on  certain  you  know  of,  which  will  reduce  it  down  to  barely  £60 
in  the  100 :  —  which  is  hard  case  on  us  who  strive,  thus  to  lose  our  hard  earn- 
ings by  men  who  use  only  pens,  and  have  no  danger  of  life  or  limb  to  go 
through. 

"Bring  me  the  Lists  of  the  Foot  now  lying  in  Garrison.  I  fear  those 
men  from  Suffolk  are  being  tried  sorely  by  money  from  certain  parties,  — 
whom  I  will  hang,  if  I  catch  playing  their  tricks  in  my  quarters  ;  by  law  of  arms 
I  will  serve  them.  Order  Isham  to  keep  the  Bridge  (it  is  needful),  and 
shoot  any  one  passing  who  has  not  a  pass.  The  Service  is  one  that  we 
must  not  be  nice  upon,  to  gain  our  ends.  So  show  him  my  words  for  it. 

"  Tell  Captain  Russell  my  mind  on  his  men's  drinking  the  poor  man's 
ale,  and  not  paying.  I  will  not  allow  any  plunder  :  so  pay  the  man,  and 
stop  their  pay  to  make  it  up.  I  will  cashier  officers  and  men,  if  such  is  done 
in  future. 

"  So  let  me  see  you  by  noon-time ;  as  I  leave,  after  dinner,  for  Cambridge.  — 
Sir,  I  am,  your  Friend,  OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

"  Isham,"  who  is  to  keep  the  Bridge  on  this  occasion,  "  left  the  regi- 
ment at  the  same  time  as  Squire  did  [the  First  War  being  ended], 
and  went  to  sea,  as  did  many  others :  so  said  Journal."  (Note  ~by  the 
Transcriber.) 


SQUIRE    PAPERS.  81 

XX.  Address  torn  off,  date  eaten  by  moths  ;  the  former  to  be  guessed 

at,  the  latter  not. 

[To  Air.  Squire.] 

[  --  IMS.] 

"DEAR  FRIEND,  [I  pray  yon]  J  send  a  Hundred  Pounds  to  81  at  Ipswich  ; 
also  a  Hundred  Pounds  to  92  in  Harwich;  also  Fifty  -two  Pounds  to  151  at 
Aldborongh  ;  —  and  do  not  delay  an  hour.  W.  [  Wildman  f]  is  returned  :  they 
are  all  fit  to  burst  at  news  come  in  ;  and,  I  much  fear,  will  break  out.  So  I 
am  now  going  over  to  clip  their  wings.  I  shall  be  back  in  five  days,  if  all  be 
well. 

"  Henry  has  borrowed  of  yon  Fifty  Pieces,  I  learn.  Do  not  let  him  hare  any 
more  ;  he  does  not  need  it  ;  and  I  hope  better  of  you  than  go  against  my  mind. 
—  I  rest,  your  Friend,  OLIVER  CKOMWKLL." 

XXL  "  To  Mr.  Squire,  at  hit  Quarters,  Chatterit:  Hatte,  haste. 

"  HEADQUARTERS,  Monday,  daybreak. 

"SiR,  —  Wildman  has  seen  one  who  says  you  have  news.  How  is  this  I 
am  not  put  in  possession  of  it?  Surely  you  are  aware  of  our  great  ueed. 
Send  or  come  to  me  by  dinner.  —  I  am  your  Friend, 

"  OUTER  CROMWELL." 

XXII.  "  To  Mr.  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  Downham. 

[No  date-  1643.] 

"DEAR  FRIEND,  —  I  learn  from  Burton  (112)  that  one  landed  at  the  Quar 
from  Holland,  who  was  let  go,  and  is  now  gone  on  by  way  of  Lynn.  I  bear 
he  haft  a  peaked  beard,  of  a  blue-black  color:  of  some  twenty-five  years  old  : 
I  think  from  my  letters,  a  Spaniard.  See  to  him.  He  will  needs  cross  the 
\Va-<li  ;  stop  him,  and  bring  him  to  me.  I  shall  lie  at  Bury,  if  not  at  New- 
market :  so  be  off  quickly.  —  From  your  Friend,  O.  CROMWELL. 

"  Haste,  —  ride  on  spur." 

Squire  has  endorsed  :  "  Got  the  man  at  Tilney,  after  a  tussle,  two 
hit,  and  he  sore  cut,  even  to  loss  of  life.     Got  all." 


XXIII.  Mr.  Waters  is  some  lukewarm  Committee-man;  whose  lazy 

Ii;i.'l<\var.lnes8,  not  to  say  \vnrsc  of  it,  this  Colonel  can  endure  no  longer. 

Squire  ()>y  what*  -V«T  chance  the  Letter  came  into  Squire's  hand)  has 

endorsed  u  memorandum  :  "  1  Ki  [and  other  cipher-marks]  lives  at  his 

•  ,"  —  which  pcrliajw  may  explain  the  thing? 

«  To  Mr.  W  alert,  at  the  Cntt  Keys:  These  in  all  speed. 

"  LINCOLN,  26th  July,  1643. 

"  SIK,  —  If  IK-  mom  be  done  than  you  and  yonrs  have  done,  It  is  well  you 
give  uvnr  mirh  JMIWITX  an  you  have  to  thoae  who  will      I  say  to  you  now  my 

1  S<>mi-  MK-II  [.lira-"',  ami  the  half  of  "  Kri.  «•/."  have  gone  by  moths. 
VOL.  xviii  0 


82  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

mind  thereto :  If  I  have  not  that  aid  which  is  my  due,  I  say  to  yon  I  will  take 
it.  And  so  heed  me ;  for  I  find  your  words  are  mere  wind  :  I  shall  do  as  I 
say,  if  I  find  no  aid  come  to  me  by  Tuesday.  —  Sir,  I  rest,  as  you  will, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

XXIV.  Here  are  the  Ca'ndishers  again;  scouring  the  world,  like 
hungry  wolves :  swift,  mount,  and  after  them ! 

"  To  Captain  Montague  or  Sam  Squire :  Haste,  haste,  on  spur. 

"  WISBEACH,  this  day  [July,  1643]. 

"  SIR,  —  One  has  just  come  in  to  say  the  Ca'ndishers  have  come  as  far  as 
Thorney,  and  done  a  great  mischief,  and  drove  off  some  threescore  fat 
beasts. 

"Pray  call  all  in,  and  follow  them;  they  cannot  have  got  far.  Give  no 
quarter ;  as  they  shed  blood  at  Bourne,  and  slew  three  poor  men  not  in  arms. 
So  make  haste.  —  From  your  Friend  and  Commander, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

Here,  too,  is  a  Letter  from  Henry  Cromwell,  copied  by  my  Corre- 
spondent from  Squire's  old  Papers ;  which  is  evidently  of  contiguous  or 
slightly  prior  date,  and  well  worth  saving. 

[To  Captain  Berry,  at  his  Quarters,  Whittlesea:  These  in  all  haste. 

" 18th  July,  1643. 

"  SIR,  —  There  is  great  news  just  come  in,  by  one  of  our  men  who  has  been 
home  on  leave.  The  Ca'ndishers  are  coming  on  hot.  Some  say  80  troops, 
others  50  troops.  Be  it  as  it  may,  we  must  go  on.  Vermuyden  has  sent  his 
Son  on  to  say,  We  had  better  push  on  three  troops  as  scouts,  as  far  as  Stam- 
ford ;  and  hold  Peterborough  at  all  costs,  as  it  is  the  Key  to  the  Fen,  which 
if.  lost  much  ill  may  ensue.  Our  news  says,  Ca'ndish  has  sworn  to  sweep  the 
Fens  clear  of  us.  How  he  handles  his  broom,  we  will  see  when  we  meet :  he 
may  find  else  than  dirt  to  try  his  hand  on,  I  think!  Last  night  came  in 
Letters  from  the  .Lord  General;  also  money,  and  ammunition  a  good  store. 

"Our  men  being  ready,  we  shall  ride  in  and  join  your  Troop  at  dawn. 
Therefore  send  out  scouts  to  see.  Also  good  intelligencers  on  foot  had  better 
be  seen  after ;  they  are  best,  I  find,  on  all  occasions.  Hold  the  Town  secure  ; 
none  go  in  or  out,  on  pain  of  law  of  arms  and  Avar.  —  Sharman  is  come  in 
from  Thrapstoue :  there  was  a  Troop  of  the  King's  men  driving,  but  got  cut 
down  to  a  man,  —  not  far  from  Kettering,  by  the  Bedford  Horse,  aud  no 
quarter  given,  I  hear. 

"  Sir,  this  is  all  the  news  I  have.  My  Father  desires  me  to  say,  Pray  be 
careful!  — Sir,  I  rest,  your  humble  Servant,  HENRY  CROMWELL." 

On  the  same  sheet  follow  four  lines  of  abstruse  cipher,  with  a  signa- 
ture which  I  take  to  mean  " Oliver  Cromwell:"  apparently  some  still 
more  secret  message  from  the  Colonel  himself. 


SQUIRE  PAPERS.  83 

On  Friday,  28th  July,  1643,  precisely  ten  days  after  this  Letter,  oc- 
curred the  action  at  Gainsborough,  where  poor  General  Cavendish, 
"  handling  his  hrooin  "  to  best  ability,  was  killed  ;  and  a  good  account, 
or  good  instalment  of  account  to  begin  with,  was  given  of  these 
Ca'ndishers.1 


Nos.  XXV.-XXXV. 

OUR  last  batch  consists  of  Eleven  Letters ;  all  of  which,  except  two 
only,  bear  date  164.'J;  and  all  turn  on  the  old  topics.  Squire's  more 
intimate  relation  to  Oliver  naturally  ceased  as  the  sphere  of  action 
widened,  —  as  the  "  valiant  Colonel"  having  finished  his  Eastern-Asso- 
ciation business,  emerged  as  a  valiant  General  into  Marston  Battle,  into 
England  at  large.  After  1643,  there  is  only  one  Letter  to  Squire  ;  and 
that  on  personal  business,  and  dated  1645. 

XXV.  "  To  Mr.  Squire,  at  hit  Quarters,  Wisbeach,  at  Mr.  Thome's  House 
there:  by  my  Son  Henry. 

"  AUGUST,  2d  day,  1613. 

"  SIR,  —  My  Lord  Manchester  has  not  the  power  to  serve  me  as  you  would 
[as  you  wish]  for  York :  but  I  will  see  if  I  can  do  it  for  him,  to  serve  you  in 
my  Kinsman's  [  Whalley's,  Dcsborow's,  Walton's?]  troop. 

"  I  will  give  you  all  you  ask  for  that  Black  you  won  last  fight.  —  I  remain, 
yours,  OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

"  Last  Fight  "  is  Gainsborough  with  the  Ca'ndishers ;  which  oc- 
curred a  week  ago,  —  and  has  yielded  Squire  a  horse  among  other 
things. 

XXVL  "  To  Mr.  S.  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  the  Flag. 

"  THIS  DAT,  3d  August,  1W3. 

"  SIR,  —  These  are  to  require  you  to  bring  the  Statements  of  the  Troopers 
who  were  on  the  road,  when  they  stopped  the  Wains  containing  the  Arms 
going  from  [word  iliftjible ;  my  Correspondent  writes  " Skegness "]  to  Oxford: 
that  they  be  paid  their  dues  for  the  service. 

"  I  learn  from  Jackson  that  some  of  the  Suffolk  Troop  requires  Passes  to 
return  home  to  Harvest.     Now,  that  is  hardly  to  be  given;  seeing  we  are 
;i(t<-r  Lynn  Leaguer,  and  require  all  aid  needful  to  surround  tin-in  [the  Lynn 
:«ntt\ : — Say  I  cannot  grant  their  requesting.     H;t\  <•  they  nut  h.id  great 
God's  Ixmnty  and  grace,  in  so  short  a  time  ?     I  am  filled  with 

i  I. ,  tun  and  Spcccktt.  vol.  xvii.  p.  149 


84  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

surprise  at  this  fresh  requiring  of  these  selfish  men.  Let  them  write  home, 
aud  hire  others  to  work.  I  will  grant  no  fresh  Passes :  the  Lord  General  is 
against  it ;  and  so  am  I,  fixed  in  my  mind. 

"  Do  you  ride  over  to  Swaff ham,  and  buy  Oats  for  2,000  horse :  we  shall 
require  as  many,  to  come  on  to  Gaywood,  by  order,  as  needed.  Also  see  to 
the  Hay;  —  and  let  your  servants  see  well  that  no  imposition  is  practised. 
I  most  insist  on  due  weight  and  measure  for  man  and  horse;  or  let  the  chap- 
men look  to  their  backs  and  pouches !  I  stand  no  rogue's  acts  here,  if  they 
are  tolerated  in  London.  I  will  have  my  pennyworth  for  my  penny. 

"  Send  on  a  Trooper  to  Norwich  and  Yarmouth  for  news.  Bid  them  call 
at  112  and  68,  and  ask  Mr.  Parmenter  after  32:  he  is  fox,  I  hear.  I  fear 
Burton  is  double.  —  I  am,  your  friend,  OLIVER  CROMWELL, 


"  I  sent  a  Pass  to  your  Kinsman." 

XXVII.  [To  Mr.  Squire.] 


[17th  AUGUST,  1643.] 

'  BID  three  Troops  go  on  to  Downham,  and  come  by  way  of  Wisbeach. 
Tell  Ireton  my  mind  on  his  shooting  that  Spy  without  learning  more.  I 
like  it  not.  His  name  is  Nickols,  I  hear.  It  were  well  no  news  took  air 
of  it.  0.  C." 

"From  Col.  Cromwell  on  his  way  to  Siege  of  Lynn,  17th  August, 
1643 : "  so  Squire  dockets ;  which  enables  us  to  date.  Farther  in  re- 
gard to  "Ireton's  matter"  (the  well-known  Ireton),  there  stood  in  the 
Journal,  says  my  Correspondent :  "  This  man  was  shot  in  Thorney  Fen: 
he  was  a  spy,  and  had  done  great  injury.  He  had  500  Gold  Pieces  in 
his  coat,  and  a  Pass  of  Manchester's  and  one  of  the  King's."  To  which 
my  Correspondent  adds  in  his  own  person  :  "  Shooting  spies,  and  hang- 
ing newsmongers,  was  very  often  done ;  and  to  me  very  horrihle  was 
the  news  I  read  often  in  the  Journal  of  such  doings." 

XXVIII.  The  "  great  work  on  hand"  —  is  a  ride  to  Lincolnshire; 
which  issued  in  Wincehy  Fight,  or  Horncastle  Fight,  on  Wednesday 
next. 

[  To  Auditor  Squire.\ 

"  ELY,  this  day  [moths]  October  [1&43J. 

"DEAR  FRIEND, —  Hasten  with  all  speed  you  may,  and  come  on  the  spur 
to  me  at  Ely  :  we  have  a  great  work  on  hand,  and  shall  need  us  all  to  under- 
take it.  May  the  Lord  be  with  us.  —  Hasten  your  men.  I  must  see  you  by 
to-morrow  sunset,  as  we  start  next  day.  —  From,  yours, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

"Came  by  the  Colonel's  Music,"  so  Squire  endorses. —  For  Wince- 
by  Fight,  which  followed  on  Wednesday  next,  see  Letters  and  Speeches, 
vol.  xvii.  pp.  170-173- 


SQUIRE  PAPERS.  85 

XXIX.  Home  at  Ely  again  ;  in  want  of  various  domestic  requisites, 
—  a  drop  of  mild  brandy,  for  one. 

"  To  Mr.  S.  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  Dereham,  or  elsewhere :  Haste,  haste. 

"ELY,  15th  November,  1613. 

"  SIR, —  With  all  speed,  on  getting  this,  see  Cox ;  his  Quarters  are  at  the 
Fort  on  the  South  End.  Tell  him  to  send  me  two  Colverins,  also  a  small 
Mortar-piece,  with  match,  powder  aiid  shot :  also  a  Gunner  and  his  mates, 
as  1  need  them. 

"Buy  of  Mr.  Teryer  a  case  of  Strong-waters  for  me;  —  and  tell  the  Bailiff 
to  order  on  such  Volunteers  as  we  can :  we  need  all  we  can  get.  Also  get 
a  cask  of  cured  Fish  for  me.  —  Do  not  fail  sending  on,  with  good  speed,  the 
Cannons ;  we  stay  for  them.  In  haste,  yours, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

XXX.  "  To  Mr.  S.  Squire,  at  his  Quarters. 

"THIS  DAY,  Friday  noon  [—November,  1643). 

"  SIR,  —  Your  Letter  is  more  in  the  Lord  General's  business  than  mine ; 
bnt  to  serve  you  am  well  pleased  at  all  times.  I  have  writ  to  the  Captain  at 
Loughborongh  to  mind  what  he  ih  abont :  at  the  same  time,  if  your  Kins- 
men are  Papists,  I  do  not  know  well  how  I  dare  go  against  the  Law  of  Par- 
liament to  serve  them.  I  have,  to  oblige  yon,  done  so  far :  Take  a  Pass,  and 
go  over  and  see  to  this  matter,  if  you  are  inclined.  But  I  think  they,  if 
prudent,  will  get  no  farther  ill. 

"  I  shall  want  the  Blue  Parcel  of  Papers  you  know  of :  send  them  by  your 
Music. —  Sir,  I  am,  your  Friend,  OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

Squire  endorses :  "  My  Cousin  would  not  leave  the  Nunnery,  so  left 
her."  —  But  see  next  Letter,  for  a  wiser  course. 

XXXL  "  To  Mr.  S.  Squire,  at  his  Quarters,  Fotheringay. 

"  PETERBOROUGH,  thin  day,  2d  Dec.  1643. 

"DEAR  FRIEND, —  I  think  I  have  heard  you  say  that  you  had  a  relation  in 
the  Nunnery  at  Longhborongh.  Pray,  if  you  love  her,  remove  her  speedily  ; 
and  I  send  yon  a  Pass,  —  as  we  have  orders  to  demolish  it,  and  I  must  not 
dispute  orders  [no/] :  —  There  is  one  of  the  Andrews  in  it;  take  her  away. 
Nay  give  them  heed  to  go,  if  they  value  themselves.  I  had  rather  they  did. 
I  like  no  war  on  women.  Pray  preTail  on  all  to  go,  if  yon  can.  I  shall  be 
with  you  at  Onndlc  in  time.  —  From  your  Friend, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

Squire  has  written  on  the  other  side:  "Got  my  Cousin  Mary  and 
Mbw  Andrews  out,  and  left  them  at  our  house  at  Thrapstone,  with  my 
Aunt,  »aimi  niyht  ;  ami  tho  Tnxijw  rode  over,  ami  wrecked  the  Nunnery 
by  urd»;r  of  Paili.m.. 


86  SQUIRE   PAPERS. 

XXXII.  Some  Cathedral  or  other  Church   duty   come   in   course ; 
at  which  young  Montague,  Captain  of  the  St.  Neot's  Troop,  would 
fain  hesitate !     Readers  may  remember  Mr.  Hitch  of  Ely,  —  about  a 
fortnight   after  the    date   here.1      u  Monuments   of   Superstition   and 
Idolatry,"  they  must  go:  the  Act  of  Parliament,  were  there  nothing 
more,  is  express! 

[To  Mr.  Squire.] 

"CHRISTMAS  EVE  [1643]. 

"  SIR,  —  It  is  to  no  use  any  man's  saying  he  will  not  do  this  or  that. 
What  is  to  be  done  is  no  choice  of  mine.  Let  it  be  sufficient,  it  is  the  Par- 
liament's Orders,  and  we  to  obey  them.  I  am  surprised  at  Montague  to  say  so. 
Show  him  this  :  if  the  men  are  not  of  a  mind  to  obey  this  Order,  I  will  cash- 
ier them,  the  whole  Troop.  I  heed  God's  House  as  much  as  any  man :  but 
vanities  and  trumpery  give  no  honor  to  God,  nor  idols  serve  Him  ;  neither  do 
painted  windows  make  man  more  pious.  Let  them  do  as  Parliament  bid 
them,  or  else  go  home,  —  and  then  others  will  be  less  caref ID  to  do  what  we 
had  done  [might  have  done]  with  judgment. 

"  I  learn  there  is  4  Men  down  with  the  Sickness,  in  the  St.  Neot's  Troop 
now  at  March.  Let  me  hear :  so  ride  over,  and  learn  all  of  it.  —  Sir,  I  am, 
your  Friend,  OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

Squire  has  endorsed :  "  They  obeyed  the  Order." 

XXXIII.  This  Letter,  in  my  Copy  of  it,  is  confidently  dated  "  Stilton, 
31st  July,  1643;"  but,  for  two  reasons,  the  date  cannot  be  accepted. 
First,  there  is  a  Letter  long  since  printed,  which  bears  date  Huntingdon, 
instead  of  Stilton,  with  precisely  the  same  day  and  year,  —  the  Letter 
concerning  Gainsborough   Fight,  namely.2     Secondly,  in  the  Letter 
now  before  us  there  is  allusion  to  "  Horncastle"  or  Winceby  Fight, 
which  had  not  happened  in  "  July,"  nor  till  llth  October  following. 
If  for  July  we  read  Jan",  January,  1643-4,  there  is  a  better  chance 
of  being  right. 

[To  Auditor  Squire.] 

"  STILTON,  31st  [January],  1643. 

"DEAR  SIR,  —  Buy  those  Horses;  but  do  not  give  more  than  18  or  20 
Pieces  each  for  them :  that  is  enough  for  Dragooners. 

"I  will  give  you  60  Pieces  for  that  Black  you  won  at  Horncastle  (if  you 
hold  to  a  mind  to  sell  him),  for  my  Son,  who  has  a  mind  to  him.  —  Dear  Sir, 
I  am,  your  Friend,  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  15  is  come  in." 

I  Letters  and  Speeches,  vol.  xvii.p.  174.  «  Jbid.  vol.  xvii.  149. 


SQUIRE   PAPERS.  87 

XXXIV.  Red  coats  for  the  first  time  !     My  Correspondent  gives  the 
following  annotation :  "  I  remember,  in  Journal,  mention  of  all  the 
East  men  [Association  men]  wearing  red  coats,1  horse  and  foot,  to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  the  King's  men ;  and  it  being  used  after  by  the 
whole  Army.     And  I  think  it  was  after  Marston  Battle ;  —  but  the 
Journal  was  full  of  the  rowes  of  the  men,  and  corporals'  cabals." 

"  To  Mr.  Russell,  at  his  Quarters,  Bromley  by  Brno. 

[No  date  at  o«.  1643.) 

"  SIR,  —  I  learn  your  Troop  refuse  the  new  Coats.  Say  this  :  Wear  them, 
or  go  home.  I  stand  uo  nonsense  from  any  one.  It  is  a  needful  thing  we  be 
aa  one  in  Color ;  much  ill  having  been  from  diversity  of  clothes,  to  slaying 
[of  friends  by  friends).  Sir,  I  pray  you  heed  this. 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

XXXV.  Cornet  or  Auditor  Squire,  it  would  appear  by  my  Corre- 
spondent's recollections  of  the  lost  Journal,  was  promoted  to  be  Lieu- 
tenant for  his  conduct  in  Naseby  Fight :  "  he  afterwards  got  wounded 
in  Wales  or  Cornwall  ;  place  named  Turo,  I  think,"  —  undoubtedly  at 
Truro  in  Cornwall,  in  the  ensuing  Autumn.    Here,  next  Spring,  1645-6, 
while  the  Service  is  like  to  be  lighter,  he  decides  on  quitting  the  Army 
altogether. 

"  To  Lieutenant  Sqvire,  at  his  Quarters,  Tavlstock :  These. 

"MMARCB.  164& 

"  SIR,  —  In  reply  to  the  Letter  I  got  this  morning  from  you,  —  I  am  sorry 
yon  |»o]  resolve  ;  for  I  had  gotten  you  your  commission  as  Captain  from  the 
Lord  General,  and  waited  only  your  coming  to  give  it  you.  Think  twice  of 
this.  For  I  intended  your  good  ;  as  I  hope  you  know  my  mind  that  wise.  But 
so  if  you  will,  —  I  will  not  hinder  you.  For,  thanks  be  given  to  God,  I  trust 
now  all  will  be  well  for  this  Nation  ;  and  an  enduring  Peace  be,  to  God  hia 
glory  and  our  prosperity. 

"  Now  there  is  between  you  and  me  some  reckoning.  Now  I  hope  to  be  in 
London,  ray  in  three  weeks,  if  God  speed  me  in  this  matter.  Call  at  the 
Speaker')*,  and  I  will  pay  yon  all  your  due.  Pray  send  me  a  List  of  the  Items, 
for  guide  to  me  [  for  me  to  guide].  Let  me  know  what  I  owe  your  Brother 
for  the  Winea  he  got  me  out  «f  Spain  to  my  mind.  —  Sir,  let  me  once  more 
wish  you  [would]  think  over  your  resolution,  that  I  may  serve  you.  —  Your 
Friend,  OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

S<|nire,  in  his  idle  moments,  has  executed  on  this  sheet  a  rude  draw- 
ing of  a  Pen  and  Sword  ;  very  nnlr  indeed  ;  with  those  words:  "Ten 

*  Lttlirt  and  Sptickct,  vol.  xvii.  p.  151 


88  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

to  one  the  Feather  beats  the  Iron  :  "  that  is  Squire's  endorsement  on 
this  his  last  remaining  Letter  from  Oliver;  indicating  a  nascent  purpose, 
on  the  part  of  Squire,  to  quit  the  Army  after  all. 


With,  which  nascent  purpose,  and  last  Letter,  we  should  so  gladly  take 
onr  leave  of  him  and  his  affairs;  were  it  not  that  there  still  remain,  from 
the  burnt  Journal,  certain  miscellaneous  Scraps,  transitory  jottings  of 
Lists  and  the  like,  copied  by  our  Correspondent,  — which,  though  gen- 
erally of  the  character  of  mere  opaque  ashes,  may  contain  here  and  there 
some  fragment  of  a  burnt  bone,  once  a  hero's  ;  and  claim  to  be  included 
in  this  which  may  be  called  the  Funeral  Urn  of  the  Ironsides,  what  is 
left  to  us  of  them  after  the  fire.  These  Scraps  too,  let  us  hastily  shoot 
them  in,  therefore ;  and  so  end. 

Scrap  1. 

On  a  Slip  of  Paper  in  Squire's  hand  first,  but  ending  with  a  line  v 
Oliver's :  — 

ELY,  this  12th  day  of  March,  1613. 

Sick: 

M.  Kearues 
T.Allen 

Wounded: 

P.  Jenkins 
P.  Frisby 
Tab.  Tomlins 
Sh.  Wales 

4  horses  want  new  shoes  ;  14  bridles  want  repairs  [turns  the  leaf]  ;  4  greaves 
want  repair.    Paid  for  Hay  for  Horses  50  shillings. 
The  rest  all  well. 

SAUL. 

[Bottom  of  the  Paper.] 
Sixth  Troop  to  go  to  Downham. 

O.C. 


Scrap  2. 

My  Correspondent  says :  "  These  Names  are  written  on  a  sheet  of 
Paper,  folded,  and  marked  Troops"  —  probably,  as  my  Correspondent 


SQUIRE   PAPERS. 


89 


gnesses  elsewhere,  the  names  of  the  original  Ironside  Captains ;  well 
worth  preserving  indeed ! 


Cromwell 

Aires 

Berry 

Freshwater 

Woolward 

Spriggg 

Sheppherd 

Fail-side 

Weston 

Flutter 

Stebbings 

Walton 

Cam  pin 

Deane 

Buckell 


Wright 

Evanson 

Collins 

Larance 

Wanton 

Waldca 

Jones 

Whalley 

Cook 

Fountain 

Norton  (idle  Dick) 

Langley 

Baruard 

Dodsworth 

Richardson 


Rains  forth 

Clarke 

Lawsell 

Russell 

White 

Rawlins 

Sidne  (Algernon  1) 

Cromwell,  11. 

Cromwell,  O.  (Junior) 

Ireton 

Rich 

Montague  (Sandtrich) 

Cults 

Chambers. 


ScrapS. 
Names  written  on  a  Paper  marked  "  St.  Neot's  Troop." 

Speechley  Wanton,  V.  (  Valentine,  youny  WaUon, 

Tebbntt  (the  Saddler  f  in  Scrap  7 )         killed  at  Marston-Moor  ?) 

Wright  Russell,  John 

Kills  Cromwell,  Rd.  (idle  Richard/) 

Barnard  Cromwell,  Thos. 

Hunt  Montague 

Pickering  Halles,  Ambrose 

Dawson  Andres 

Butler  Spencer,  junr." 

Cox 


Scrap  4. 
On  a  Sheet  in  Squire's  hand :  — 

The  Names  of  thoM  who  joined  us  at  Siege  of  Lynn,  and  came  riding  in 
full  armed,  and  wont  into  our  second  rr^iiwnt ;  and  who  left  us,  many  of 
them,  after  Marxtnn  Fi^'ht,  on  fancies  of  conscience,  ami  turnrd  Qnackers 
(Quali r^  ;  —  and  such  like  left  us  at  Newmarket,  and  wont  livuie  with  tin- 
Ea»tnn  II'B  foot,  to  giirrismi  I.vnn  and  Yarmouth. 


90 


SQUIKE  PAPERS. 


No.  1. 


Allen,  Robert 

Ames,  Simeon 

Anger,  Josua 

Beales,  Constantino 

Beart,  Hiram 

Bullard,  Octavius 

Ball,  Frank 

Buddery,  Isaac    S 

Breckenham,  Edward 

Complin  (or  Camplin),  Judah 

Camon,  Joseph 

Cornish,  Caleb 

Dunton,  SamL 

Dormer,  James 

Dowueiog,  Saml. 

Daynes,  Danyel 

Eccles,  Thomas  (music) 

Elsegood,  Zachary 

Ellis,  John 

Fuller,  Jacob 

Fydeman,  John 

Fyncham,  Saul 

Fenn,  Aaron 

Goodwyn,  Robert 

Gogney,  Symon 

Greenwood,  Japhet 

Goss,  Jacques 

Hutchersou,  Levi 

Hewet,  Jacob 

Hunt,  Isaiah 

Howard,  Timon 

Jeunes  le,  Jonathan    S 

Kinge,  Philip 

Kiddell,  Mores 

Kett,  Reuben    S 

Kett,  Aminadab 

Keckwicke,  Josiah 

Lowger,  Thos.  Christian 

Munck,  Win. 

Myleham,  Henry 

Matthewman,  Thomas 

Mason,  Alwyn 

Mylum,  Abraham    C 


Medcalf,  Leonard    0 
Mayliew,  Hezekiah 
Neave,  Aram 
Neale,  Jacques 
Northeu,  Christian 
Osboru,  Zatthu 
Price,  Ahimelech 
Panke,  Sheckaniah 
Pike,  Henry 
Patterson,  Paul 
Roe,  Tobias    C 
Ransom,  Icheil  (or  Jeheil) 
Roe,  Zechariah 
Rust,  Christian 
Rose,  Selah 
Read,  Price  Stephen 
Reeve,  Manna 
Soames,  Aaron,  Major 
Stangroom,  Eleazer 
Sheringham,  Walter 
Shepperd,  Charles 
Sharpen,  Jacobus 
Snell,  Robert 
Starlin,  Edward 
Sewell,  Samuel 
Swaun,  Josua    S 
Thurton,  Wm.  Valentine 
Todd,  Stephen 
Tillet,  Ishmael 
Taylor,  Vilellius 
Tizack,  Christopher 
Tuby,  Zered 
Toll,  Israel 
Vickers,  John 
Vaukamp,  Hubert 
Ward,  Willm. 
Waymour,  Wm. 
Wharle,  Nicholas 
Weeds,  Amphilioa 
Woods,  John    C 
Waters,  Bartolemew 
Waddelow,  Philip 
Weasey,  John 


SQUIRE  PAPERS.  91 

Wilkerson,  Wm.  Ypres,  Cornelius 

Willemons,  Gabriel  Yabbs,  Peter 

Wasey,  Antoney  Yewells,  Christian 

Waynford,  Antony  Youiigman,  Gregory 

Yonngs,  Francis  Yeames,  Robert 

Yewell,  Gordon  Yorkshire,  Samuel 

["  I  suppose  S  and  C  means  Sergeants  and  Corporals."  —  Correspondent.] 

No.  2. 

Allwurd  Promise  Peter  A.  Money  Julius  Stannard 

Cladius  Batsen  Israel  Meeks  Danl.  Staffort 

Gilead  Barker  Will  Martin  Natl.  Steele 

Valentine  Barker  John  Mills  James  Thompson 

Heuricus  Clarke  Cristr.  Mead  Jos.  Watts 

Alec  Caulfield  Robert  Mead  Malec  Wats 

James  Culling  Hall  Markston  Je'sophat  Warnes 

Sim  Cross  Fred.  Mallet  Henry  Willson 

Zack  Dulwick  Mark  Nicholls  Saul  Wensun 

Alfred  Damant  Egbert  Oaks  Oliver  Weston 

Kesiah  Danuell  Caleb  Pede  Isachar  Watt* 

Joshua  Flint  David  Pascal  Thos.  Zobell 

Mathias  Fox  John  Pulfrey  Adolff  Zobell 

Will  Gowan  Amos  Pull  Shem  Quarles 

Paul  Hales  (or  Halls)        Pious  Stone  John  Yellows 

Septimus  Lefranc  Walter  Smidt  Alfred  Love 

Richard  Lome  Ludwig  Smidt  Simeon  Waite. 

"  To  these  names  nothing  farther  is  written,  beyond  names  of  their  Troops. 
I  have  written  them  alphabetically  from  my  List,  which  is  not  so  arranged." 
(.Vote  by  my  Correspondent.) 


Scrap  5. 

"  These  are  written  on  a  Strip  of  Paper  was  enclosed  in  a  Letter."  (Corre- 
spondent. ) 

OC.  DC.  RC.  HC.  Ireton  Cole 

HC.  JC.  VW.          D.  Rawlings  York 

A.  B.  E.  J.  Rainsboro  Mewbnrn 

H.  Castle  Frisby 

White  MoMOp 
Husbands 

"  Copied  as  they  stood  in  the  original  Paper.  About  the  treasure  going  to 
London  [.see  antes,  No.  16] ;  and  I  think,  from  the  contents,  took  [find  tabn] 
r.illc^e  treasure."  (Corre»pondfnt.) 


92 


SQUIRE  PAPERS. 


Scrap  6. 

"List  of  Names  written  on  a  Paper  marked  Hearty.  I  have  written 
them  alphabetically  for  convenience,  but  they  were  not  so  in  the  Original." 
( Correspondent. ) 


Alister 

Everard,  B. 

Montague 

Barnard,  J. 

Everard,  R. 

Norton 

Butler 

Everson 

Neale 

Boyle 

Ellis 

Neve 

Biglande 

Freshwater 

Nelson 

Boucher 

Farside 

Ord 

Bussey 

Flutter 

Poulton 

Berry 

Frisby 

Powell 

Buckel 

Fischer 

Pye 

Barnard,  R. 

Garland 

Pickerin 

Castles 

Hodgea 

Pede 

Chambers,  J. 

Halles 

Ayres 

Compton 

Hunt 

Richardson,  R. 

Carter 

Hobbard 

Rose 

Claypol 

Holland 

Rawlen 

Collins 

Hewitson 

Reede 

Clarke 

Hawkins 

Ricketts 

Campin 

Henderson 

Russell,  J. 

Cooke 

Hunt 

Ireton 

Cutts 

Hart 

Russell,  R. 

Chambers,  W. 

Handley 

Russell,  F. 

Cox 

Isham 

Reynolds 

Castel 

Ingolsby 

Rainsforth 

Cole 

Ireton,  J. 

Richardson,  J. 

Chapman 

Jones 

Rawlinges 

Cromwell,  O.  senr. 

John 

Rich 

Cromwell,  R. 

Ingoldsby 

Ayscogh 

Cromwell,  Thos. 

Kincome 

Reachlous 

Cromwell,  O.  juur. 

Knightley 

Steward 

Cromwell,  Richd. 

Lemmen 

Sprigges 

Cromwell,  Henry 

Lawsell 

Stebbings 

Desborow 

Langley 

Sidney 

Desborow 

Monlle 

Speechley 

Deane,  H. 

Mewburn 

Squire 

Deane,  R. 

Montague 

Tebbntt 

Dinch 

Montague,  H. 

Thornton 

Dodsworth 

Marten 

Warters 

Dawson,  T. 

Masham 

Walls 

Dawson,  S. 

Larance 

Wanton,  V. 

Dawsou,  H. 

Ayscouw 

Whally 

SQUIRE   PAPERS. 


93 


Whitston 

Wright 

White 

Walclen 

Woolward 


Weston 
Walton 
Wanton,  J. 
Walden 
Wright 


Warnet 

White 

Vanderay 

York 

Yewson 


"  These  several  Lists  are  all  that  I  copied ;  but  I  think  the  List  3  [Scrap  2 
as  given  here|  contain**  names  of  the  original  Captains  [and  Subalterns]  of 
Troops  in  the  Ironsides;  but  I  cannot  say  for  certain.  Tiie  large  List  [Scrap  4] 
was  too  far  gone  to  touch,  as  it  was  perfectly  red  with  damp,  and  rotten ;  so 
was  burnt.  These  were  in  Letters  and  odd  Papers.  I  have  no  others  copied 
that  I  can  find  in  my  travelling  Writing-desk ;  so  suppose  they  are  all  I  took." 
(  Correspondent.) 


Scrap  7. 


*  Written  on  a  Letter,  and  marked  Settled."    (Correspondent.) 

Settled. 

Collonel  O.  Cromwell 
Cn.  [Captain]  J.  Des- 

boro" 

lieutenant  V.  Wautou 
C«.rnot  E.  Whally 
Qr.  Mr.  K.  Everard 


Corporals : 

Cornelius  Vanderay 
Zosimus  Rose  [the  Drill- 
Corporal:  Letter  No.  4] 
Thomas  Fischer 

Trumpets : 
Levi  Allister  [your  Mu- 

tid] 
Thos.  Kincome 


Clerk: 
Saml.  Squire  [Self  I] 

Saddeler : 
J.  Tebbutt 

C'liirugeon : 
SI.  Moule 

Farrier : 
Rd.  Richardson 


ScrapS. 

"  Memorandums  on  a  Piece  of  Paper,"  in  Squire's  hand,  "  copied  by  mo 
verbatim."    ( Correfftondfnt.) 

Buried  near  the  Vestrey : 

50  horses  shot  to  the  death. 

40  horses  soreley  wounded. 

SO  men  wounded    soreley,  yet 

can  Ride. 
10  unabel  to  Ride. 


I'.ii'X'li  So.imes 
John  Purfis 
Simeon  Wildes 
John  Liffel 
Benjamin  Waster 
Noah  Richardson 
Beth  Richardson 
I.«'vi  Richardson 
f  uriii-liiiM  Van  Q5«t 
Casjiar  Dorflein 
Skat  to  lite  death  at  Caneibonw. 

[tun*  the  leaf] 

OMJ   10  4| 


Lent  for  the  use  of  the  Parle- 
ment  to  pay  the  Sonldien.  Hay 
ami  Corn 

£100  10  4f 


94  SQUIRE  PAPERS. 

Note  for  its  due  payt.  secured  by  CoL  O.C. 

504  19  6 
160  10  4} 


665  9  10£ 

Lent  to  «. 

Hiram  Dawson  10 

Capn.  Desboro'  60 

Colenl.  Cromwell  £10  - 

A  new  Cravatt  7 

A  new  Spurre  5 

A  feather  for  my  Basnet  2 


£14    4    6 

A  new  Staffe  for  ye  Coloures  1    4 

14     5  10 


Scrap  9. 

Squire's  Conspectus  of  the  "  St.  Neot's  Troop ''  is  to  be  seen  in  Scrap  3. 
Captain  Montague  obtained  Commission  to  raise  a  regiment  of  his  own, 
"on  the  20th  August,  1643,"  says  Collins 1  —  which  I  think,  as  "  20th 
August "  was  a  Sunday,  can  hardly  have  been  the  exact  day !  How- 
ever, raise  a  regiment  he  did,  and  even  regiments  ;  and  here  is  Note  of 
the  first  of  them,  —  in  Squire's  handwriting  :  — 

Joined  Montague's  Landers. 

Walter  [his  name  Wm.  Partrige  Gabriel  Womac 

illegible]  Collins  Collins  Lemuel  Gilbert 

John  Palmer  John  Skipon  Charles  Hurst  [or  Harst] 

Saul  Cobbham  Walter  Reachlous  Wm.  Waters 

Martin  Saul  John  Evanson  May  24,  1644. 

Wolsey  Clarke  Wm.  Ellis 

Stephen  Willis  Henry  Johnson 

Explicit  Squints  noster ;  as  all  things  do  end !  Some  three  other 
Notes,  written  in  abstruse  cipher,  and  two  of  them  bearing  what  I  take 
to  be  Oliver's  occult  signature,  and  plainly  Squire's  address,  —  these  I 
keep  back,  as  too  abstruse  for  any  printer  or  any  reader.  And  herewith 
let  us  close  the  Funeral  Urn  of  the  Ironsides,  with  its  burnt  bones  of 
heroes,  and  ashes  of  mere  wood  ;  and,  with  deathless  regrets  against  my 
Unknown  Correspondent,  and  for  the  present  some  real  thankfulness  to 
Heaven,  wash  our  hands  of  this  melancholy  affair. 

T.  CARLYLE. 

LONDON,  2d  Nov.  1847. 

1  Peerage  (1741),  ii.  281. 


PART   VL 

WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND. 
1650-1651. 

WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND. 

THE  Scotch  People,  the  first  beginners  of  this  grand  Puritan 
Revolt,  which  we  may  define  as  an  attempt  to  bring  the  Divine 
Law  of  the  Bible  into  actual  practice  in  men's  affairs  on  the 
Earth,  are  still  one  and  all  resolute  for  that  object ;  but  they 
are  getting  into  sad  difficulties  as  to  realizing  it.  Not  easy 
to  realize  such  a  thing :  besides  true  will,  there  need  heroic 
gifts,  the  highest  that  Heaven  gives,  for  realizing  it!  Gifts 
which  have  not  been  vouchsafed  the  Scotch  People  at  present. 
The  letter  of  their  Covenant  presses  heavy  on  these  men ; 
traditions,  formulas,  dead  letters  of  many  things  press  heavy 
on  them.  On  the  whole,  they  too  are  but  what  we  call  Pedants 
in  conduct,  not  Poets  :  the  sheepskin  record  failing  them,  and 
old  use-and-wont  ending,  they  cannot  farther ;  they  look  into 
a  sea  of  troubles,  shoreless,  starless,  on  which  there  seems  no 
navigation  possible. 

The  faults  or  misfortunes  of  the  Scotch  People,  in  thrir 
Puritan  business,  are  many:  but  properly  their  grand  fault  is 
this,  That  they  have  produced  for  it  no  sufficiently  heroic  man 
among  them.  No  man  that  has  an  eye  to  see  beyond  the  letter 
and  the  rubric ;  to  discern,  across  many  consecrated  rubrics  of 
th»*  Past,  the  inartirulatc  divinoncss  too  of  the  Presmt  and 
the  Future,  and  dare  all  perils  in  the  faith  of  that !  With 
Oliver  Cromwell  born  :\  Scotchman  :  with  .1  Horo  King  and 
a  unanimous  Hero  Nation  at  his  l>:u-k,  it  mi^ht  have  been  far 


96  PART  VI.     \VAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  1650. 

otherwise.  With  Oliver  born  Scotch,  one  sees  not  but  the  whole 
world  might  have  become  Puritans  -,  might  have  struggled,  yet 
a  long  while,  to  fashion  itself  according  to  that  divine  Hebrew 
Gospel,  —  to  the  exclusion  of  other  Gospels  not  Hebrew,  which 
also  are  divine,  and  will  have  their  share  of  fulfilment  here !  — 
But  of  such  issue  there  is  no  danger.  Instead  of  inspired 
Olivers,  glowing  with  direct  insight  and  noble  daring,  we  have 
Argyles,  Loudons,  and  narrow,  more  or  less  opaque  persons  of 
the  Pedant  species.  Committees  of  Estates,  Committees  of 
Kirks,  much  tied  up  in  formulas,  both  of  them  :  a  bigoted  The- 
ocracy without  the  Inspiration  ;  which  is  a  very  hopeless  phe- 
nomenon indeed  !  The  Scotch  People  are  all  willing,  eager  of 
heart ;  asking,  Whitherward  ?  But  the  Leaders  stand  aghast  at 
the  new  forms  of  danger;  and  in  a  vehement  discrepant  man- 
ner some  calling,  Halt !  others  calling,  Backward  !  others,  For- 
ward! —  huge  confusion  ensues.  Confusion  which  will  need 
an  Oliver  to  repress  it ;  to  bind  it  up  in  tight  manacles,  if  not 
otherwise ;  and  say,  "  There,  sit  there  and  consider  thyself  a 
little ! "  — 

The  meaning  of  the  Scotch  Covenant  was,  That  God's  divine 
Law  of  the  Bible  should  be  put  in  practice  in  these  Nations ; 
verily  it,  and  not  the  Four  Surplices  at  Allhallowtide,  or  any 
Formula  of  cloth  or  sheepskin  here  or  elsewhere  which  merely 
pretended  to  be  it.  But  then  the  Covenant  says  expressly, 
there  is  to  be  a  Stuart  King  in  the  business :  we  cannot  do 
without  our  Stuart  King !  Given  a  divine  Law  of  the  Bible 
on  one  hand,  and  a  Stuart  King,  Charles  First  or  Charles  Sec- 
ond, on  the  other  :  alas,  did  History  ever  present  a  more  irre- 
ducible case  of  equations  in  this  world  ?  I  pity  the  poor 
Scotch  Pedant  Governors  ;  still  more  the  poor  Scotch  People, 
who  had  no  other  to  follow !  Nay,  as  for  that,  the  People  did 
get  through,  in  the  end  ;  such  was  their  indomitable  pious  con- 
stancy, and  other  worth  and  fortune :  and  Presbytery  became 
a  Fact  among  them,  to  the  whole  length  possible  for  it :  not 
without  endless  results.  But  for  the  poor  Governors  this  irre- 
ducible case  proved,  as  it  were,  fatal !  They  have  never  since, 
if  wo  will  look  narrowly  at  it,  governed  Scotland,  or  even  well 
known  that  they  were  there  to  attempt  governing  it.  Once 


1C50.  WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  97 

they  lay  on  Dunse  Hill,  "each  Earl  with  his  regiment  of 
Tenants  round  him,"  " For  Christ's  Cvown  and  Covenant ;"  and 
never  since  had  they  any  noble  National  act  which  it  was 
given  them  to  do.  Growing  desperate  of  Christ's  Crown  and 
Covenant,  they,  in  the  next  generation  when  our  Annus  Miral>i- 
lis  arrived,  hurried  up  to  Court,  looking  out  for  other  Crowns 
and  Covenants;  deserted  Scotland  and  her  Cause,  somewhat 
basely ;  took  to  booing  and  booing  for  Causes  of  their  own, 
unhappy  mortals ;  —  and  Scotland  and  all  Causes  that  were 
Scotland's  have  had  to  go  on  very  much  without  them  ever 
since  !  Which  is  a  very  fatal  issue  indeed,  as  I  reckon ;  —  and 
the  time  for  settlement  of  accounts  about  it,  which  could  not 
fail  always,  and  seems  now  fast  drawing  nigh,  looks  very  omi- 
nous to  me.  For  in  fact  there  is  no  creature  more  fatal  than 
your  Pedant ;  safe  as  he  esteems  himself,  the  terriblest  issues 
spring  from  him.  Human  crimes  are  many :  but  the  crime  of 
being  deaf  to  the  God's  Voice,  of  being  blind  to  all  but  parch- 
ments and  antiquarian  rubrics  when  the  Divine  Handwriting 
is  abroad  on  the  sky,  —  certainly  there  is  no  crime  which  the 
Supreme  Powers  do  more  terribly  avenge  ! 

But  leaving  all  that,  —  the  poor  Scotch  Governors,  we  re- 
mark, in  that  old  crisis  of  theirs,  have  come  upon  the  desperate 
expedient  of  getting  Charles  Second  to  adopt  the  Covenant 
the  best  he  can.  Whereby  our  parchment  formula  is  indeed 
saved ;  but  the  divine  fact  has  gone  terribly  to  the  wall !  The 
Scotch  Governors  hope  otherwise.  By  treaties  at  Jersey,  trea- 
ties at  Breda,  they  and  the  hard  Law  of  Want  together  have 
constrained  this  poor  young  Stuart  to  their  detested  Covenant; 
as  the  Frenchman  said,  they  have  "compelled  him  to  adopt  it 
voluntarily."  A  fearful  crime,  thinks  Oliver,  and  think  we. 
How  dare  you  enact  such  mummery  under  High  Heaven!  ex- 
claims hf.  You  will  prosecute  Malignants ;  and,  with  the  aid 
of  some  poor  varnish,  transparent  even  to  yourselves,  you 
adopt  into  your  Ix^som  the  Chief  Malignant?  My  soul  come 
not  into  your  secret ;  mine  honor  be  not  united  unto  you  I  — 

In  fact,  his  new  Sacred  Majesty  is  actually  under  way  for 

-••.tell  ••••urt;  will  Iw-d  (     vennnfre.l  King  there.     Of 

If  :i  likely  enough  young  man;  —  very  unfortunate  he 

YOU   XVIII.  7 


98  PART  VI     WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  1650 

too.  Satisfactorily  descended  from  the  Steward  of  Scotland 
and  Elizabeth  Muir  of  Caldwell  (whom  some  have  called  an 
improper  female *) ;  satisfactory  in  this  respect,  but  in  others 
most  unsatisfactory.  A  somewhat  loose  young  man ;  has 
Buckingham,  Wilmot  and  Company,  at  one  hand  of  him,  and 
painful  Mr.  Livingston  and  Presbyterian  ruling-elders  at  the 
other ;  is  hastening  now,  as  a  Covenanted  King,  towards  such 
a  Theocracy  as  we  described.  Perhaps  the  most  anomalous 
phenomenon  ever  produced  by  Nature  and  Art  working  to- 
gether in  this  World !  —  He  had  sent  Montrose  before  him, 
poor  young  man,  to  try  if  war  and  force  could  effect  nothing ; 
whom  instantly  the  Scotch  Nation  took,  and  tragically  hanged.3 
They  now,  winking  hard  at  that  transaction,  proffer  the  poor 
young  man  their  Covenant ;  compel  him  to  sign  it  voluntarily, 
and  be  Covenanted  King  over  them. 

The  result  of  all  which  for  the  English  Commonwealth  can- 
not be  doubtful.  What  Declarations,  Papers,  Protocols,  passed 
on  the  occasion,  —  numerous,  flying  thick  between  Edinburgh 
and  London  in  late  months,  —  shall  remain  unknown  to  us. 
The  Commonwealth  has  brought  Cromwell  home  from  Ireland, 
and  got  forces  ready  for  him :  that  is  the  practical  outcome  of 
it.  The  Scotch  also  have  got  forces  ready ;  will  either  invade 
us,  or  (which  we  decide  to  be  preferable)  be  invaded  by  us.8 
Cromwell  must  now  take  up  the  Scotch  coil  of  troubles,  as  he 
did  the  Irish,  and  deal  with  that  too.  Fairfax,  as  we  heard, 
was  unwilling  to  go ;  Cromwell,  urging  the  Council  of  State  to 
second  him,  would  fain  persuade  Fairfax ;  gets  him  still  nomi- 
nated Commander-in-Chief ;  but  cannot  persuade  him  ;  —  will 
himself  have  to  be  Commander-in-Chief,  and  go. 

In  Whitlocke  and  Ludlow  4  there  is  record  of  earnest  inter- 
cessions, solemn  conference  held  with  Fairfax  in  Whitehall, 
duly  prefaced  by  prayer  to  Heaven ;  intended  on  Cromwell's 

1  Horse-loads  of  Jacobite,  Anti-Jacobite  Pamphlets ;  Goodall,  Father  Innee, 
&c.  &c.     How  it  was  settled,  I  do  not  recollect. 

2  Details  of  the  business,  in  Balfour,  iv.  9-22. 
8  Commons  Journals,  26th  June,  1650. 

*  Whitlocke,  pp.  444-446  (25th  June,  1650)  ;  Ludlow,].  317 


1660.  WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  99 

part  to  persuade  Fairfax  that  it  is  his  duty  again  to  accept  the 
chief  command,  and  lead  us  into  Scotland.  Fairfax,  urged  by 
his  Wife,  a  Vere  of  the  fighting  Veres,  and  given  to  Presby- 
terianisni,  dare  not  and  will  not  go;  —  sends  "Mr.  Rush  worth, 
his  Secretary,"  on  the  morrow,  to  give  up  his  Commission,1 
that  Cromwell  himself  may  be  named  General-in-Chief.  In 
this  preliminary  business,  says  Ludlow,  "  Cromwell  acted  his 
part  so  to  the  life  that  I  really  thought  he  wished  Fairfax  to 
go."  Wooden-headed  that  I  was,  I  had  reason  to  alter  that 
notion  by  and  by  ! 

Wooden  Ludlow  gives  note  of  another  very  singular  inter- 
view he  himself  had  with  Cromwell,  "  a  little  after,"  in  those 
same  days  or  hours.  Cromwell  whispered  him  in  the  House ; 
they  agreed  "  to  meet  that  afternoon  in  the  Council  of  State  " 
in  Whitehall,  and  there  withdraw  into  a  private  room  to  have 
a  little  talk  together.  Oliver  had  cast  his  eye  on  Ludlow  as 
a  tit  man  for  Ireland,  to  go  and  second  Ireton  there ;  he  took 
him,  as  by  appointment,  into  a  private  room,  "the  Queen's 
Guard-chamber "  to  wit ;  and  there  very  largely  expressed 
himself.  He  testified  the  great  value  he  had  for  me,  Ludlow  ; 
combated  my  objections  to  Ireland  ;  spake  somewhat  against 
Lawyers,  what  a  tortuous  ungodly  jungle  English  Law  was  ; 
spake  of  the  good  that  might  be  done  by  a  good  and  brave 
man  ;  —  spake  of  the  great  Providences  of  God  now  abroad  on 
tli.  Kiirth  ;  in  particular  "talked  for  almost  an  hour  upon  the 
Huiuired-and-tenth  Psalm;"  which  to  me,  in  my  solid  wooden 
head,  seemed  extremely  singular  !  * 

Modern  readers,  not  in  the  case  of  Ludlow,  will  find  this 

illustrative  of  Oliver.     Before  setting  out  on  the  Scotch 

•litioi!,  ;ind  just  on  the  eve  of  doing  it,  we  too  will  read 

tli.tt.  Psalm  of  Hebrew  David's,  which  had  become  English 

olivn's.  we  will  fancy  in  our  minds,  not  without  reflections 

and  emotions,  the  largest  soul  in  England   looking  at  this 

World  with  prophet's  earnestness  through  that  Hebrew 

I. — two  l)iviiK   Phenomena  accurately  correspondent  for 

Oliver;  the  one  accurati  ly  the  prophetic  symbol  and  articulate 

interpretation  of  the  other.     As  if  the  Silences  had  at  lei 

1   L'vmmotu  JvuiiM.it,  ubi  »uprtu  a  Ludluw,  i.  319. 


100  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  166(1 

found  utterance,  and  this  was  their  Voice  from  out  of  old 
Eternity :  — 

"  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord :  Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand 
until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool.  The  Lord  shall 
send  the  rod  of  thy  strength  out  of  Zion:  rule  thou  in  the 
midst  of  thine  enemies.  Thy  people  shall  be  willing  in  the 
day  of  thy  power ;  in  the  beauties  of  holiness,  from  the  womb 
of  the  morning  :  thou  hast  the  dew  of  thy  youth.  The  Lord 
hath  sworn,  and  will  not  repent,  Thou  art  a  priest  forever 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedek.  The  Lord,  at  thy  right  hand, 
shall  strike  through  Kings  in  the  day  of  his  wrath.  He  shall 
judge  among  the  Heathen ;  he  shall  fill  the  places  with  the 
dead  bodies ;  he  shall  wound  the  heads  over  many  countries. 
He  shall  drink  of  the  brook  in  the  way :  therefore  shall  he 
lift  up  the  head." 

In  such  spirit  goes  Oliver  Cromwell  to  the  Wars.  "  A  god- 
intoxicated  man,"  as  Novalis  elsewhere  phrases  it.  I  have 
asked  myself,  If  anywhere  in  Modern  European  History,  or 
even  in  ancient  Asiatic,  there  was  found  a  man  practising  this 
mean  World's  affairs  with  a  heart  more  filled  by  the  Idea  of 
the  Highest  ?  Bathed  in  the  Eternal  Splendors,  —  it  is  so  he 
walks  our  dim  Earth :  this  man  is  one  of  few.  He  is  projected 
with  a  terrible  force  out  of  the  Eternities,  and  in  the  Times 
and  their  arenas  there  is  nothing  that  can  withstand  him.  It 
is  great ;  —  to  us  it  is  tragic ;  a  thing  that  should  strike  us 
dumb !  My  brave  one,  thy  old  noble  Prophecy  is  divine ; 
older  than  Hebrew  David;  old  as  the  Origin  of  Man;  — 
and  shall,  though  in  wider  ways  than  thou  supposest,  be 
fulfilled !  — 


LETTERS  cxxxm.-cxxxvni 

HOOKE  and  his  small  business,  in  rapid  public  times,  will 
not  detain  us.  Humphrey  Hooke,  Alderman  of  Bristol,  was 
elected  to  the  Long  Parliament  for  that  City  in  1640 ;  but 
being  found  to  have  had  concern  in  "  Monopolies,"  was,  like 


16W.  LETTER  CXXX1II.    LONDON.  101 

a  number  of  others,  expelled,  and  sent  home  again  under  a 
cloud.  The  "  service  "  he  did  at  Bristol  Storm,  though  some- 
what needing  "concealment,"  ought  to  rehabilitate  him  a  little 
in  the  charity,  at  least  in  the  pity,  of  the  Well-affected  mind. 

At  all  events,  the  conditions  made  with  him  must  be  kept ; 

and  we  doubt  not  were. 


LETTER  CXXXin. 

[To  tfte  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons :  These.'} 

"LONDON,  20th  June,  1650. 

"  MR.  SPEAKER,  —  When  we  lay  before  Bristol  in  the  Year 
1645,  we  considered  the  season  of  the  year,  the  strength  of  the 
place,  and  of  what  importance  the  reducemeut  thereof  would 
be  to  the  good  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  accordingly  applied 
ourselves  to  all  possible  means  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
same;  which  received  its  answerable  effect.  At  which  time, 
for  something  considerable  done  in  order  to  that  end,  by 
Humphrey  Hooke,  Alderman  of  that  place,  —  which,  for  many 
reasons,  is  desired  to  be  concealed,  —  his  Excellency  the  Lord 
General  Fairfax  and  myself  gave  him  an  Engagement  under 
our  hands  and  seals,  That  he  should  be  secured  and  protected, 
by  the  authority  of  the  Parliament,  in  the  enjoyment  of  his 
life,  liberty  and  estate,  as  freely  as  in  former  times,  and  as 
any  other  person  under  the  obedience  of  the  Parliament ;  not- 
withstanding any  past  acts  of  hostility,  or  other  thing  done 
I >v  him,  in  opposition  to  the  Parliament  or  assistance  of  the 
Enemy.  Which  Engagement,  with  a  Certificate  of  divers 
godly  persons  of  that  City  concerning  the  performance  of 
his  part  thereof,  is  ready  to  be  produced. 

"I  understand,  that  lately  an  Order  is  issued  out  to  se- 
quester him,  whereby  he  is  called  ID  Composition.  I  thought 
it  meet  therefore  to  give  the  honorable  Parliament  this  ac- 
count, that  he  may  be  pr-'st-m-.!  from  anything  of  that  nature. 
For  the  performance  of  which,  in  order  to  the  good  of  the 


102  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  20  June, 

Commonwealth,  we  stand  engaged  in  our  faith  and  honor.    I 
leave  it  to  you  ;  and  remain,  Sir, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

On  Wednesday,  26th  June,  1650,  the  Act  appointing  "  That 
Oliver  Cromwell,  Esquire,  be  constituted  Captain-General  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  all  the  Forces  raised  or  to  be  raised 
by  authority  of  Parliament  within  the  Commonwealth  of  Eng- 
land," 2  was  passed.  "  Whereupon,"  says  Whitlocke,  "  great 
ceremonies  and  congratulations  of  the  new  General  were  made 
to  him  from  all  sorts  of  people  ;  and  he  went  on  roundly  with 
his  business."  Roundly,  rapidly ;  for  in  three  days  more,  on 
Saturday,  the  29th,  "  the  Lord  General  Cromwell  went  out  of 
London  towards  the  North  :  and  the  news  of  him  marching 
northward  much  startled  the  Scots."  8 

He  has  Lambert  for  Major-General,  Cousin  Whalley  for 
Commissary-General ;  and  among  his  Colonels  are  Overton, 
whom  we  knew  at  Hull ;  Pride,  whom  we  have  seen  in  West- 
minster Hall;  and  a  taciturn  man,  much  given  to  chewing 
tobacco,  whom  we  have  transiently  seen  in  various  places, 
Colonel  George  Monk  by  name.4  An  excellent  officer ;  listens 
to  what  you  say,  answers  often  by  a  splash  of  brown  juice 
merely,  but  punctually  does  what  is  doable  of  it.  Pudding- 
headed  Hodgson  the  Yorkshire  Captain  is  also  there;  from 
whom  perhaps  we  may  glean  a  rough  lucent-point  or  two.  The 
Army,  as  my  Lord  General  attracts  it  gradually  from  the  right 
and  left  on  his  march  northward,  amounts  at  Tweedsicle  to 
some  sixteen  thousand  horse  and  foot.6  Kushworth  goes  with 
him  as  Secretary  ;  historical  John ;  having  now  done  with  Fair- 
tax  :  —  but,  alas,  his  Papers  for  this  Period  are  all  lost  to  us  : 
it  was  not  safe  to  print  them  with  the  others ;  and  they  are 
lost !  The  Historical  Collections,  with  their  infinite  rubbish 

1  Tanner  MSS.  (in  Gary,  ii.  222).  a  Commons  Journals,  in  die. 

8  Whitlocke,  pp.  446,  447, 
*  Life  of  Monk,  by  Gamble,  his  Chaplain. 

6  Train,  690;   horse,   5,415;  foot,  10^249,   in  toto,   16,3J>4    ( Ci  oi 
p.  85). 


lew.  LETTER  CXXXIV.    ALNWICK.  103 

and  their  modicum  of  jewels,  cease  at  the  Trial  of  the  King  ; 
leaving  us,  fallen  into  far  worse  hands,  to  repent  of  our  im- 
patience, and  regret  the  useful  John  ! 

The  following  Letters,  without  commentary,  which  stingy 
space  will  not  permit,  must  note  the  Lord  General's  progress 
for  us  as  they  can  ;  and  illuminate  with  here  and  there  a  rude 
gleiim  of  direct  light  at  first-hand,  an  old  scene  very  obsolete, 
confused,  unexplored  and  dim  for  us. 


LETTER  CXXXIV. 

DOROTHY  CROMWELL,  we  are  happy  to  find,  has  a  "  little 
brat  ;  "  —  but  the  poor  little  thing  must  have  died  soon  :  in 
Noble's  inexact  lists  there  is  no  trace  of  its  ever  having  lived. 
The  Lord  General  has  got  into  Northumberland.  He  has 
a  good  excuse  for  being  "  silent  this  way,"  —  the  way  of 
Letters. 

"  For  my  very  loving  Brother  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  his 
House  at  Hursley  :  These. 


,  17th  July,  1650. 

"DEAR  BROTHER,  —  The  exceeding  crowd  of  business  I  had 
at  London  is  the  best  excuse  I  can  make  for  my  silence  this 
way.  Indeed,  Sir,  my  heart  beareth  me  witness  I  want  no 
affection  to  you  or  yours  ;  you  are  all  often  in  my  poor 
prayers. 

"I  should  be  glad  to  hear  how  the  little  Brat  doth.  I 
could  chide  both  Father  and  Mother  for  their  neglects  of  me  : 
I  know  my  Son  is  idle,  but  I  had  better  thoughts  of  Doll.  I 
doubt  now  her  Husband  hath  spoiled  her;  pray  tell  her  so 
from  me.  If  I  had  as  good  leisure  as  they,  I  should  write 
sometimes.  If  my  Daughter  be  brooding.  I  will  excuse  her; 
but  not  for  her  nursery  !  The  Lord  bless  them.  I  hope  you 
give  my  Son  good  counsel  ;  I  believe  he  needs  it.  He  is  in 
the  dangerous  time  of  his  age;  and  it's  a  very  vain  world 


104  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  nJuly, 

Oh,  how  good  it  is  to  close  with  Christ  betimes; — there  is 
nothing  else  worth  the  looking  after.  I  beseech  you  call  upon 
him,  —  I  hope  you  will  discharge  my  duty  and  your  own  love  : 
you  see  how  I  am  employed.  I  need  pity.  I  know  what  I 
feel.  Great  place  and  business  in  the  world  is  not  worth  the 
looking  after  ;  I  should  have  no  comfort  in  mine  but  that  my 
hope  is  in  the  Lord's  presence.  I  have  not  sought  these 
things ;  truly  I  have  been  called  unto  them  by  the  Lord ;  and 
therefore  am  not  without  some  assurance  that  He  will  enable 
His  poor  worm  and  weak  servant  to  do  His  will,  and  to  fulfil 
my  generation.  In  this  I  desire  your  prayers.  Desiring  to 
be  lovingly  remembered  to  my  dear  Sister,  to  our  Son  and 
Daughter,  to  my  Cousin  Ann  and  the  good  Family,  I  rest, 
"  Your  very  affectionate  brother, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  1 

On  Monday,  22d  July,  the  Army,  after  due  rendezvousing  and 
reviewing,  passed  through  Berwick ;  and  encamped  at  Mor- 
dington  across  the  Border,  where  a  fresh  stay  of  two  days  is 
still  necessary.  Scotland  is  bare  of  resources  for  us.  That 
night  "  the  Scotch  beacons  were  all  set  on  fire  ;  the  men  fled, 
and  drove  away  their  cattle."  Mr.  Bret,  his  Excellency's 
Trumpeter,  returns  from  Edinburgh  without  symptom  of 
pacification.  "  The  Clergy  represent  us  to  the  people  as  if  we 
were  monsters  of  the  world."  "  Army  of  Sectaries  and  Blas- 
phemers," is  the  received  term  for  us  among  the  Scots.2 

Already  on  the  march  hitherward,  and  now  by  Mr.  Bret  in 
an  official  way,  have  due  Manifestoes  been  promulgated  :  Decla- 
ration To  all  that  are  Saints  and  Partakers  of  the  faith  of 
God's  Elect  in  Scotland,  and  Proclamation  To  the  People  of 
Scotland  in  general.  Asking  of  the  mistaken  People,  in  mild 
terms,  Did  you  not  see  us,  and  try  us,  what  kind  of  men  we 
were,  when  we  came  among  you  two  years  ago  ?  Did  you  find 
us  plunderers,  murderers,  monsters  of  the  world  ?  "  Whose 
ox  have  we  stolen  ?  "  To  the  mistaken  Saints  of  God  in  Scot- 
land, again,  the  Declaration  testifies  and  argues,  in  a  grand 

1  Harris,  p.  513  :  one  of  the  Pusey  stock. 

*  Balfour,  iv.  97,  100,  &c.  :  "  Cromwell  the  Blasphemer  "  (ib.  88). 


1R50. 


LETTER  CXXXIV.    ALNWICK.  105 


earnest  way,  That  in  Charles  Stuart  and  his  party  there  can 
be  no  salvation  ;  that  we  seek  the  real  substance  of  the  Cove- 
nant, which  it  is  perilous  to  desert  for  the  mere  outer  form 
thereof ;  —  on  the  whole,  that  we  are  not  sectaries  and  blas- 
phemers ;  and  that  it  goes  against  our  heart  to  hurt  a  hair  of 
any  sincere  servant  of  God.  —  Very  earnest  Documents ;  signed 
by  John  Itusb  worth  in  the  name  of  General  and  Officers ; 
often  printed  and  reprinted.1  They  bear  Oliver's  sense  in 
every  feature  of  them  ;  but  are  not  distinctly  of  his  compo- 
sition: wherefore,  as  space  grows  more  and  more  precious, 
and  Oliver's  sense  will  elsewhere  sufficiently  appear,  we  omit 
them. 

"  The  Scots,"  says  Whitlocke,1  "  are  all  gone  with  their  goods 
towards  Edinburgh,  by  command  of  the  Estates  of  Scotland, 
upon  penalty  if  they  did  not  remove ;  so  that  mostly  all  the 
men  are  gone.  But  the  wives  stay  behind  ;  and  some  of  them 
do  bake  and  brew,  to  provide  bread  and  drink  for  the  English 
Army."  The  public  functionaries  "  have  told  the  people, 
'That  the  English  Army  intends  to  put  all  the  men  to  the 
sword,  and  to  thrust  hot  irons  through  the  women's  breasts ; ' 
—  which  much  terrified  them,  till  once  the  General's  Procla- 
mations were  published."  And  now  the  wives  do  stay  behind, 
ami  brew  and  bake,  —  poor  wives  ! 

That  Monday  night  while  we  lay  at  Mordington,  with  hard 
accommodation  out  of  doors  and  in,  —  my  pudding-headed 
friend  informs  me  of  a  thing.  The  General  has  made  a  large 
Discourse  to  the  Officers  and  Army,  now  that  we  are  across ; 
speaks  to  them  "  as  a  Christian  and  a  Soldier,  To  be  doubly 
and  trebly  diligent,  to  be  wary  and  worthy,  for  sure  enough 
we  have  work  before  us  !  But  have  we  not  had  God's  bless- 
ing hitherto  ?  Let  us  go  on  faithfully,  and  hope  for  the  like 
still!"1  The  Army  answered  "with  acclamations,"  still 
audible  to  me.  —  Yorkshire  Hodgson  continues:  — 

"  Well ;  that  night  we  pitched  at  Mordington,  about  the 
House.  Our  Officers,"  General  and  StulT  Officers,  "  hearing  a 
great  shout  among  the  soldiers,  looked  out  of  window.  They 

1  Newspapers  (iu  I'arl.  Hut.  xix.  298,  310) ;  Com.  Jour.  19th  July,  1650. 
«  p.  450.  »  Hodgson,  p.  130;  Whitlocke,  p.  450. 


106  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  80  July, 

spied  a  soldier  with  a  Scotch  kirn  [churn]  ou  his  head.  Some 
of  them  had  been  purveying  abroad,  and  had  found  a  vessel 
tilled  with  Scotch  cream  :  bringing  the  reversion  of  it  to  their 
tents,  some  got  dishf uls,  and  some  hatfuls  j  and  the  cream  being 
now  low  in  the  vessel,  one  fellow  would  have  a  modest  drink, 
and  so  lifts  the  kirn  to  his  mouth :  but  another  canting  it  up, 
it  falls  over  his  head  ;  and  the  man  is  lost  in  it,  all  the  cream 
trickles  down  his  apparel,  and  his  head  fast  in  the  tub  !  This 
was  a  merriment  to  the  Officers ;  as  Oliver  loved  an  innocent 
jest." 

A  week  after,  we  find  the  General  very  serious;  writing 
thus  to  the  Lord  President  Bradshaw. 


LETTER  CXXXV. 

"  COPPERSPATH,"  of  which  the  General  here  speaks,  is  the 
country  pronunciation  of  Cockburuspath ;  name  of  a  wild  rock- 
and-river  chasm,  through  which  the  great  road  goes,  some 
miles  to  the  eastward  of  Dunbar.  Of  which  we  shall  tear 
again.  A  very  wild  road  at  that  time,  as  may  still  be  seen. 
The  ravine  is  now  spanned  by  a  beautiful  Bridge,  called  Pease 
Bridge,  or  Path's  Bridge,  which  pleasure-parties  go  to  visit.  — 
The  date  of  this  Letter,  in  all  the  old  Newspapers,  is  "  30th 
July,"  and  doubtless  in  the  Original  too ;  *  but  the  real  day, 
as  appears  by  the  context,  is  Wednesday,  31st. 

"  To  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  of 
State:  These. 

"  MCSSELBUEGH,  30th  July,  1650. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  We  marched  from  Berwick  upon  Monday, 
being  the  22d  of  July;  and  lay  at  my  Lord  Mordiugton's 
house,  Monday  night,  Tuesday,  and  Wednesday.  On  Thursday 
we  marched  to  Copperspath ;  on  Friday  to  Dunbar,  where  we 
got  some  small  pittance  from  our  ships ;  from  whence  we 
marched  to  Haddington. 

1  "Letter  from  the  General,  dated  30°  Julii  "  (Commons  Journals,  vi.  451). 


1680.  LETTER  CXXXV.    MUSSELBURGH.  107 

"On  the  Lord's-day,  hearing  that  the  Scottish  Array  meant 
to  meet  us  at  Gladsmoor,  we  labored  to  possess  the  Moor 
before  them  ;  and  beat  our  drums  very  early  in  the  morning. 
But  when  we  came  there,  no  considerable  body  of  the  Army 
appeared.  Whereupon  fourteen  hundred  horse,  under  the 
command  of  Major-General  Lambert  and  Colonel  Whalley, 
were  sent  as  a  vanguard  to  Musselburgh,  to  see  likewise  if 
they  could  find  out  and  attempt  anything  upon  the  Enemy  ;  I 
marching  in  the  heel  of  them  with  the  residue  of  the  Army. 
Our  party  encountered  with  some  of  their  horse;  but  they 
could  not  abide  us.  We  lay  at  Musselburgh,  encamped  close, 
that  night  ;  the  Enemy's  Army  lying  between  Edinburgh  and 
Leith,  about  four  miles  from  us,  entrenched  by  a  Line  flank- 
ered  from  Edinburgh  to  Leith;  the  guns  also  from  Leith 
scouring  most  part  of  the  Line,  so  that  they  lay  very  strong. 

"  Upon  Monday,  29th  instant,  we  were  resolved  to  draw  up 
to  them,  to  see  if  they  would  fight  with  us.  And  when  we 
came  upon  the  place,  we  resolved  to  get  our  cannons  as  near 
them  as  we  could  ;  hoping  thereby  to  annoy  them.  We  like- 
wise perceived  that  they  had  some  force  upon  a  Hill  that 
overlooks  Edinburgh,  from  whence  we  might  be  annoyed  ; 
[and]  did  resolve  to  send  up  a  party  to  possess  the  said  Hill  ; 
—  which  prevailed  :  but,  upon  the  whole,  we  did  find  that 
their  Army  were  not  easily  to  be  attempted.  Whereupon  we 
lay  still  all  the  said  day  ;  which  proved  to  be  so  sore  a  day  and 
night  of  rain  as  I  have  seldom  seen,  and  greatly  to  our  disad- 
vantage ;  the  Enemy  having  enough  to  cover  them,  and  we 
nothing  at  all  considerable.1  Our  soldiers  did  abide  this  diffi- 
culty with  great  courage  and  resolution,  hoping  thoy  should 
speedily  come  to  fight.  In  the  morning,  the  ground  being  very 
wet,  [and]  our  provisions  scarce,  we  resolved  to  draw  back  to 
our  quarters  at  Musselburgh,  there  to  refresh  and  revictual. 

"Tin-  Knciny,  when  we  drew  off,  fell  upon  our  rear;  and 
put  them  into  some  little  disorder:  but  our  bodies  of  horse 
being  in  some  readiness,  came  to  a  grabble  with  them  ;  where 


1  "  NVnr  -\  lilt  It-  \  illain-  named.  I  think,  Lii-huagarie,"  means,  Lang  Niddery 
—  •n    |.    I  i.M  ;  the   Niitit'-i-ti  n<-ar   Dmliliiitfston,  .still  deservedly  called 
I.iin'i  l.y  tii-  jMN.pl.-   though  inaji  maker-  :ip|*-ud  the  epithet  elsewhere. 


108  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  30  July, 

indeed  there  was  a  gallant  and  hot  dispute ;  the  Major-Gen- 
eral 1  and  Colonel  Whalley  being  in  the  rear ;  and  the  Enemy 
drawing  out  great  bodies  to  second  their  first  affront.  Our 
men  charged  them  up  to  the  very  trenches,  and  beat  them  in. 
The  Major-General's  horse  was  shot  in  the  neck  and  head; 
himself  run  through  the  arm  with  a  lance,  and  run  into  an- 
other place  of  his  body,  —  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Enemy, 
but  rescued  immediately  by  Lieutenant  Empson  of  my  regi- 
ment. Colonel  Whalley,  who  was  then  nearest  to  the  Major- 
General,  did  charge  very  resolutely ;  and  repulsed  the  Enemy, 
and  killed  divers  of  them  upon  the  place,  and  took  some  pris- 
oners, without  any  considerable  loss.  Which  indeed  did  so 
amaze  and  quiet  them,  that  we  marched  off  to  Musselburgh, 
but  they  dared  not  send  out  a  man  to  trouble  us.  We  hear 
their  young  King  looked  on  upon  all  this,  but  was  very  ill 
satisfied  to  see  their  men  do  no  better. 

"  We  came  to  Musselburgh  that  night ;  so  tired  and  wearied 
for  want  of  sleep,  and  so  dirty  by  reason  of  the  wetness  of  the 
weather,  that  we  expected  the  Enemy  would  make  an  in  fall 
upon  us.  Which  accordingly  they  did,  between  three  and  four 
of  the  clock  this  morning;  with  fifteen  of  their  most  select 
troops,  under  the  command  of  Major-General  Montgomery  and 
Strahan,  two  champions  of  the  Church :  —  upon  which  busi- 
ness there  was  great  hope  and  expectation  laid.  The  Enemy 
came  on  with  a  great  deal  of  resolution ;  beat  in  our  guards, 
and  put  a  regiment  of  horse  in  some  disorder :  but  our  men, 
speedily  taking  the  alarm,  charged  the  Enemy ;  routed  them, 
took  many  prisoners,  killed  a  great  many  of  them  j  did  execu- 
tion [to]  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  Edinburgh ;  and,  I  am 
informed,  Strahan 2  was  killed  there,  besides  divers  other  Offi- 
cers of  quality.  We  took  the  Major  to  Strahan's  regiment, 
Major  Hamilton ;  a  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  divers  other  Offi- 
cers, and  persons  of  quality,  whom  yet  ,ve  know  not.  Indeed 
this  is  a  sweet  beginning  of  your  business,  or  rather  the  Lord's; 

1  Lambert. 

2  We  shall  hear  of  Strahan  again,  not  "killed."    This  Montgomery  is  the 
Earl  of  Eglinton's  son  Robert,  of  whom  we  heard  before  (Letter  LXXVIII. 
vol.  xvii.  p.  375)  •  neither  i.s  he  "  slaiii,"  as  will  be  seeii  by  aud  by. 


1050.  LETTER  CXXXV.    MUSSELBURGH.  109 

and  I  believe  is  not  very  satisfactory  to  the  Enemy,  especially 
to  the  Kirk  party.  We  did  not  lose  any  in  this  business,  so 
far  as  I  hear,  but  a  Cornet ;  I  do  not  hear  of  four  men  more. 
The  Major-General  will,  I  believe,  within  few  days  be  well  to 
take  the  field.  And  I  trust  this  work,  which  is  the  Lord's,  will 
prosper  in  the  hands  of  His  servants. 

"  I  did  not  think  advisable  to  attempt  upon  the  Enemy,  lying 
as  he  doth  :  but  surely  this  would  sufficiently  provoke  him  to 
fight  if  he  had  a  mind  to.  I  do  not  think  he  is  less  than  Six 
or  Seven  Thousand  horse,  and  Fourteen  or  Fifteen  Thousand 
foot.  The  reason,  I  hear,  that  they  give  out  to  their  people 
why  they  do  not  fight  us,  is,  Because  they  expect  many  bodies 
of  men  more  out  of  the  North  of  Scotland ;  which  when  they 
come,  they  give  out  they  will  then  engage.  But  I  believe  they 
would  rather  tempt  us  to  attempt  them  in  their  fastness,  within 
which  they  are  entrenched ;  or  else  hoping  we  shall  famish  for 
want  of  provisions ;  —  which  is  very  likely  to  be,  if  we  be  not 
timely  and  fully  supplied.  I  remain,  my  Lord, 
"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"[P.S.]    I  understand,  since  writing  of  this  Letter,  that 
Major-General  Montgomery  is  slain."  * 

Cautious  David  Lesley  lies  thus  within  his  Line  "  flankered  " 
from  Leith  shore  to  the  Calton  Hill,  with  guns  to  "  scour  "  it ; 
with  outposts  or  flying  parties,  as  we  see,  stationed  on  the 
back  slope  of  Salisbury  Crags  or  Arthur's  Seat ;  with  all 
Edinburgh  safe  behind  him,  and  indeed  all  Scotland  safe 
behind  him,  for  supplies :  and  nothing  can  tempt  him  to  come 
out.  The  factions  and  distractions  of  Scotland,  and  its  Kirk 
Committees  and  State  Committees,  and  poor  Covenanted  King 
and  Courtiers,  are  many :  but  Lesley,  standing  steadily  to  his 
guns,  persists  here.  His  Army,  it  appears,  is  no  great  things 
of  an  Army :  "  altogether  governed  by  the  Committee  of  Es- 
and  Kirk,"  snarls  an  angry  6%coveuanted  Courtier, 
whom  the  said  Committee  has  just  ordered  to  take  himself 

1  Newspapers  (iu  CromwvUiana,  pp.  85,  86). 


110  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  3  Aug. 

away  again  ;  "  altogether  governed  by  the  Committee  of  Estates 
and  Kirk,"  snarls  he,  "and  they  took  especial  care  in  their 
levies  not  to  admit  any  Malignants  or  Engagers  [who  had 
been  in  Hamilton's  Engagement]  ;  placing  in  command,  for 
most  part,  Ministers'  Sons,  Clerks  and  other  sanctified  crea- 
tures, who  hardly  ever  saw  or  heard  of  any  sword  but  that 
of  the  spirit ! " 1  The  more  reason  for  Lesley  to  lie  steadily 
within  his  Line  here.  Lodged  in  "  Bruchton  Village,"  which 
means  Broughton,  now  a  part  of  Edinburgh  New  Town ;  there 
in  a  cautious  solid  manner  lies  Lesley ;  and  lets  Cromwell 
attempt  upon  him.  It  is  his  history,  the  military  history  of 
these  two,  for  a  month  to  come. 

Meanwhile  the  General  Assembly  have  not  been  backward 
with  their  Answer  to  the  Cromwell  Manifesto,  or  "  Declaration 
of  the  English  Army  to  all  the  Saints  in  Scotland,"  spoken  of 
above.  Nay,  already  while  he  lay  at  Berwick,  they  had  drawn 
up  an  eloquent  Counter-Declaration,  and  sent  it  to  him ;  which 
he,  again,  has  got  "  some  godly  Ministers  "  of  his  to  declare 
against  and  reply  to :  the  whole  of  which  Declarations,  Replies 
and  Re-replies  shall,  like  the  primary  Document  itself,  remain 
suppressed  on  the  present  occasion.2  But  along  witli  this 
"  Reply  by  some  godly  Ministers,"  the  Lord  General  sends  a 
Letter  of  his  own,  which  is  here :  — 


LETTER  CXXXVI. 

"  To  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland;  or,  in  case 
of  their  not  sitting,   To  the  Commissioners  of  the  Kirk  of 

Scotland :  These. 

"  MDSSELBURGH,  3d  August,  1650. 

"  SIRS,  —  Your  Answer  to  the  Declaration  of  the  Army  we 
have  seen.  Some  godly  Ministers  with  us  did,  at  Berwick, 
compose  this  Reply  ; s  which  I  thought  fit  to  send  you. 

1  Sir  Edward  Walker,  Historical  Discourses  (London,  1705),  p.  162. 

2  Titles  of  them,  copies  of  several  of  them,  in  Parliamentary  History,  xix. 

8  The  Scotch  "  Answer "  which  "  we  have  seen,"  dated  Edinburgh,  22d 
July,  1650,  "Answer  unto  the  Declaration  of  the  Army;"  and  then  thia 


1650.  LETTER  CXXXVI.    MUSSELBURGH.  Ill 

"  That  you  or  we,  in  these  great  Transactions,  answer  the 
will  and  mind  of  God,  it  is  only  from  His  grace  and  mercy  to 
us.  And  therefore,  having  said  as  in  our  Papers,  we  commit 
the  issue  thereof  to  Him  who  disposeth  all  things,  assuring 
you  that  we  have  light  and  comfort  increasing  upon  us,  day  by 
day ;  and1  are  persuaded  that,  before  it  be  long,  the  Lord  will 
manifest  His  good  pleasure,  so  that  all  shall  see  Him  ;  and  His 
People  shall  say,  This  is  the  Lord's  work,  and  it  is  marvellous 
in  our  eyes :  this  is  the  day  that  the  Lord  hath  made  ;  we  will 
be  glad  and  rejoice  therein.  —  Only  give  me  leave  to  say,  in  a 
word  [thus  much] :  — 

"  You  take  upon  you  to  judge  us  in  the  things  of  our  God, 
though  you  know  us  not,  —  though  in  the  things  we  have  said 
unto  you,  in  that  which  is  entitled  the  Army's  Declaration,  we 
have  spoken  our  hearts  as  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  who  hath 
tried  us.  And  by  your  hard  and  subtle  words  you  have  be- 
gotten prejudice  in  those  who  do  too  much,  in  matters  of 
conscience,  —  wherein  every  soul  is  to  answer  for  itself  to 
God,  —  depend  upon  you.  So  that  some  have  already  fol- 
lowed you,  to  the  breathing  out  of  their  souls :  l  [and]  others 
continue  still  in  the  way  wherein  they  are  led  by  you,  —  we 
fear,  to  their  own  ruin. 

"  And  no  marvel  if  you  deal  thus  with  us,  when  indeed  you 
can  find  in  your  hearts  to  conceal  from  your  own  people  the 
Papers  we  have  sent  you ;  who  might  thereby  see  and  under- 
stand the  bowels  of  our  affections  to  them,  especially  to  such 
among  them  as  fear  the  Lord.  Send  as  many  of  your  Papers 
as  you  please  amongst  ours;2  they  have  a  free  passage.  I 
fear  them  not.  What  is  of  God  in  them,  would  it  might  be 
embraced  and  received!  —  One  of  them  lately  sent,  directed 
To  the  Under-Officers  and  Soldiers  in  the  English  Army,  hath 
begotten  from  them  this  enclosed  Answer  ;  *  which  they  desired 

Englinh  "  Reply"  to  it  now  sent,  entitled  "  Vindication  of  the  Declaration  of 
the  Army  :  "  in  King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  475,  §  15  (Printed,  London, 
16th  Ang.  1650). 

1   In  the  Muaselburgh  Skirmish,  &c.  *  Oar  people. 

*  Tlie  Si-'.f-h  Paper  "  To  the  Under-Offioers,"  &c.,  received  on  the  last  day 
of  Joljr ;  and  close  following  on  it,  this  "  Answer  "  which  it  "  hath  begotten 


112  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND,  3  Aug. 

me  to  send  to  you :  not  a  crafty  politic  one,  but  a  plain  simple 
spiritual  one  ;  —  what  kind  of  one  it  is,  God  knoweth,  and  God 
also  will  in  due  time  make  manifest. 

"  And  do  we  multiply  these  things,1  as  men ;  or  do  we  them 
for  the  Lord  Christ  and  His  People's  sake  ?  Indeed  we  are 
not,  through  the  grace  of  God,  afraid  of  your  numbers,  nor 
confident  in  ourselves.  We  could  —  I  pray  God  you  do  not 
think  we  boast  —  meet  your  Army,  or  what  you  have  to  bring 
against  us.  We  have  given  —  humbly  we  speak  it  before  our 
God,  in  whom  all  our  hope  is  —  some  proof  that  thoughts  of 
that  kind  prevail  not  upon  us.  The  Lord  hath  not  hid  His 
face  from  us  since  our  approach  so  near  unto  you. 

"  Your  own  guilt  is  too  much  for  you  to  bear :  bring  not 
therefore  upon  yourselves  the  blood  of  innocent  men,  —  de- 
ceived with  pretences  of  King  and  Covenant ;  from  whose 
eyes  you  hide  a  better  knowledge  !  I  am  persuaded  that  divers 
of  you,  who  lead  the  People,  have  labored  to  build  yourselves 
in  these  things  ;  wherein  you  have  censured  others,  and  estab- 
lished yourselves  '  upon  the  Word  of  God.'  Is  it  therefore 
infallibly  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  all  that  you  say  ?  I 
beseech  you,  in  the  bowels  of  Christ,  think  it  possible  you  may 
be  mistaken.  Precept  may  be  upon  precept,  line  may  be  upon 
line,  and  yet  the  Word  of  the  Lord  may  be  to  some  a  Word  of 
Judgment ;  that  they  may  fall  backward,  and  be  broken  and 
be  snared  and  be  taken  ! 2  There  may  be  a  spiritual  fulness, 
which  the  World  may  call  drunkenness ; 8  as  in  the  second 

from  them,"  addressed  To  the  People  of  Scotland  (especially  those  among  them 
thdt  know  and  fear  the  T^ord)  from  whom  yesterday  we  received  a  Paper  directed 
To  the  Under- Officers  &c. ;  of  date  "  Musselburgh,  1st  August,  1650:"  in 
King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  475,  §  10  (Printed,  London,  12th  August, 
1650).  —  This  Answer  "  by  the  Under-Officere,"  a  very  pious  and  zealous  Piece, 
seems  to  have  found  favor  among  the  pious  Scots,  and  to  have  circulated 
among  them  in  Manuscript  Copies.  A  most  mutilated  unintelligible  Frag- 
ment, printed  in  Anakcta  Scolica  (Edinburgh,  1834),  ii.  271,  as  "a  Procla- 
mation by  Oliver  Cromwell,"  turns  out  to  be  in  reality  a  fraction  of  this 
"  Answer  by  the  Under-Officers  :  "  —  printed  there  from  a  "  Copy  evidently 
made  at  the  time,"  evidently  a  most  ruinous  Copy,  "  and  now  in  the  possession 
of  James  Mackuight,  Esq." 

1  Papers  and  Declarations.  2  Bible  phrases. 

8  As  you  now  do  of  us ;  while  it  is  rather  you  that  are  "  drunk." 


1650.  LETTER  CXXXVI.    MUSSELBITRGH.  113 

Chapter  of  the  Acts.  There  may  be,  as  well,  a  carnal  confi- 
dence upon  misunderstood  and  misapplied  precepts,  which  may 
be  called  spiritual  drunkenness.  There  may  be  a  Covenant 
made  with  Death  and  Hell ! 1  I  will  not  say  yours  was  so. 
But  judge  if  such  things  have  a  politic  aim:  To  avoid  the 
('V.-i-fknviug  scourge;1  or,  To  accomplish  worldly  interests? 
And  if  therein  we2  have  confederated  with  wicked  and  carnal 
UK  11,  and  have  respect  for  them,  or  otherwise  [have]  drawn 
them  in  to  associate  with  us,  Whether  this  be  a  Covenant  of 
God,  and  spiritual  ?  Bethink  yourselves ;  we  hope  we  do. 

"I  pray  you  read  the  Twenty-eighth  of  Isaiah,  from  the 
fifth  to  the  fifteenth  verse.  And  do  not  scorn  to  know  that  it 
is  the  Spirit  that  quickens  and  giveth  life. 

"  The  Lord  give  you  and  us  understanding  to  do  that  which 
is  well-pleasing  in  His  sight.  Committing  you  to  the  grace  of 
God,  I  rest, 

u  Your  humble  servant, 

"OLIVEB  CROMWELL."* 

Here  is  the  passage  from  Isaiah  ;  I  know  not  whether  the 
General  Assembly  read  it  and  laid  it  well  to  heart,  or  not,  but 
it  was  worth  their  while,  —  and  is  worth  our  while  too :  — 

"In  that  day  shall  the  Lord  of  Hosts  be  for  a  crown  of 
glory,  and  for  a  diadem  of  beauty,  unto  the  residue  of  His 
people.  And  for  a  spirit  of  judgment  to  him  that  sitteth  in 
judgment,  and  for  strength  to  them  that  turn  the  battle  to  the 
gate. 

"  But  they  also  have  erred  through  wine,  and  through  strong 
drink  are  out  of  tho  way !  The  Priest  and  the  Prophet  have 
rrn-d  through  strong  drink  ;  they  are  swallowed  up  of  wine  ; 
they  are  out  of  tho  way  through  strong  drink.  They  err  in 
vision,  they  stunihle  in  judgment.  For  all  tables  are  full  of 
vomit  and  Hlthim-ss ;  so  that  there  is  no  place  clean. 

"  Whom  shall  He  teach  knowledge  ?  Whom  shall  He  make 
to  understand  doctrine  ?  Them  that  are  weaned  from  the 
inilk,  and  drawn  from  the  breasts.  For  precept  must  be  upon 

1  Bible  phraMft.  2  «•«•  you. 

*  Newspaper*  (in  Parliamentary  History,  xix.  320-323). 

TO»,.    XTIII.  8 


114  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  3  Aug. 

precept,  precept  upon  precept ;  line  upon  line,  line  upon  line  ; 
here  a  little  and  there  a  little.  For  with  stammering  lips  and 
another  tongue  will  He  speak  to  this  people.  To  whom  He 
said,  This  is  the  rest  wherewith  ye  may  cause  the  weary  to 
rest,  and  this  is  the  refreshment;  —  yet  they  would  not 
hear."  No.  "  The  Word  of  the  Lord  was  unto  them  precept 
upon  precept,  line  upon  line,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little, 
That  they  might  go,  and  fall  backward,  and  be  broken  and 
snared  and  taken!  —  Wherefore  hear  ye  the  Word  of  the 
Lord,  ye  scornful  men  that  rule  this  people  which  is  in  Jeru- 
salem." 

Yes,  hear  it,  and  not  with  the  outward  ear  only,  ye  Kirk 
Committees,  and  Prophesying  and  Governing  Persons  every- 
where :  it  may  be  important  to  you !  If  God  have  said  it,  if 
the  Eternal  Truth  of  things  have  said  it,  will  it  not  need  to  be 
done,  think  you  ?  Or  will  the  doing  some  distracted  shadow 
of  it,  some  Covenanted  Charles  Stuart  of  it,  suffice  ?  —  The 
Kirk  Committee  seems  in  a  bad  way. 

David  Lesley,  however,  what  as  yet  is  in  their  favor,  con- 
tinues within  his  Line  ;  stands  steadily  to  his  guns  ;  —  and  the 
weather  is  wet ;  Oliver's  provision  is  failing.  This  Letter  to 
the  Kirk  was  written  on  Saturday :  on  the  Monday  following,1 
"  about  the  6th  of  August,"  as  Major  Hodgson  dates  it,  the 
tempestuous  state  of  the  weather  not  permitting  ship-stores  to 
be  landed  at  Musselburgh,  Cromwell  has  to  march  his  Army 
back  to  Dunbar,  and  there  provision  it.  Great  joy  in  the 
Kirk-and-Estates  Committee  thereupon:  Lesley  steadily  con- 
tinues in  his  place.  — 

The  famine  among  the  Scots  themselves,  at  Dunbar,  is 
great ;  picking  our  horses'  beans,  eating  our  soldiers'  leavings  : 
"  they  are  much  enslaved  to  their  Lords,"  poor  creatures ; 
almost  destitute  of  private  capital,  —  and  ignorant  of  soap  to 
a  terrible  extent.2  Cromwell  distributes  among  them  "pease 
and  wheat  to  the  value  of  £240."  On  the  12th  here  turns  to 
Musselburgh  ;  finds,  as  heavy  Bulstrode  spells  it  in  good  Scotch, 
with  a  friskiness  we  hardly  looked  for  in  him,  That  Lesley  has 

1  Balfonr,  iv.  89.  2  Whitlocke,  p.  452. 


lew.  LETTER  CXXXVI.    MUSSELBURGH.  115 

commanded  "  The  gude  women  should  awe  come  away  with 
their  gear,  and  not  stay  to  brew  or  bake,  any  of  them,  for  the 
English ; "  —  which  makes  it  a  place  more  forlorn  than  before.1 
Oliver  decides  to  encamp  on  the  Peutland  Hills,  which  lie  on 
the  other  side  of  Edinburgh,  overlooking  the  Fife  and  Stirling 
roads ;  and  to  try  whether  he  cannot  force  Lesley  to  fight,  by 
cutting  off  his  supplies.  Here,  in  the  mean  time,  is  a  Letter 
from  Lesley  himself;  written  in  "Brougbton  Village,"  pre- 
cisely while  Oliver  is  on  march  towards  the  Pentlands :  — 

"  For  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General  Cromwell. 

"BHDCHTON,  13th  August,  1650. 

"MY  LORD,  —  I  am  commanded  by  the  Committee  of  Es- 
tates of  this  Kingdom,  and  desired  by  the  Commissioners  of 
the  General  Assembly,  to  send  unto  your  Excellency  this  en- 
closed Declaration,  as  that  which  containeth  the  State  of  the 
Quarrel ;  wherein  we  are  resolved,  by  the  Lord's  assistance,  to 
fight  your  Army,  when  the  Lord  shall  be  pleased  to  call  us 
thereunto.  And  as  you  have  professed  you  will  not  conceal 
any  of  our  Papers,  I  do  desire  that  this  Declaration  may  be 
made  known  to  all  the  Officers  of  your  Army.  And  so  I  rest, 
"  Your  Excellency's  most  humble  servant, 

"  DAVID  LESLEY."  8 

This  Declaration,  done  by  the  Kirk,  and  endorsed  by  the 
Estates,  we  shall  not  on  the  present  occasion  make  known, 
even  though  it  is  brief.  The  reader  shall  fancy  it  a  brief  em- 
phatic  disclaimer,  on  the  part  of  Kirk  and  State,  of  their  hav- 
ing anything  to  do  with  Malignants ;  —  disclaimer  in  emphatic 
words,  while  the  emphatic  facts  continue  as  they  were.  Dis- 
tinct hope,  however,  is  held  out  that  the  Covenanted  King 
will  testify  openly  his  sorrow  for  his  Father's  Malignancies, 
and  his  own  resolution  for  a  quite  other  course.  To  which 
Oliver,  from  the  slope  of  the  Pentlands,*  returns  this  an 
awer; — 

»  Whitlocke,  p  45.1. 

1  Newspapers  (in  1'tirlinmnitary  History,  xix.  330). 

•  "  about  Cnlintuii  "  (  Uulfour,  iv.  90)./ 


116  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  14  Aug. 


LETTER  CXXXVII. 

For  the  Right  Honorable  David  Lesley,  Lieutenant-  General 
of  the  Scots  Army  :  These. 


THE  CAMP  AT  PENTLAND  HILLS, 
14th  August,  1650. 

"SiR,  —  I  received  yours  of  the  13th  instant;  with  the 
Paper  you  mentioned  therein,  enclosed,  —  which  I  caused  to 
be  read  in  the  presence  of  so  many  Officers  as  could  well  be 
gotten  together;  to  which  your  Trumpet  can  witness.  We 
return  you  this  answer.  By  which  I  hope,  in  the  Lord,  it  will 
appear  that  we  continue  the  same  we  have  professed  ourselves 
to  the  Honest  People  in  Scotland  ;  wishing  to  them  as  to  our 
own  souls  ;  it  being  no  part  of  our  business  to  hinder  any  of 
them  from  worshipping  God  in  that  way  they  are  satisfied  in 
their  consciences  by  the  Word  of  God  they  ought,  though 
different  from  us,  —  but  shall  therein  be  ready  to  perform 
what  obligation  lies  upon  us  by  the  Covenant.1 

"But  that  under  the  pretence  of  the  Covenant,  mistaken, 
and  wrested  from  the  most  native  intent  and  equity  thereof, 
a  King  should  be  taken  in  by  you,  to  be  imposed  upon  us  ; 
and  this  [be]  called  '  the  Cause  of  God  and  the  Kingdom  ;  ' 
and  this  done  upon  '  the  satisfaction  of  God's  People  in  both 
Nations/  as  is  alleged,  —  together  with  a  disowning  of  Malig- 
nants  ;  although  he  2  who  is  the  head  of  them,  in  whom  all 
their  hope  and  comfort  lies,  be  received  ;  who,  at  this  very  in- 
stant, hath  a  Popish  Army  fighting  for  and  under  him  in  Ire- 
land ;  hath  Prince  Rupert,  a  man  who  hath  had  his  hand  deep 
in  the  blood  of  many  innocent  men  of  England,  now  in  the 
head  of  our  Ships,  stolen  from  us  upon  a  Malignant  account  ; 
hath  the  French  and  Irish  ships  daily  making  depredations  on 
our  coasts  ;  and  strong  combinations  by  the  Malignants  in 
England,  to  raise  Armies  in  our  bowels,  by  virtue  of  his  com- 
missions, who  hath  of  late  issued  out  very  many  to  that  pur- 
pose :  —  How  the  [Godly]  Interest  you  pretend  you  have 

1  Ungrammatical,  but  intelligible  and  characteristic. 
Charles  Stuart. 


irjW.  LETTER  CXXXVII.    PENTLAND  HILLS.  117 

received  him  upon,  and  the  Malignant  Interests  in  their  ends 
and  consequences  [all]  centring  in  this  man,  can  be  secured, 
we  cannot  discern !  And  how  we  should  believe,  that  whilst 
known  and  notorious  Malignants  are  fighting  and  plotting 
against  us  on  the  one  hand,  and  you  declaring  for  him  on  the 
other,  it  should  not  be  an  '  espousing  of  a  Malignant  Party's 
Quarrel  or  Interest;'  but  be  a  mere  'fighting  upon  former 
grounds  and  principles,  and  in  defence  of  the  Cause  of  God 
and  the  Kingdoms,  a.s  hath  been  these  twelve  years  last  past,' 
as  you  say :  how  this  should  be  '  for  the  security  and  satisfac- 
tion of  God's  People  in  both  Nations ; '  or  [how]  the  opposing 
of  this  should  render  us  enemies  to  the  Godly  with  you,  we 
cannot  well  understand.  Especially  considering  that  all  these 
Malignants  take  their  confidence  arid  encouragement  from  the 
late  transactions  of  your  Kirk  and  State  with  your  King.  For 
as  we  have  already  said,  so  we  tell  you  again,  It  is  but  [some] 
satisfying  security  to  those  who  employ  us,  and  [who]  are  con- 
cerned, that  we  seek.  Which  we  conceive  will  not  be  by  a  few 
formal  and  feigned  Submissions,  from  a  Person  that  could  not 
tell  otherwise  how  to  accomplish  his  Malignant  ends,  and  [is] 
therefore  counselled  to  this  compliance,  by  them  who  assisted 
his  Father,  and  have  hitherto  actuated  himself  in  his  most 
evil  and  desperate  designs ;  designs  which  are  now  again  by 
them  set  on  foot.  Against  which,  How  you  will  be  able,  in  the 
way  you  are  in,  to  secure  us  or  yourselves  ?  —  [this  it  now] 
is  (for  as  much  as  concerns  ourselves)  our  duty  to  look  after. 

"  If  the  state  of  your  Quarrel  be  thus,  upon  which,  as  you 
say,  you  resolve  to  fight  our  Army,  you  will  have  opportunity 
to  do  that ;  else  what  means  our  abode  here  ?  And  if  our  hope 
be  not  in  the  Lord,  it  will  be  ill  with  us.  We  commit  both 
you  and  ourselves  to  Him  who  knows  the  heart  and  tries  the 
reins ;  with  whom  are  all  our  ways  ;  who  is  able  to  do  for  us 
and  you  above  what  we  know :  Which  we  desire  may  be  in 
much  mercy  to  His  poor  People,  and  to  the  glory  of  His  great 
Name. 

"  And  having  performed  your  desire,  in  making  your  Papers 
so  public  as  is  Injforu  «'xpressed,  I  desire  you  to  do  the  like,  by 
letting  the  Stat«-,  Kirk  and  Army  have  the  knowledge  hereot 


118  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  i4Aug. 

To  which  end  I  have  sent  you  enclosed  two  Copies  [of  this 
Letter] ;  and  rest, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." * 

The  encampment  on  Pentland  Hills,  "some  of  our  tents 
within  sight  of  Edinburgh  Castle  and  City,"  threatens  to  cut 
off  Lesley's  supplies  ;  but  will  not  induce  him  to  fight.  "  The 
gude  wives  fly  with  their  bairns  and  gear  "  in  great  terror  of 
us,  poor  gude  wives ;  and  "  when  we  set  fire  to  furze-bushes, 
report  that  we  are  burning  their  houses."  a  Great  terror  of  us ; 
but  no  other  result.  Lesley  brings  over  his  guns  to  the  western 
side  of  Edinburgh,  and  awaits,  steady  within  his  fastnesses 
there. 

Hopes  have  arisen  that  the  Godly  Party  in  Scotland,  seeing 
now  by  these  Letters  and  Papers  what  our  real  meaning  is,  may 
perhaps  quit  a  Malignant  King's  Interest,  and  make  blood- 
less peace  with  us,  "  which  were  the  best  of  all."  The  King 
boggles  about  signing  that  open  Testimony,  that  Declaration 
against  his  Father's  sins,  which  was  expected  of  him.  "  A  great 
Commander  of  the  Enemy's,  Colonel  Gibby  Carre  "  (Colonel 
Gilbert  Ker,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  farther),  solicits  an  inter- 
view with  some  of  ours,  and  has  it ;  and  other  interviews  and 
free  communings  take  place,  upon  the  Burrow-Moor  and  open 
fields  that  lie  between  us.  Gibby  Ker,  and  also  Colonel  Strahan 
who  was  thought  to  be  slain : 8  these  and  some  minority  of  others 
are  clear  against  Malignancy  in  every  form ;  and  if  the  Cove- 
nanted Stuart  King  will  not  sign  this  Declaration  — !  Where- 
upon the  Covenanted  Stuart  King  does  sign  it ;  signs  this  too,4 

1  Newspapers  (in  Parliamentary  History,  xix.  331-333). 

2  Narrative  of  Farther  Proceedings,  dated  "  From  the  Camp  in  Musselbnrgh 
Fields,  16th  August,  1650;"  read  in  the  Parliament  22d  August  (Commons 
Journals) ;  reprinted  in  Parliamentary  History  (xix.  327)  as  a  "  Narrative  by 
General  Cromwell ; "  though  it  is  clearly  enough  not  General  Cromwell's,  hut 
John  Rushworth's. 

8  Letter  CXXXV.  antea,  p.  106. 

4  At  our  Court  at  Dunfermline  this  16th  day  of  August,  1650  (Sir  Edward 
Walker,  pp.  170-176;  by  whom  the  melancholy  Document  is,  with  due  loyal 
indignation,  given  at  large  there). 


1650.  LETTER  CXXXVIII.    MUSSELBURGH.  119 

—  what  will  he  not  sign  ?  —  and  these  hopes  of  accommoda- 
tion vanish. 

"  Neither  still  will  they  risk  a  Battle  ;  though  in  their  inter- 
views upon  the  Burrow-Moor,  they  said  they  longed  to  do  it. 
Vain  that  we  draw  out  in  battalia ;  they  lie  within  their  fast- 
nesses. We  march,  with  defiant  circumstance  of  war,  round 
all  accessible  sides  of  Edinburgh ;  encamp  on  the  Pentlands, 
return  to  Musselburgh  for  provisions ;  go  to  the  Pentlands 
again,  —  enjoy  one  of  the  beautifulest  prospects,  over  deep-blue 
seas,  over  yellow  cornfields,  dusky  Highland  mountains,  from 
Ben  Lomond  round  to  the  Bass  again ;  but  can  get  no  Battle. 
And  the  weather  is  broken,  and  the  season  is  advancing,  — 
equinox  within  ten  days,  by  the  modern  Almanac.  Our  men 
fall  sick  ;  the  service  is  harassing  ;  —  and  it  depends  on  wind 
and  tide  whether  even  biscuit  can  be  landed  for  us  nearer  than 
I  )unbar.  Here  is  the  Lord  General's  own  Letter  "  to  a  Member 
of  the  Council  of  State,"  —  we  might  guess  this  or  the  other, 
but  cannot  with  the  least  certainty  know  which, 


LETTER  CXXXTTTI. 

[To Council  of  State  in  Whitehall:  These."] 

"  MUBSELBURGII,  30th  August,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  Since  my  last,  we  seeing  the  Enemy  not  willing  to 
engage,  —  and  yet  very  apt  to  take  exceptions  against  speeches 
of  that  kind  sjMtkcn  in  our  Army ;  which  occasioned  some  of 
them  to  come  to  parley  with  our  Officers,  To  let  them  know 
that  they  would  fight  us,  —  they  lying  still  in  or  near  their 
fastnesses,  on  the  west  side  of  Edinburgh,  we  resolved,  the 
Lord  assisting,  to  draw  near  to  them  once  more,  to  try  if 
we  could  fight  them.  And  indeed  one  hour's  advantage 
gained  might  probably,  we  think,  have  given  us  an  oppor- 
tunity.1 

"To   which   purpose,  upon  Tuesday,  the  27th  instant,  we 

1  Had  we  come  ouo  hour  sooner  :  —  but  wo  did  not 


120  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  30  Aug. 

marched  westward  of  Edinburgh  towards  Stirling;  which  the 
Enemy  perceiving,  marched  with  as  great  expedition  as  was 
possible  to  prevent  us ;  and  the  vanguards  of  both  the  Armies 
came  to  skirmish,  —  upon  a  place  where  bogs  and  passes  made 
the  access  of  each  Army  to  the  other  difficult.  We,  being 
ignorant  of  the  place,  drew  up,  hoping  to  have  engaged; 
but  found  no  way  feasible,  by  reason  of  the  bogs  and  other 
difficulties. 

"  We  drew  up  our  cannon,  and  did  that  day  discharge  two 
or  three  hundred  great  shot  upon  them  ;  a  considerable  number 
they  likewise  returned  to  us  :  and  this  was  all  that  passed 
from  each  to  other.  Wherein  we  had  near  twenty  killed  and 
wounded,  but  not  one  Commission  Officer.  The  Enemy,  as  we 
are  informed,  had  about  eighty  killed,  and  some  considerable 
Officers.  Seeing  they  would  keep  their  ground,  from  which 
we  could  not  remove  them,  and  our  bread  being  spent,  —  we 
were  necessitated  to  go  for  a  new  supply  :  and  so  marched  off 
about  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  on  Wednesday  morning.1  The 
Enemy  perceiving  it,  —  and,  as  we  conceive,  fearing  we  might 
interpose  between  them  and  Edinburgh,  though  it  was  not  our 
intention,  albeit  it  seemed  so  by  our  march,  —  retreated  back 
again,  with  all  haste  ;  having  a  bog  and  passes  between  them 
and  us  :  and  there  followed  no  considerable  action,  saving  the 
skirmishing  of  the  van  of  our  horse  with  theirs,  near  to  Edin- 
burgh, without  any  considerable  loss  to  either  party,  saving 
that  we  got  two  or  three  of  their  horses. 

"  That  [Wednesday]  night  we  quartered  within  a  mile  of 
Edinburgh  and  of  the  Enemy.  It  was  a  most  tempestuous 
night  and  wet  morning.  The  Enemy  marched  in  the  night 
between  Leith  and  Edinburgh,  to  interpose  between  us  and  our 
victual,  they  knowing  that  it  was  spent ;  —  but  the  Lord  in 
mercy  prevented  it;  and  we,  perceiving  in  the  morning,  got, 
time  enough,  through  the  goodness  of  the  Lord,  to  the  seaside, 
to  re-victual ;  the  Enemy  being  drawn  up  upon  the  Hill  near 

1  We  drew  towards  our  old  Camp,  one  of  our  old  Camps,  that  Wednesday ; 
aud  off  to  Musselburgh  "  for  a  new  supply  "  next  morning.  Old  Camp,  or 
Bivouac,  "  on  Pentland  Hills,"  says  vague  Hodgsou  (p.  142) ;  "  within  a  mile 
of  Edinburgh,"  says  Cromwell  in  this  Letter,  who  of  course  knows  well. 


1650.  LETTER  CXXXVIII.    MUSSELBURGH.  121 

Arthur's   Seat,   looking  upon   us,   but   not    attempting    any- 
thing. 

"  And  thus  you  have  an  account  of  the  present  occurrences. 
"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

The  scene  of  this  Tuesday's  skirmish,  and  cannonade  across 
bogs,  has  not  been  investigated ;  though  an  antiquarian  Topog- 
rapher might  find  worse  work  for  himself.  Hough  Hodgson, 
very  uncertain  in  his  spellings,  calls  it  Gawger  Field,  which 
will  evidently  take  us  to  Gogar  on  the  western  road  there. 
The  Scotch  Editor  of  Hodgson  says  farther,  "  The  Water  of 
Leith  lay  between  the  two  Armies  ; "  which  can  be  believed  or 
not ;  —  which  indeed  turns  out  to  be  unbelievable.  Yorkshire 
Hodgson's  troop  received  an  ugly  cannon-shot  while  they  stood 
at  prayers  ;  just  with  the  word  Amen,  came  the  ugly  cannon- 
shot  singing,  but  it  hurt  neither  horse  nor  man.  We  also 
"  gave  them  an  English  shout "  at  one  time,  along  the  whole 
line,2  making  their  Castle-rocks  and  Pentlands  ring  again  ;  but 
could  get  no  Battle  out  of  them,  for  the  bogs. 

Here,  in  reference  to  those  matters,  is  an  Excerpt  which,  in 
spite  of  imperfections,  may  be  worth  transcribing.  "  The  Eng- 
lish Army  lay  "  at  first  "  near  Musselburgh,  about  Stony  Hill. 
But  shortly  after,  they  marched  up  to  Braid  House,"  to  Braid 
Hills,  to  Pentland  Hills,  Colinton  and  various  other  Hills  and 
Houses  in  succession  ;  "  and  the  Scots  Army,  being  put  in  some 
readiness,  marched  up  to  Corstorphine  Hill.  But  because 
the  English  feared  it  was  too  near  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh, 
they  would  not  hazard  battle  there.  Wherefore  both  Armies 
marched  to  Gogar,  Tuesday,  August  27th ;  and  played  each 
upon  other  with  their  great  guns  :  but  because  of  Gogar  Burn 
(Brook}  and  other  ditches  betwixt  the  Armies,  they  could  not 
join  battle.  Next  day,  about  mid-day,"  more  precisely  Wednes- 
day about  ten  or  eleven  o'clock,  "  the  English  began  to  retire ; 
and  went  first  to  their  Leaguer  at  Braid  Hills,"  within  a  mile 
of  Edinburgh  as  their  General  says.  "  The  English  removing, 

1  Newspapcra  (in  Parliamentary  History,  xix.  339). 

j,  |>.  lil. 


122  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  30  Aug. 

the  Scots  followed  by  Corstorphine  the  long  gate  "  (roundabout 
road),  —  which  is  hard  ground,  and  out  of  shot-range.  "  The 
English,"  some  of  them,  "  marched  near  to  Musselburgh  ;  and, 
in  the  mid  night,  planted  some  guns  in  iNiddry :  the  Scots 
having  marched  about  the  Hill  of  Arthur's  Seat,  towards  Craig- 
millar,  there  planted  some  guns  against  those  in  Niddry ; " x  — 
and  in  fact,  as  we  have  seen,  were  drawn  up  on  Arthur's  Seat 
on  the  morrow  morning,  looking  on  amid  the  rain,  and  not 
attempting  anything. 

The  Lord  General  writes  this  Letter  at  Musselburgh  on  Fri- 
day, the  30th,  the  morrow  after  his  return :  and  directly  on 
the  heel  of  it  there  is  a  Council  of  War  held,  and  an  impor- 
tant resolution  taken.  With  sickness,  and  the  wild  weather 
coming  on  us,  rendering  even  victual  uncertain,  and  no  Battle 
to  be  had,  we  clearly  cannot  continue  here.  Dun  bar,  which 
has  a  harbor,  we  might  fortify  for  a  kind  of  citadel  and  winter- 
quarter  ;  let  us  retire  at  least  to  Dunbar,  to  be  near  our  sole 
friends  in  this  country,  our  Ships.  On  the  morrow  evening, 
Saturday,  the  Slst,  the  Lord  General  fired  his  huts,  and  marched 
towards  Dunbar.  At  sight  whereof  Lesley  rushes  out  upon 
him;  has  his  vanguard  iu  Prestonpans  before  our  rear  got 
away.  Saturday  night  through  Haddington,  and  all  Sunday 
to  Dunbar,  Lesley  hangs,  close  and  heavy,  on  Cromwell's  rear ; 
on  Sunday  night  bends  southward  to  the  hills  that  overlook 
Dunbar,  and  hems  him  in  there.  As  will  be  more  specially 
related  in  the  next  fascicle  of  Letters. 


LETTERS  CXXXIX.-CXLVL 

BATTLE   OF   DUNBAR. 

THE  small  Town  of  Dunbar  stands,  high  and  windy,  looking 
down  over  its  herring-boats,  over  its  grim  old  Castle  now  much 
honey-combed,  —  on  one  of  those  projecting  rock-promonto- 

1  Collections  by  a  Private  Hand,  at  Edinburgh,  from  1650  to  1661  (Wood- 
row  MSS.),  printed  in  Historical  Fragments  on  Scotch  Affairs  from  1635  to  1664 
r-Minbnrgh,  1832),  Part  i.  pp.  27,  28. 


1680.  DTJNBAR  BATTLE.  123 

ries  with  which  that  shore  of  the  Frith  of  Forth  is  niched 
and  vandyked,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach.  A  beautiful  sea; 
good  land  too,  now  that  the  plougher  understands  his  trade ; 
a  grim  niched  barrier  of  whinstone  sheltering  it  from  the  chaf- 
ings  and  tumblings  of  the  big  blue  German  Ocean.  Seaward 
St.  Abb's  Head,  of  whinstone,  bounds  your  horizon  to  the  east, 
not  very  far  off ;  west,  close  by,  is  the  deep  bay,  and  fishy 
little  village  of  Belhaven :  the  gloomy  Bass  and  other  rock- 
islets,  and  farther  the  Hills  of  Fife,  and  foreshadows  of  the 
Highlands,  are  visible  as  you  look  seaward.  From  the  bot- 
tom of  Belhaven  bay  to  that  of  the  next  sea-bight  St.  Abb's- 
ward,  the  Town  and  its  environs  form  a  peninsula.  Along 
the  base  of  which  peninsula,  "  not  much  above  a  mile  and  a 
half  from  sea  to  sea,"  Oliver  Cromwell's  Army,  on  Monday, 
2d  of  September,  1650,  stands  ranked,  with  its  tents  and  Town 
behind  it, — in  very  forlorn  circumstances.  This  now  is  all 
the  ground  that  Oliver  is  lord  of  in  Scotland.  His  Ships  lie 
in  the  offing,  with  biscuit  and  transport  for  him ;  but  visible 
elsewhere  in  the  Earth  no  help. 

Landward  as  you  look  from  the  Town  of  Dunbar  there 
rises,  some  short  mile  off,  a  dusky  continent  of  barren  heath 
Hills ;  the  Lammermoor,  where  oury  mountain-sheep  can  be  at 
home.  The  crossing  of  which,  by  any  of  its  boggy  passes,  and 
brawling  stream-courses,  no  Army,  hardly  a  solitary  Scotch 
Packman  could  attempt,  in  such  weather.  To  the  edge  of 
these  Lammermoor  Heights,  David  Lesley  has  betaken  him- 
self; lies  now  along  the  outmost  spur  of  them,  — a  long  Hill 
of  considerable  height,  which  the  Dunbar  people  call  the  Dun, 
Doon,  or  sometimes  for  fashion's  sake  'the  Down,  adding  to  it 
the  Teutonic  Hill  likewise,  though  Dun  itself  in  old  Celtic 
signifies  Hill.  On  this  Doon  Hill  lies  David  Lesley  with  the 
victorious  Scotch  Army,  upwards  of  twenty  thousand  strong; 
with  tin-  Commit  t.-rs  <-f  Kirk  and  Estates,  the  chief  Dignita- 
ries of  tin-  Country,  and  in  fact  the  flower  of  what  the  pure 
Covenant  in  this  the  twelfth  year  of  its  existence  can  still 
bring  forth.  There  lies  he  since  Sunday  night,  on  the  top  and 
slope  of  this  Doon  Hill,  with  tin;  impassable  heath-continents 
behind  him  ;  embraces,  as  within  outspread  tiger-claws,  the 


124  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  2  Sept. 

base-line  of  Oliver's  Dunbar  peninsula;  waiting  what  Oliver 
will  do.  Cockburnspath  with  its  ravines  has  been  seized  on 
Oliver's  left,  and  made  impassable  ;  behind  Oliver  is  the  sea ; 
in  front  of  him  Lesley,  Doon  Hill,  and  the  heath-continent  of 
Lammermoor.  Lesley's  force  is  of  three-and-twenty  thou- 
sand,1 in  spirits  as  of  men  chasing,  Oliver's  about  half  as 
many,  in  spirits  as  of  men  chased.  What  is  to  become  of 
Oliver  ? 


LETTER  CXXXIX. 

HASELRIG,  as  we  know,  is  Governor  of  Newcastle.  Oliver 
on  Monday  writes  this  Note  ;  means  to  send  it  off,  I  suppose, 
by  sea.  Making  no  complaint  for  himself,  the  remarkable 
Oliver  ;  doing,  with  grave  brevity,  in  the  hour  the  business  of 
the  hour.  "  He  was  a  strong  man,"  so  intimates  Charles  Har- 
vey, who  knew  him  :  "  in  the  dark  perils  of  war,  in  the  high 
places  of  the  field,  hope  shone  in  him  like  a  pillar  of  fire,  when 
it  had  gone  out  in  all  the  others." a  A  genuine  King  among 
men,  Mr.  Harvey.  The  divinest  sight  this  world  sees,  —  when 
it  is  privileged  to  see  such,  and  not  be  sickened  with  the  un- 
holy apery  of  such  !  He  is  just  now  upon  an  "  engagement," 
or  complicated  concern,  "  very  difficult." 

"  To  the  Honorable  Sir  Arthur  Haselng,  at  Newcastle  or  else- 
where :  These.     Haste,  haste. 

"  [DUNBAR,]  2d  September,  1 650. 

"  DEAR  SIR,  —  We  are  upon  an  Engagement  very  difficult. 
The  Enemy  hath  blocked  up  our  way  at  the  Pass  at  Coppers- 
path,  through  which  we  cannot  get  without  almost  a  miracle. 
He  lieth  so  upon  the  Hills  that  we  know  not  how  to  come  that 
way  without  great  difficulty  ;  and  our  lying  here  daily  consum- 
eth  our  men,  who  fall  sick  beyond  imagination. 

"  I  perceive,  your  forces  are  not  in  a  capacity  for  present 

1  27,000  say  the  English  Pamphlets;  16,000  foot  and  7,000  horse,  says  Sir 
Edward  Walker  (p.  182),  who  has  access  to  know. 

2  Passages  in  his  lliyhness's  lust  Sickness,  already  referred  to. 


1650.  LETTER  CXXXIX.    DUNBAR.  125 

release.  Wherefore,  whatever  becomes  of  us,  it  will  be  well 
for  yon  to  get  what  forces  you  can  together ;  and  the  South  to 
help  what  they  can.  The  business  nearly  concerneth  all  Good 
People.  If  your  forces  had  been  in  a  readiness  to  have  fallen 
upon  the  back  of  Copperspath,  it  might  have  occasioned  sup- 
plies to  have  come  to  us.  But  the  only  wise  God  knows  what 
is  best.  All  shall  work  for  Good.  Our  spirits l  are  comfort- 
able, praised  be  the  Lord,  —  though  our  present  condition  be 
as  it  is.  And  indeed  we  have  much  hope  in  the  Lord;  of 
whose  mercy  we  have  had  large  experience. 

"  Indeed,  do  you  get  together  what  forces  you  can  against 
them.  Send  to  friends  in  the  South  to  help  with  more.  Let 
H.  Vane  know  what  I  write.  I  would  not  make  it  public,  lest 
danger  should  accrue  thereby.  You  know  what  use  to  make 
hereof.  Let  me  hear  from  you.  I  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  [P.S.]  It 's  difficult  for  me  to  send  to  you.  Let  me  hear 
from  [you]  after  [you  receive  this]." a 

The  base  of  Oliver's  "  Dunbar  Peninsula,"  as  we  have  called 
it  (or  Dunbar  Pinfold  where  he  is  now  hemmed  in,  upon  "an 
entanglement  very  difficult "),  extends  from  Belhaven  Bay  on 
his  right,  to  Brocksmouth  House  on  his  left ;  "  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  sea  to  sea."  Brocksmouth  House,  the  Earl 
(now  Duke)  of  Roxburgh's  mansion,  which  still  stands  there, 
his  soldiers  now  occupy  as  their  extreme  post  on  the  left.  As 
its  name  indicates,  it  is  the  mouth  or  issue  of  a  small  Rivulet, 

1  mimls. 

a  Communicated  by  John  Hare,  Esquire,  Roseraont  Cottage,  Clifton.  The 
MS.  at  Clifton  id  a  Copy,  without  date;  but  has  this  title  in  au  old  hand: 
"Copy  of  an  original  Letter  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  written  \viih  his  own  hand, 
the  day  bffon-  tin-  IJiittli-  <>f  Dunlcirr,  to  Sir  A.  Ifaselridgc."  —  Note  t<> 
Second  Edition.  Found  muce  (1846),  with  the  Postscript,  printed  from  the 
Original,  in  Brand's  llittory  of  Newcastle  (London,  17-  M,  ii  47'.*  —Note  to 
7'li'nl  l-'.ilitiun.  Autograph  Original  found  now  (May,  1H47)  ;  in  the  pomee- 
MOII  ..f  K.  Onuatou,  EWJ-,  Newcautle-ou-Tyne.  See  posicu,  p.  143,  and  Appen- 
dix, No.  10. 


126  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  3  Sept 

or  Burn,  called  Brock,  Brocksburn  ;  which,  springing  from  the 
Lammermoor,  and  skirting  David  Lesley's  Doon  Hill,  finds  its 
egress  here  into  the  sea.  The  reader  who  would  form  an  image 
to  himself  of  the  great  Tuesday,  3d  of  September,  1650,  at 
Dunbar,  must  note  well  this  little  Bum.  It  runs  in  a  deep 
grassy  glen,  which  the  South-country  Officers  in  those  old 
Pamphlets  describe  as  a  "  deep  ditch,  forty  feet  in  depth,  and 
about  as  many  in  width,"  —  ditch  dug  out  by  the  little  Brook 
itself,  and  carpeted  with  greensward,  in  the  course  of  long 
thousands  of  years.  It  runs  pretty  close  by  the  foot  of  Doon 
Hill ;  forms,  from  this  point  to  the  sea,  the  boundary  of 
Oliver's  position;  his  force  is  arranged  in  battle-order  along 
the  left  bank  of  this  Brocksburn,  and  its  grassy  glen;  he  is 
busied  all  Monday,  he  and  his  Officers,  in  ranking  them  there. 
"  Before  sunrise  on  Monday "  Lesley  sent  down  his  horse 
from  the  Hill-top,  to  occupy  the  other  side  of  this  Brook; 
"  about  four  in  the  afternoon  "  his  train  came  down,  his  whole 
Army  gradually  came  down  ;  and  they  now  are  ranking  them- 
selves on  the  opposite  side  of  Brocksbiirn,  —  on  rather  narrow 
ground  ;  cornfields,  but  swiftly  sloping  upwards  to  the  steep 
of  Doon  Hill.  This  goes  on,  in  the  wild  showers  and  winds  of 
Monday,  2d  September,  1650,  on  both  sides  of  the  Rivulet 
of  Brock.  Whoever  will  begin  the  attack,  must  get  across  this 
Brook  and  its  glen  first ;  a  thing  of  much  disadvantage. 

Behind  Oliver's  ranks,  between  him  and  Dunbar,  stand  his 
tents ;  sprinkled  up  and  down,  by  battalions,  over  the  face  of 
this  "  Peninsula ; "  which  is  a  low  though  very  uneven  tract 
of  ground ;  now  in  our  time  all  yellow  with  wheat  and  barley 
in  the  autumn  season,  but  at  that  date  only  partially  tilled,  — 
describable  by  Yorkshire  Hodgson  as  a  place  of  plashes  and 
rough  bent-grass ;  terribly  beaten  by  showery  winds  that  day, 
so  that  your  tent  will  hardly  stand.  There  was  then  but  one 
Farm-house  on  this  tract,  where  now  are  not  a  few :  thither 
were  Oliver's  Cannon  sent  this  morning;  they  had  at  first 
been  lodged  "  in  the  Church,"  an  edifice  standing  then  as  now 
somewhat  apart,  "at  the  south  end  of  Dunbar."  We  have 
notice  of  only  one  other  "  small  house,"  belike  some  poor 
shepherd's  homestead,  in  Oliver's  tract  of  ground :  it  stands 


I860.  DUNBAR  BATTLE.  127 

close  by  the  Brock  Rivulet  itself,  and  in  the  bottom  of  the 
little  glen ;  at  a  place  where  the  banks  of  it  flatten  themselves 
out  into  a  slope  passable  for  carts :  this  of  course,  as  the  one 
"  pass  "  in  that  quarter,  it  is  highly  important  to  seize.  Pride 
and  Lambert  lodged  "  six  horse  and  fifteen  foot "  in  this  poor 
hut  early  in  the  morning:  Lesley's  horse  came  across,  and 
drove  them  out;  killing  some  and  "taking  three  prisoners;" 
—  and  so  got  possession  of  this  pass  and  hut;  but  did  not 
keep  it.  Among  the  three  prisoners  was  one  musketeer,  "a 
very  stout  man,  though  he  has  but  a  wooden  arm,"  and  some 
iron  hook  at  the  end  of  it,  poor  fellow.  He  "  fired  thrice," 
not  without  effect,  with  his  wooden  arm ;  and  was  not  taken 
without  difficulty:  a  handfast  stubborn  man;  they  carried 
him  across  to  General  Lesley  to  give  some  account  of  himself. 
In  several  of  the  old  Pamphlets,  which  agree  in  all  the  details 
of  it,  this  is  what  we  read  :  — 

"General  David  Lesley  (old  Leven,"  the  other  Lesley,  "being 
in  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh,  as  they  relate l ),  asked  this  man, 
If  the  Enemy  did  intend  to  fight  ?  He  replied,  '  What  do  you 
think  we  come  here  for  ?  We  come  for  nothing  else  ! '  — 
'Soldier/  says  Lesley,  'how  will  you  fight,  when  you  have 
shipped  half  of  your  men,  and  all  your  great  guns  ? '  The 
Soldier  replied,  'Sir,  if  you  please  to  draw  down  your  men, 
you  shall  find  both  men  and  great  guns  too ! ' "  —  A  most 
dogged  handfast  man,  this  with  the  wooden  arm,  and  iron 
hook  on  it !  "  One  of  the  Officers  asked,  How  he  durst  answer 
the  General  so  saucily  ?  He  said,  '  I  only  answer  the  question 
put  to  me ! ' "  Lesley  sent  him  across,  free  again,  by  a  trumpet : 
he  made  his  way  to  Cromwell ;  reported  what  had  passed,  and 
added  doggedly,  He  for  one  had  lost  twenty  shillings  by  the 
business,  —  plundered  from  him  in  this  action.  "The  Lord 
General  gave  him  thereupon  two  pieces,"  which  I  think  are 
forty,  shillings ;  and  sent  him  away  rejoicing.*  —  This  is  the 

1  Old  Leven  is  here,  if  the  Pamphlet  knew ;  but  only  as  a  volunteer  and 
without  command,  though  nominally  still  General-in-ohief. 

*  Cadwell  the  Army-Messenger's  Narrative  to  the  Parliament  (in  Carte's 
Ormorid  Papen,  i.  382).  Given  also,  with  other  details,  in  King's  Pamphlets, 
•mall  4to,  no.  478,  §§  9,  7,  10;  no.  479,  §  I  ;  &c.  &c. 


128  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  3  Sept. 

adventure  at  the  "  pass  "  by  the  shepherd's  hut  in  the  bottom 
of  the  glen,  close  by  the  Brocksburn  itself. 

And  now  farther,  on  the  great  scale,  we  are  to  remark  very 
specially  that  there  is  just  one  other  "  pass  "  across  the  Brocks- 
burn  ;  and  this  is  precisely  where  the  London  road  now  crosses 
it ;  about  a  mile  east  from  the  former  pass,  and  perhaps  two 
gunshots  west  from  Brocksmouth  House.  There  the  great 
road  then  as  now  crosses  the  Burn  of  Brock  ;  the  steep  grassy 
glen,  or  "broad  ditch  forty  feet  deep,"  flattening  itself  out 
here  once  more  into  a  passable  slope  :  passable,  but  still  steep 
on  the  southern  or  Lesley  side,  still  mounting  up  there,  with 
considerable  acclivity,  into  a  high  table-ground,  out  of  which 
the  Doon  Hill,  as  outskirt  of  the  Lammermoor,  a  short  mile  to 
your  right,  gradually  gathers  itself.  There,  at  this  "  pass,"  on 
and  about  the  present  London  road,  as  you  discover  after  long 
dreary  dim  examining,  took  place  the  brunt  or  essential  agony 
of  the  Battle  of  Dunbar  long  ago.  Read  in  the  extinct  old 
Pamphlets,  and  ever  again  obstinately  read,  till  some  light 
rise  in  them,  look  even  with  unrnilitary  eyes  at  the  ground  as 
it  now  is,  you  do  at  last  obtain  small  glimmerings  of  distinct 
features  here  and  there,  —  which  gradually  coalesce  into  a 
kind  of  image  for  you;  and  some  spectrum  of  the  Fact  be- 
comes visible  ;  rises  veritable,  face  to  face,  on  you,  grim  and 
sad  in  the  depths  of  the  old  dead  Time.  Yes,  my  travelling 
friends,  vehiculating  in  gigs  or  otherwise  over  that  piece  of 
London  road,  you  may  say  to  yourselves,  Here  without  monu- 
ment is  the  grave  of  a  valiant  thing  which  was  done  under 
the  Sun ;  the  footprint  of  a  Hero,  not  yet  quite  undistinguish- 
able,  is  here  !  — 

"The  Lord  General  about  four  o'clock,"  say  the  old  Pam- 
phlets, "  went  into  the  Town  to  take  some  refreshment,"  a 
hasty  late  dinner,  or  early  supper,  whichever  we  may  call  it ; 
"  and  very  soon  returned  back,"  —  having  written  Sir  Arthur's 
Letter,  I  think,  in  the  interim.  Coursing  about  the  field,  with 
enough  of  things  to  order ;  walking  at  last  with  Lambert  in 
the  Park  or  Garden  of  Brocksmouth  House,  he  discerns  that 
Lesley  is  astir  on  the  Hill-side ;  altering  his  position  some- 


J850.  DUNBAJ?   BATTLE.  129 

what.  That  Lesley,  in  fact,  is  coming  wholly  down  to  the 
basis  of  the  Hill,  where  his  horse  had  been  since  sunrise: 
coining  wholly  down  to  the  edge  of  the  Brook  and  glen, 
among  the  sloping  harvest-fields  there;  and  also  is  bringing 
up  his  left  wing  of  horse,  most  part  of  it,  towards  his  right : 
edging  himself,  "snogging,"  as  Oliver  calls  it,  his  whole  line 
more  and  more  to  the  right !  His  meaning  is,  to  get  hold  of 
Brocksmouth  House  and  the  pass  of  the  Brook  there ; l  after 
which  it  will  be  free  to  him  to  attack  us  when  he  will !  — 
Lesley,  in  fact,  considers,  or  at  least  the  Committee  of  Estates 
and  Kirk  consider,  that  Oliver  is  lost ;  that,  on  the  whole,  he 
must  not  be  left  to  retreat,  but  must  be  attacked  and  anni- 
hilated here.  A  vague  story,  due  to  Bishop  Burnet,  the  watery 
source  of  many  such,  still  circulates  about  the  world,  That  it 
was  the  Kirk  Committee  who  forced  Lesley  down  against  his 
will ;  that  Oliver,  at  sight  of  it,  exclaimed,  "  The  Lord  hath 
delivered  "  &c. :  which  nobody  is  in  the  least  bound  to  believe. 
It  appears,  from  other  quarters,  that  Lesley  was  advised  or 
sanctioned  in  this  attempt  by  the  Committee  of  Estates  and 
Kirk,  but  also  that  he  was  by  no  means  hard  to  advise;  that, 
in  fact,  lying  on  the  top  of  Doon  Hill,  shelterless  in  such 
weather,  was  no  operation  to  spin  out  beyond  necessity;  —  and 
that  if  anybody  pressed  too  much  upon  him  with  advice  to 
come  down  and  fight,  it  was  likeliest  to  be  Royalist  Civil 
Dignitaries,  who  had  plagued  him  with  their  cavillings  at  his 
cunctations,  at  his  "secret  fellow-feeling  for  the  Sectarians 
and  Regicides,"  ever  since  this  War  began.  The  poor  Scotch 
Clergy  have  enough  of  their  own  to  answer  for  in  this  busi- 
ness ;  let  every  back  bear  the  burden  that  belongs  to  it.  In 
a  word,  Lesley  descends,  has  been  descending  all  day,  and 
"shogs  "  himself  to  the  right,  —  urged,  I  believe,  by  manifold 
counsel,  and  by  the  nature  of  the  case ;  and,  what  is  equally 
important  for  us,  Oliver  sees  him,  and  sees  through  him,  in 
this  movement  of  his. 

At  sight  of  this  movement,  Oliver  suggests   to  Lambert 

standing  by  him,  Does  it  not  give  us  an  advantage,  if  we, 

ul  of  him,  like  to  begin  the  attack  ?     Here  is  the  Enemy's 

1  Baillie's  Lettert,  iii.  111. 
VOL.  xvin.  9 


130  PART  VI     WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  3  Sept. 

right  wing  coming  out  to  the  open  space,  free  to  be  attacked 
on  any  side ;  and  the  main-battle  hampered  in  narrow  sloping 
ground  between  Doon  Hill  and  the  Brook,  has  no  room  to 
manoeuvre  or  assist : 1  beat  this  right  wing  where  it  now 
stands ;  take  it  in  flank  and  front  with  an  overpowering  force, 
— it  is  driven  upon  its  own  main-battle1,  the  whole  Army  is 
beaten?  Lambert  eagerly  assents,  "had  meant  to  say  the 
same  thing."  Monk,  who  comes  up  at  the  moment,  likewise 
assents ;  as  the  other  Officers  do,  when  the  case  is  set  before 
them.  It  is  the  plan  resolved  upon  for  battle.  The  attack 
shall  begin  to-morrow  before  dawn. 

And  so  the  soldiers  stand  to  their  arms,  or  lie  within  in- 
stant reach  of  their  arms,  all  night;  being  upon  an  engage- 
ment very  difficult  indeed.  The  night  is  wild  and  wet ;  — 
2d  of  September  means  12th  by  our  calendar:  the  Harvest 
Moon  wades  deep  among  clouds  of  sleet  and  hail.  Whoever 
has  a  heart  for  prayer,  let  him  pray  now,  for  the  wrestle 
of  death  is  at  hand.  Pray,  —  and  withal  keep  his  powder 
dry !  And  be  ready  for  extremities,  and  quit  himself  like 
a  man !  —  Thus  they  pass  the  night ;  making  that  Danbar 
Peninsula  and  Brock  Kivulet  long  memorable  to  me.  We 
English  have  some  tents ;  the  Scots  have  none.  The  hoarse 
sea  moans  bodeful,  swinging  low  and  heavy  against  these 
whinstone  bays ;  the  sea  and  the  tempests  are  abroad,  all  else 
asleep  but  we,  —  and  there  is  One  that  rides  on  the  wings 
of  the  wind. 

Towards  three  in  the  morning  the  Scotch  foot,  by  order  of 
a  Major-General  say  some,2  extinguish  their  matches,  all  but 
two  in  a  company;  cower  under  the  corn-shocks,  seeking 
some  imperfect  shelter  and  sleep.  Be  wakeful,  ye  English; 
watch,  and  pray,  and  keep  your  powder  dry.  About  four 
o'clock  comes  order  to  my  pudding-headed  Yorkshire  friend, 
that  his  regiment  must  mount  and  march  straightway ;  his 
and  various  other  regiments  march,  pouring  swiftly  to  the 
left  to  Brocksmouth  House,  to  the  Pass  over  the  Brock. 

1  Hodgson. 

a  "  Major-General  Holburn  "  (he  that  escorted  Cromwell  into  Edinburgh 
in  1648),  says  Walker,  p.  180. 


1660.  DUNBAR   BATTLE.  131 

With  overpowering  force  let  us  storm  the  Scots  right  wing 
there;  beat  that,  and  all  is  beaten.  Major  Hodgson  riding 
along,  heard,  he  says,  "a  Cornet  praying  in  the  night;"  a 
company  of  poor  men,  I  think,  making  worship  there,  under 
the  void  Heaven,  before  battle  joined :  Major  Hodgson,  giving 
his  charge  to  a  brother  Officer,  turned  aside  to  listen  for  a 
minute,  and  worship  and  pray  along  with  them;  haply  his 
last  prayer  on  this  Earth,  as  it  might  prove  to  be.  But  no : 
this  Cornet  prayed  with  such  effusion  as  was  wonderful ;  and 
imparted  strength  to  my  Yorkshire  friend,  who  strengthened 
his  men  by  telling  them  of  it.  And  the  Heavens,  in  their 
mercy,  I  think,  have  opened  us  a  way  of  deliverance!  —  The 
Moon  gleams  out,  hard  and  blue,  riding  among  hail-clouds ; 
and  over  St.  Abb's  Head  a  streak  of  dawn  is  rising. 

And  now  is  the  hour  when  the  attack  should  be,  and  no 
Lambert  is  yet  here,  he  is  ordering  the  line  far  to  the  right 
yet;  and  Oliver  occasionally,  in  Hodgson's  hearing,  is  im- 
patient for  him.  The  Scots  too,  on  this  wing,  are  awake; 
thinking  to  surprise  us;  there  is  their  trumpet  sounding,  we 
heard  it  once ;  and  Lambert,  who  was  to  lead  the  attack,  is 
not  here.  The  Lord  General  is  impatient;  —  behold  Lambert 
at  last!  The  trumpets  peal,  shattering  with  fierce  clangor 
Night's  silence ;  the  cannons  awaken  along  all  the  Line :  "  The 
Lord  of  Hosts  !  The  Lord  of  Hosts ! "  On,  my  brave  ones, 
on!  — 

The  dispute  "on  this  right  wing  was  hot  and  stiff,  for  three 
quarters  of  an  hour."  Plenty  of  fire,  from  field  pieces,  snap- 
hances,  matchlocks,  entertains  the  Scotch  main-battle  across 
the  Brock ;  —  poor  stiffened  men,  roused  from  the  corn-shocks 
with  their  matches  all  out!  But  here  on  the  right,  their 
horse,  "with  lancers  in  the  front  rank,"  charge  desperately; 
drive  us  back  across  the  hollow  of  the  Rivulet ;  —  back  a  little ; 
lnil  the  Lord  gives  us  courage,  and  we  storm  home  again, 
horse  and  foot,  upon  them,  with  a  shock  like  tornado  tem- 
pests; break  them,  beat  them,  drive  them  all  adrift.  "Some 
fled  towards  Copperspath,  but  most  across  their  own  foot." 
Their  own  poor  foot,  whose  matches  were  hardly  well  alight 
yet!  Poor  men,  it  was  a  terrible  awakening  for  them:  field- 


132          "       PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  3  Sept. 

pieces  and  charge  of  foot  across  the  Brocksburn;  and  now 
here  is  their  own  horse  in  inad  panic  trampling  them  to  death. 
Above  three  thousand  killed  upon  the  place :  "  I  never  saw 
such  a  charge  of  foot  and  horse,"  says  one ; l  nor  did  I.  Oliver 
was  still  near  to  Yorkshire  Hodgson  when  the  shock  suc- 
ceeded ;  Hodgson  heard  him  say,  "  They  run !  I  profess  they 
run ! "  And  over  St.  Abb's  Head  and  the  German  Ocean,  just 
then,  bursts  the  first  gleam  of  the  level  Sun  upon  us,  "  and  I 
heard  Nol  say,  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  'Let  God  arise, 
let  His  enemies  be  scattered,'"  —  or  in  Rous's  metre, — 

"  Let  God  arise,  and  scattered 

Let  all  his  enemies  be  ; 
And  let  all  those  that  do  him  hate 
Before  his  presence  flee ! " 

Even  so.  The  Scotch  Army  is  shivered  to  utter  ruin ; 
rushes  in  tumultuous  wreck,  hither,  thither ;  to  Belhaven,  or, 
in  their  distraction,  even  to  Dunbar;  the  chase  goes  as  far 
as  Haddington ;  led  by  Hacker.  "  The  Lord  General  made  a 
halt,"  says  Hodgson,  "  and  sang  the  Hundred-and-seventeenth 
Psalm,"  till  our  horse  could  gather  for  the  chase.  Hundred- 
and-seventeenth  Psalm,  at  the  foot  of  the  Doon  Hill;  there 
we  uplift  it,  to  the  tune  of  Bangor,  or  some  still  higher  score, 
and  roll  it  strong  and  great  against  the  sky :  — 

"  Oh,  give  ye  praise  unto  the  Lord, 

All  nations  that  be  ; 
Likewise  ye  people  all,  accord 
His  name  to  magnify ! 

"  For  great  to-us-ward  ever  are 

His  loving-kindnesses; 
His  truth  endures  forevermore : 
The  Lord  oh  do  ye  bless ! " 

And  now,  to  the  chase  again. 

The  Prisoners  are  ten  thousand, — all  the  foot  in  a  ma&*. 
Many  Dignitaries  are  taken ;  not  a  few  are  slain ;  of  whom 
see  Printed  Lists,  —  full  of  blunders.  Provost  Jaffray  of 
Aberdeen,  Member  of  the  Scots  Parliament,  one  of  the  Com- 

1  Rushworth's  Letter  to  the  Speaker  (in  Parliamentary  History,  xix.  341 ). 


J650. 


DUNBAR   BATTLE  133 


mittee  of  Estates,  was  very  nearly  slain:  a  trooper's  sword 
was  in  the  air  to  sever  him,  but  one  cried,  He  is  a  man  of 
consequence ;  he  can  ransom  himself  !  —  and  the  trooper  kept 
him  prisoner.1  The  first  of  the  Scots  Quakers,  by  and  by ;  and 
an  official  person  much  reconciled  to  Oliver.  Ministers  also 
of  the  Kirk  Committee  were  slain ;  two  Ministers  I  find  taken, 
poor  Carstairs  of  Glasgow,  poor  Waugh  of  some  other  place, 

—  of  whom  we  shall  transiently  hear  again. 

General  David  Lesley,  vigorous  for  flight  as  for  other  things, 
got  to  Edinburgh  by  nine  o'clock ;  poor  old  Leven,  not  so  light 
of  movement,  did  not  get  till  two.  Tragical  enough.  What 
a  change  since  January,  1644,  when  we  marched  out  of  this 
same  Dunbar  up  to  the  knees  in  snow !  It  was  to  help  and 
save  these  very  men  that  we  then  marched ;  with  the  Covenant 
in  all  our  hearts.  We  have  stood  by  the  letter  of  the  Cove- 
nant ;  fought  for  our  Covenanted  Stuart  King  as  we  could ; 

—  they  again,  they  stand  by  the  substance  of  it,  and  have 
trampled  us  and  the  letter  of  it  into  this  ruinous  state !  — 
Yes,  my  poor  friends;  —  and  now  be  wise,  be  taught!    The 
letter  of  your  Covenant,  in  fact,  will  never  rally  again  in  this 
world.     The  spirit  and  substance  of  it,  please  God,  will  never 
die  in  this  or  in  any  world ! 

Such  is  Dunbar  Battle ;  which  might  also  be  called  Dunbar 
Drove,  for  it  was  a  frightful  rout.  Brought  on  by  miscalcu- 
lation ;  misunderstanding  of  the  difference  between  substances 
and  semblances ;  —  by  mismanagement,  and  the  chance  of  war. 
My  Lord  General's  next  Seven  Letters,  all  written  on  the 
morrow,  will  now  be  intelligible  to  the  reader.  First,  how- 
ever, take  the  following 

PROCLAMATION. 

"FORASMUCH  as  I  understand  there  are  several  Soldiers  of 
the  Enemy's  Army  yet  abiding  in  the  Field,  who  by  reason  of 
their  wounds  could  not  march  from  thence : 

"  These  are  therefore  to  give  notice  to  the  Inhabitants  of  this 

1  Diary  of  Alexander  Jaffray  (Londou,  1834;  —  unhappily  relating  almost 
all  to  the  inner  man  of  Jaffrajr)- 


134  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  4  Sept 

Nation  That  they  may  and  hereby  have x  free  liberty  to  repair 
to  the  Field  aforesaid,  and,  with  their  carts  or  [in]  any  other 
peaceable  way,  to  carry  away  the  said  Soldiers  to  such  places  as 
they  shall  think  fit :  —  provided  they  meddle  not  with,  or  take 
away,  any  the  Arms  there.  And  all  Officers  and  Soldiers  are 
to  take  notice  that  the  same  is  permitted. 

"  Given  under  my  hand,  at  Dunbar,  4th  September,  1650. 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  To  be  proclaimed  by  beat  of  drum."  3 


LETTER  CXL. 

"  For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"  DCNBAR,  4th  September,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  I  hope  it 's  not  ill  taken,  that  I  make  no  more  fre- 
quent addresses  to  the  Parliament.  Things  that  are  in  trouble, 
in  point  of  provision  for  your  Army,  and  of  ordinary  direc- 
tion, I  have,  as  I  could,  often  presented  to  the  Council  of  State, 
together  with  such  occurrences  as  have  happened ;  —  who,  I 
am  sure,  as  they  have  not  been  wanting  in  their  extraordinary 
care  and  provision  for  us,  so  neither  in  what  they  judge  fit  and 
necessary  to  represent  the  same  to  you.  And  this  I  thought 
to  be  a  sufficient  discharge  of  my  duty  on  that  behalf. 

"It  hath  now  pleased  God  to  bestow  a  mercy  upon  you, 
worthy  of  your  knowledge,  and  of  the  utmost  praise  and  thanks 
of  all  that  fear  and  love  His  name ;  yea,  the  mercy  is  far  above 
all  praise.  Which  that  you  may  the  better  perceive,  I  shall 
take  the  boldness  to  tender  unto  you  some  circumstances 
accompanying  this  great  business,  which  will  manifest  the 
greatness  and  seasonableness  of  this  mercy. 

"  We  having  tried  what  we  could  to  engage  the  Enemy,  three 
or  four  miles  West  of  Edinburgh ;  that  proving  ineffectual, 
and  our  victual  failing,  —  we  marched  towards  our  ships  for  a 

1  SIC. 

2  Old  Newspaper,  Several  Proceedings  in  Parliament,  no.  50  (5th-12th  Sept. 
1650):  in  Burney  Newspapers  (British  Museum),  voL  xxxiv. 


1650.  LETTER  CXL.    DUNBAR.  135 

recruit  of  our  want.  The  Enemy  did  not  at  all  trouble  us  in 
our  rear ;  but  marched  the  direct  way  towards  Edinburgh,  and 
partly  in  the  night  and  morning  slips  through  his  whole  Army ; 
and  quarters  himself  in  a  posture  easy  to  interpose  between 
us  and  our  victual.  But  the  Lord  made  him  to  lose  the  oppor- 
tunity. And  the  morning  proving  exceeding  wet  and  dark, 
we  recovered,  by  that  time  it  was  light,  a  ground  where  they 
could  not  hinder  us  from  our  victual :  which  was  an  high  act 
of  the  Lord's  Providence  to  us.  We  being  come  into  the  said 
ground,  the  Enemy  marched  into  the  ground  we  were  last  upon : 
having  no  mind  either  to  strive  to  interpose  between  us  and 
our  victuals,  or  to  fight ;  being  indeed  upon  this  [aim  of  re- 
ducing us  to  a]  lock,  — hoping  that  the  sickness  of  your  Army 
would  render  their  work  more  easy  by  the  gaining  of  time. 
Whereupon  we  marched  to  Mtisselburgh,  to  victual,  and  to  ship 
away  our  sick  men ;  where  we  sent  aboard  near  five  hundred 
sick  and  wounded  soldiers. 

"And  upon  serious  consideration,  finding  our  weakness  so  to 
increase,  and  the  Enemy  lying  upon  his  advantage,  —  at  a  gen- 
eral council  it  was  thought  fit  to  march  to  Dunbar,  and  there 
to  fortify  the  Town.  Which  (we  thought),  if  anything,  would 
provoke  them  to  engage.  As  also,  That  the  having  of  a  Gar- 
rison there  would  furnish  us  with  accommodation  for  our  sick 
men,  [and]  would  be  a  good  Magazine,  —  which  we  exceed- 
ingly wanted ;  being  put  to  depend  upon  the  uncertainty  of 
weather  for  landing  provisions,  which  many  times  cannot  be 
done  though  the  being  of  the  whole  Army  lay  upon  it,  all 
the  coasts  from  Berwick  to  Leith  having  not  one  good  harbor. 
As  also,  To  lie  more  conveniently  to  receive  our  recruits  of 
horse  and  foot  from  Berwick. 

"  Having  these  considerations,  —  upon  Saturday,  the  30th  l 
\ugust,  we  marched  from  Musselburgh  to  Haddington. 
\Vln>re,  by  that  time  we  had  got  the'  van-brigade  of  our  horse, 
and  our  foot  and  train,  into  their  quarters,  tho  Enemy  had 
marched  with  that  exceeding  expedition  that  they  fell  upon 
tli.-  rear-forlorn  of  our  horse,  and  put  it  in  soino  disorder;  :m<l 
indeed  had  like  to  have  engaged  our  rear-brigade  of  horse 

1  tic:  bat  Saturday  ia  31st. 


136  PART  VI.     WAR  WITH    SCOTLAND.  4  Sept 

with  tlieir  whole  Army,  —  had  not  the  Lord  by  His  Provi- 
dence put  a  cloud  over  the  Moon,  thereby  giving  us  oppor- 
tunity to  draw  off  those  horse  to  the  rest  of  our  Army.  Which 
accordingly  was  done  without  any  loss,  save  of  three  or  four 
of  our  aforementioned  forlorn;  wherein  the  Enemy,  as  we 
believe,  received  more  loss. 

"  The  Army  being  put  into  a  reasonable  secure  posture,  — 
towards  midnight  the  Enemy  attempted  our  quarters,  on  the 
west  end  of  Haddiugton :  but  through  the  goodness  of  God 
we  repulsed  them.  The  next  morning  we  drew  into  an  open 
field,  on  the  south  side  of  Haddington  ;  we  not  judging  it  safe 
for  us  to  draw  to  the  Enemy  upon  his  own  ground,  he  being  pre- 
possessed thereof ;  —  but  rather  drew  back,  to  give  him  way  to 
come  to  us,  if  he  had  so  thought  fit.  And  having  waited  about 
the  space  of  four  or  five  hours,  to  see  if  he  would  come  to  us ; 
and  not  finding  any  inclination  in  the  Enemy  so  to  do,  —  we 
resolved  to  go,  according  to  our  first  inteudmeut,  to  Dunbar. 

"  By  that  time  we  had  marched  three  or  four  miles,  we  saw 
some  bodies  of  the  Enemy's  horse  draw  out  of  their  quarters  ; 
and  by  that  time  our  carriages  were  gotten  near  Dunbar,  their 
whole  Army  was  upon  their  march  after  us.  And  indeed,  our 
drawing  back  in  this  manner,  with  the  addition  of  three  new 
regiments  added  to  them,  did  much  heighten  their  confidence, 
if  not  presumption  and  arrogancy.  —  The  Enemy,  that  night, 
we  perceived,  gathered  towards  the  Hills  ;  laboring  to  make  a 
perfect  interposition  between  us  and  Berwick.  And  having  in 
this  posture  a  great  advantage, — through  his  better  knowledge 
of  the  country,  he  effected  it :  by  sending  a  considerable  party 
to  the  strait  Pass  at  Copperspath ;  where  ten  men  to  hinder 
are  better  than  forty  to  make  their  way.  And  truly  this  was 
an  exigent  to  us,1  wherewith  the  Enemy  reproached  us  ;  —  [as] 
with  that  condition  the  Parliament's  Army  was  in  when  it 
made  its  hard  conditions  with  the  King  in  Cornwall.2  By 

1  A  disgraceful  summons  of  caption  to  ns :  "  exigent  "  is  a  law-writ  issued 
against  a  fugitive,  —  such  as  we  knew  long  since,  in  our  young  days,  about 
Lincoln's  Inn ! 

2  Essex's  Army  six  years  ago,  in  Autumn,  1644,  when  the  King  had  im- 
pounded it  among  the  Hills  there  (see  vol.  xvii.  p.  189). 


1650.  LETTER  CXL.    DUNBAR.  137 

some  reports  that  have  come  to  us,  they  had  disposed  of  us, 
and  of  their  business,  in  sufficient  revenge  and  wrath  towards 
our  persons;  and  had  swallowed  up  the  poor  Interest  of  Eng- 
land ;  believing  that,  their  Army  and  their  King  would  have 
marched  to  London  without  any  interruption  ;  —  it  being  told 
us  (we  know  not  how  truly)  by  a  prisoner  we  took  the  night 
before  the  fight,  That  their  King  was  very  suddenly  to  come 
amongst  them,  with  those  English  they  allowed  to  be  about 
him.  But  ia  what  they  were  thus  lifted  up,  the  Lord  was 
above  them. 

"  The  Enemy  lying  in  the  posture  before  mentioned,  having 
those  advantages ;  we  lay  very  near  him,  being  sensible  of  our 
disadvantages,  having  some  weakness  of  flesh,  but  yet  conso- 
lation and  support  from  the  Lord  himself  to  our  poor  weak 
faith,  wherein  I  believe  not  a  few  amongst  us  stand :  That 
because  of  their  numbers,  because  of  their  advantages,  because 
of  their  confidence,  because  of  our  weakness,  because  of  our 
strait,  we  were  in  the  Mount,  and  in  the  Mount  the  Lord  would 
l>e  seen  ;  and  that  He  would  find  out  a  way  of  deliverance  and 
salvation  for  us  :  —  and  indeed  we  had  our  consolations  and 
our  hopes. 

••  Upon  Monday  evening,  —  the  Enemy's  whole  numbers  were 
very  great ;  about  six  thousand  horse,  as  we  heard,  and  sixteen 
thousand  foot  at  least ;  ours  drawn  down,  as  to  sound  men,  to 
about  seven  thousand  five  hundred  foot,  and  three  thousand 
five  hundred  horse,  —  [upon  Monday  evening]  the  Enemy  drew 
down  to  the  right  wing  about  two-thirds  of  their  left  wing  of 
horse.  To  the  right  wing;  shogging  also  their  foot  and  train 
much  to  the  right ;  causing  their  right  wing  of  horse  to  edge 
down  towards  the  sea.  We  could  not  well  imagine  but  that 
the  Enemy  intended  to  attempt  upon  us,  or  to  place  themselves 
in  a  more  exact  condition  of  interposition.  The  Major-General 
and  myself  coming  to  the  Earl  Roxburgh's  House,  and  observ- 
ing this  posture,  I  told  him  I  thought  it  did  give  us  an  oppor- 
tunity and  advantage  to  attempt  upon  the  Enemy.  To  which 
i mediately  replied,  That  he  had  thought  to  have  said  the 
same  thing  to  me.  So  that  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  set  this 


138  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Sept 

apprehension  upon  both  of  our  hearts,  at  the  same  instant.  We 
called  for  Colonel  Monk,  and  showed  him  the  thing  :  and  com- 
ing to  OUT  quarters  at  night,  and  demonstrating  our  apprehen- 
sions to  some  of  the  Colonels,  they  also  cheerfully  concurred. 

"  We  resolved  therefore  to  put  our  business  into  this  pos- 
ture :  That  six  regiments  of  horse,  and  three  regiments  and  a 
half  of  foot  should  march  iu  the  van ;  and  that  the  Major- 
Gen  eral,  the  Lieutenant-General  of  the  horse,  and  the  Commis- 
sary-General,1 and  Colonel  Monk  to  command  the  brigade  of 
foot,  should  lead  on  the  business ;  and  that  Colonel  Pride's 
brigade,  Colonel  Overton's  brigade,  and  the  remaining  two 
regiments  of  horse  should  bring  up  the  cannon  and  rear.  The 
time  of  falling  on  to  be  by  break  of  day :  —  but  through  some 
delays  it  proved  not  to  be  so ;  [not]  till  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

"  The  Enemy's  word  was,  The  Covenant ;  which  it  had  been 
for  divers  days.  Ours,  The  Lord  of  Hosts.  The  Major-General, 
Lieutenant-General  Fleetwood,  and  Commissary-General  Wh al- 
ley, and  Colonel  Tvvistleton,  gave  the  onset ;  the  Enemy  being 
in  a  very  good  posture  to  receive  them,  having  the  advantage 
of  their  cannon  and  foot  against  our  horse.  Before  our  foot 
could  come  up,  the  Enemy  made  a  gallant  resistance,  and  there 
was  a  very  hot  dispute  at  sword's  point  between  our  horse  and 
theirs.  Our  first  foot,  after  they  had  discharged  their  duty 
(being  overpowered  with  the  Enemy),  received  some  repulse, 
which  they  soon  recovered.  For  my  own  regiment,  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Goffe  and  my  Major,  White, 
did  come  seasonably  in ;  and,  at  the  push  of  pike,  did  repel 
the  stoutest  regiment  the  Enemy  had  there,  merely  with  the 
courage  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  give.  Which  proved  a  great 
amazement  to  the  residue  of  their  foot ;  this  being  the  first 
action  between  the  foot.  The  horse  in  the  mean  time  did,  with 
a  great  deal  of  courage  and  spirit,  beat  back  all  oppositions ; 
charging  through  the  bodies  of  the  Enemy's  horse  and  of  their 
foot ;  who  were,  after  the  first  repulse  given,  made  by  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  as  stubble  to  their  swords.  —  Indeed,  I  believe  I  may 
speak  it  without  partiality  :  both  your  chief  Commanders  and 

1  Lambert,  Fleetwood,  Whalley. 


1650.  LETTER  CXL.    DUNBAR.  139 

others  in  their  several  places,  and  soldiers  also,  were  acted  * 
with  as  much  courage  as  ever  hath  been  seen  in  any  action 
since  this  War.  I  know  they  look  not  to  be  named ;  and  there- 
fore I  forbear  particulars. 

"  The  best  of  the  Enemy's  horse  being  broken  through  and 
through  in  less  than  an  hour's  dispute,  their  whole  Army  being 
put  into  confusion,  it  became  a  total  rout ;  our  men  having  the 
chase  and  execution  of  them  near  eight  miles.  We  believe  that 
upon  the  place  and  near  about  it  were  about  three  thousand 
slain.  Prisoners  taken  :  of  their  officers  you  have  this  enclosed 
List ;  of  private  soldiers  near  ten  thousand.  The  whole  bag- 
gage and  train  taken,  wherein  was  good  store  of  match,  powder 
and  bullet ;  all  their  artillery,  great  and  small,  —  thirty  guns. 
We  are  confident  they  have  left  behind  them  not  less  than  fif- 
teen thousand  arms.  I  have  already  brought  in  to  me  near  two 
hundred  colors,  which  I  herewith  send  you.8  What  officers  of 
theirs  of  quality  are  killed,  we  yet  cannot  learn ;  but  yet  surely 
divers  are :  and  many  men  of  quality  are  mortally  wounded, 
as  Colonel  Lumsden,  the  Lord  Libberton  and  others.  And, 
that  which  is  no  small  addition,  I  do  not  believe  we  have  lost 
twenty  men.  Not  one  Commission  Officer  slain  as  I  hear 
of,  save  one  Cornet ;  and  Major  Rooksby,  since  dead  of  his 
wounds ;  and  not  many  mortally  wounded :  —  Colonel  Whal- 
ley  only  cut  in  the  handwrist,  and  his  horse  (twice  shot)  killed 
under  him ;  but  he  well  recovered  another  horse,  and  went  on 
in  the  chase. 

"Thus  you  have  the  prospect  of  one  of  the  most  signal 
nit-ivies  God  hath  done  for  England  and  His  people,  this  War: 
—  and  now  may  it  please  you  to  give  me  the  leave  of  a  few 
words.  It  is  easy  to  say,  The  Lord  hath  done  this.  It  would 
do  you  good  to  see  and  hear  our  poor  foot  to  go  up  and  down 

1  "actuated,"  as  we  now  write  it. 

2  They  hung  long  in  Westminster  Hull  ;   beside  the  Preston  ones,  and 
-till  others  that  came.     Colonel  1'riile  has  l>een  heard  to  wish,  and  almost  to 
II.-IM:,  Thar  t ho  Lawyers'  gowns  might  all  be  hung  up  beside  the  Scots  colors 
>•  t,  — aii'l  tlif  Lawyers'  selves,  except  some  very  small  and  most  select  need- 
ful  n  11111:11. f    !•••  unU-n-d  ]*•  rrni|.torily  to  clisapjx'ar  from  those  localities,  and 
•eek  au  boui-.-i  trade  elsewhere!     (Walker's  i/istwy  <>j  In<ltj>tndency.) 


140  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

making  their  boast  of  God.  But,  Sir,  it 's  in  your  hands,  and 
by  these  eminent  mercies  God  puts  it  more  into  your  hands, 
To  give  glory  to  Him ;  to  improve  your  power,  and  His  bless- 
ings, to  His  praise.  We  that  serve  you  beg  of  you  not  to  own 
us,  —  but  God  alone.  We  pray  you  own  His  people  more  and 
more  ;  for  they  are  the  chariots  and  horsemen  of  Israel.  Dis- 
own yourselves  ;  —  but  own  your  Authority ;  and  improve  it 
to  curb  the  proud  and  the  insolent,  such  as  would  disturb  the 
tranquillity  of  England,  though  under  what  specious  pretences 
soever.  Relieve  the  oppressed,  hear  the  groans  of  poor  pris- 
oners in  England.  Be  pleased  to  reform  the  abuses  of  all  pro- 
fessions :  —  and  if  there  be  any  one  that  makes  many  poor  to 
make  a  few  rich,1  that  suits  not  a  Commonwealth.  If  He  that 
strengthens  your  servants  to  fight,  please  to  give  you  hearts 
to  set  upon  these  things,  in  order  to  His  glory,  and  the  glory 
of  your  Commonwealth,  —  [then]  besides  the  benefit  England 
shall  feel  thereby,  you  shall  shine  forth  to  other  Nations,  who 
shall  emulate  the  glory  of  such  a  pattern,  and  through  the 
power  of  God  turn  in  to  the  like  ! 

"  These  are  our  desires.  And  that  you  may  have  liberty 
and  opportunity  to  do  these  things,  and  not  be  hindered,  we 
have  been  and  shall  be  (by  God's  assistance)  willing  to  venture 
our  lives ;  —  and  [will]  not  desire  you  should  be  precipitated 
by  importunities,  from  your  care  of  safety  and  preservation ; 
but  that  the  doing  of  these  good  things  may  have  their  place 
amongst  those  which  concern  well-being,2  and  so  be  wrought 
in  their  time  and  order. 

"  Since  we  came  in  Scotland,  it  hath  been  our  desire  and 
longing  to  have  avoided  blood  in  this  business  ;  by  reason  that 
God  hath  a  people  here  fearing  His  name,  though  deceived. 
And  to  that  end  have  we  offered  much  love  unto  euch,  in  the 
bowels  of  Christ ;  and  concerning  the  truth  of  our  hearts 
therein,  have  we  appealed  unto  the  Lord.  The  Ministers  of 

1  "  Many  of  them  had  a  peck  at  Lawyers  generally  "  (says  learned  Bui- 
strode  in  these  months,  —  appealing  to  posterity,  almost  with  tears  iii  his 
big  dull  eyes!). 

2  We  as  yet  struggle  for  being ;  which  is  preliminary,  and  still  more  essen- 
tial. 


1050.  LETTER  CXLL    DUNBAR.  141 

Scotland  have  hindered  the  passage  of  these  things  to  the 
hearts  of  those  to  whom  we  intended  them.  And  now  we 
hear,  that  not  only  the  deceived  people,  but  some  of  the  Min- 
isters are  also  fallen  in  this  Battle.  This  is  the  great  hand  of 
the  Lord,  and  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  all  those  who 
take  into  their  hands  the  instruments  of  a  foolish  shepherd,  — 
to  wit,  meddling  with  worldly  policies,  and  mixtures  of  earthly 
power,  to  set  up  that  which  they  call  the  Kingdom  of  Christ, 
which  is  neither  it,  nor,  if  it  were  it,  would  such  means  be 
found  effectual  to  that  end,  —  and  neglect,  or  trust  not  to,  the 
Word  of  God,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit ;  which  is  alone  power- 
ful and  able  for  the  setting  up  of  that  Kingdom ;  and,  when 
trusted  to,  will  be  found  effectually  able  to  that  end,  and  will 
also  do  it !  This  is  humbly  offered  for  their  sakes  who  have 
lately  too  much  turned  aside  :  that  they  might  return  again  to 
Breach  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel ; 
—  and  then  no  doubt  they  will  discern  and  find  your  protec- 
tion and  encouragement. 

"  Beseeching  you  to  pardon  this  length,  I  humbly  take  leave ; 
and  rest,  Sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

Industrious  dull  Bulstrode,  coming  home  from  the  Council 
of  State  towards  Chelsea  on  Saturday  afternoon,  is  accosted 
on  the  streets,  "  near  Charing  Cross,"  by  a  dusty  individual, 
who  declares  himself  bearer  of  this  Letter  from  my  Lord  Gen- 
eral ;  and  imparts  a  rapid  outline  of  the  probable  contents  to 
Bulstrode's  mind,  which  naturally  kindles  with  a  certain  slow 
solid  satisfaction  on  receipt  thereof.9 


LETTER  CXLI. 

LETTER  CXXXIX.,  for  Sir  Arthur,  did  not  go  on  Monday 
night ;  and  finds  now  an  unexpected  conveyance  f  —  Brand, 

1  Newnpapem  (in  Cromwlliana,  pp.  87-91). 
*  Whitlucke  (2<1  edition),  p.  470  (7th  Sopt.). 


142  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

Historian  of  Newcastle,  got  sight  of  that  Letter,  and  of  this 
new  one  enclosing  it,  in  the  hands  of  an  old  Steward  of  the 
Haselrigs,  grandfather  of  the  present  possessor  of  those  Docu- 
ments, some  half-century  ago ;  and  happily  took  copies.  Letter 
CXXXIX.  was  autograph,  "  folded  up  hastily  before  the  ink 
was  quite  dry ;  —  sealed  with  red  wax  :  "  of  this  there  is  noth- 
ing autograph  but  the  signature ;  and  the  sealing-wax  is  black. 

"  For  the  Honorable  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  at  Newcastle  or  else- 
where :  These.     Haste,  haste. 

"DuNBAR,  4th  September,  1650. 

«  SIR,  —  You  will  see  by  my  Enclosed,  of  the  2d  of  this 
month,  which  was  the  evening  before  the  Fight,  the  condition 
we  were  in  at  that  time.  Which  I  thought  fit  on  purpose  to 
send  you,  that  you  might  see  how  great  and  how  seasonable 
our  deliverance  and  mercy  is,  by  such  aggravation. 

"Having  said  my  thoughts  thereupon  to  the  Parliament, 
I  shall  only  give  you  the  narrative  of  this  exceeding  mercy ;  * 
believing  the  Lord  will  enlarge  your  heart  to  a  thankful  con- 
sideration thereupon.  The  least  of  this  mercy  lies  not  in  the 
advantageous  consequences  which  I  hope  it  may  produce ;  of 
glory  to  God  and  good  to  His  People,  in  the  prosecution  of 
that  which  remains;  unto  which  this  great  work  hath  opened 
so  fair  a  way.  We  have  no  cause  to  doubt  but,  if  it  shall 
please  the  Lord  to  prosper  our  endeavors,  we  may  find  oppor- 
tunities both  upon  Edinburgh  and  Leith,  —  Stirling-Bridge, 
and  other  such  places  as  the  Lord  shall  lead  unto.  Even  far 
above  our  thoughts ;  as  this  late  and  other  experiences  gives 
good  encouragement. 

"Wherefore,  that  we  may  not  be  wanting,  I  desire  you, 
with  such  forces  as  you  have,  Immediately  to  march  to  me  to 
Dunbar ;  leaving  behind  you  such  of  your  new  Levies  as  will 
prevent  lesser  incursions  :  —  for  surely  their  rout  and  ruin  is 
so  total  that  they  will  not  be  provided  for  anything  that  is 
very  considerable.  —  Or  rather,  which  I  more  incline  unto, 

1  Means  the,  bare  statement,  Iii  the  next  sentence,  "  The  least  liee  not,"  is 
for  The  not  least  lies. 


inso.  LETTER  CXLII.    DUNBAR.  143 

That  you  would  send  Thomlinson  with  the  Forces  you  have 
ready,  and  this  with  all  possible  expedition ;  and  that  you  will 
go  on  with  the  remainder  of  the  Reserve,  —  which,  upon  better 
thoughts,  I  do  not  think  can  well  be  done  without  you. 

"  Sir,  let  no  time  nor  opportunity  be  lost.  Surely  it 's  prob- 
able the  Kirk  has  done  their  do.1  I  believe  their  King  will 
set  up  upon  his  own  score  now ;  wherein  he  will  find  many 
friends.  Taking  opportunity  offered,  —  it's  our  great  advan- 
tage, through  God.  I  need  say  no  more  to  you  on  this  behalf ; 
but  rest, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  My  service  to  your  good  Lady.  —  I  think  it  will  be  very 
fit  that  you  bake  Hard-bread  again,  considering  you  increase 
our  numbers.  I  pray  you  do  so.  —  Sir,  I  desire  you  to  pro- 
cure about  three  or  four  score  Masons,  and  ship  them  to  us 
with  all  speed:  for  we  expect  that  God  will  suddenly  put 
some  places  into  our  hands,  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
fortify."  « 


LETTER  CXLII. 
"  To  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  of  State:  These. 

"  DUNBAR,  4th  September,  1650. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  I  have  sent  the  Major-General,  with  six 
regiments  of  horse  and  one  of  foot,  towards  Edinburgh  ; 
purjiosing  (God  willing)  to  follow  after,  to-morrow,  with 
what  convenience  I  may. 

"We  are  put  to  exceeding  trouble,  though  it  be  an  effect 
of  abundant  mercy,  with  the  numerousness  of  our  Prisoners  ; 
having  so  few  hands,  so  many  of  our  men  sick; — so  little 

1  "  doo  "  in  orig. 

2  Brand'H  History  of  Newcastle,  \\.  489.     In  Brand's  Book  there  follow  Ex- 
cerptt  from  two  other  Letter*  to  Sir  Arthur  ;  of  which,  on  inquiry,  the  present 
Baronet  of  Noaely  Hall  unluckily  knows  nothing  farther.     The  Excerpte,  with 
their  date*,  Khali  be  given  presently. 


144  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  4  Sept 

conveniency  of  disposing  of  them ; l  and  not,  by  attendance 
thereupon,  to  oinit  the  seasonableness  of  the  prosecution 
of  this  mercy  as  Providence  shall  direct.  We  have  been 
constrained,  even  out  of  Christianity,  humanity,  and  the 
forementioned  necessity,  to  dismiss  between  four  and  five 
thousand  Prisoners,  almost  starved,  sick  and  wounded;  the 
remainder,  which  are  the  like,  or  a  greater  number,  I  am 
fain  to  send  by  a  convoy  of  four  troops  of  Colonel  Hacker's, 
to  Berwick,  and  so  on  to  Newcastle,  southwards.2 

"I  think  fit  to  acquaint  your  Lordship  with  two  or  three 
observations.  Some  of  the  honestest  in  the  Army  amongst 
the  Scots  did  profess  before  the  fight,  That  they  did  not 
believe  their  King  in  his  Declaration ; 8  and  it 's  most  evident 
he  did  sign  it  with  as  much  reluctancy  and  so  much  against 
his  heart  as  could  be:  and  yet  they  venture  their  lives  for 
him  upon  this  account;  and  publish  this  [Declaration]  to 
the  world,  to  be  believed  as  the  act  of  a  person  converted, 
when  in  their  hearts  they  know  he  abhorred  the  doing  of 
it,  and  meant  it  not. 

"  I  hear,  when  the  Enemy  marched  last  up  to  us,  the  Minis- 
ters pressed  their  Army  to  interpose  between  us  and  home ; 

1  The  Prisoners :  —  sentence  ungrammatical,  but  intelligible. 

2  Here  are  Brand's  Excerpts  from  the  two  other  Letters  to  Sir  Arthur, 
spoken  of  in  the  former  Note:  " Dunbar,  5th  Sept.  1650.   .   .   .  After  much 
deliberation,  we  can  find   no  way  how  to  dispose  of  these  Prisoners  that 
will  be  consisting  with  these  two  ends :  to  wit,  the  not  losing  them  and  the 
not  starving  them,  neither  of  which  would  we  willingly  incur,  —  but  by- 
sending  them  into  England."     (Brand,  ii.  481.)  — "Edinburgh,  Qlh  Sept.  1650. 
...  I  hope  your  Northern  Guests  are  come  to  you  by  this  time.     I  pray  you 
let  humanity  be  exercised  towards  them  :  I  am  persuaded  it  will  be  comely. 
Let  the  Officers  be  kept  at  Newcastle,  some  sent  to  Lynn,  some  to  Chester." 
(Ibid.  p.  480).  —  (Note  to  Third  Edition).    Letters  complete,  in  Appendix, 
No.  19. 

A  f rightful  account  of  what  became  of  these  poor  "  Northern  Guests "  as 
they  proceeded  "  southwards ; "  how,  for  sheer  hunger,  they  ate  raw  cabbages 
in  the  "  walled  garden  at  Morpeth,"  and  lay  in  unspeakable  imprisonment  in 
Durham  Cathedral,  and  died  as  of  swift  pestilence  there :  In  Sir  Arthur 
Haselrig's  Letter  to  the  Council  of  State  (reprinted,  from  the  old  Pamphlets,  in 
Parliamentary  History,  xix.  417). 

8  Open  Testimony  against  the  sins  of  his  Father,  see  antea,  p.  118. 


1650. 


LETTER  CXLIII.  DUNRAR.  145 


the  chief  Officers  desiring  rather  that  we  might  have  way 
made,  though  it  were  by  a  golden  bridge.  But  the  Clergy's 
council  prevailed,  —  to  their  no  great  comfort,  through  the 
goodness  of  God. 

"  The  Enemy  took  a  gentleman  of  Major  Brown's  troop 
prisoner,  that  night  we  came  to  Haddington;  and  he  had 
quarter  through  Lieutenant-General  David  Lesley's  means ; 
who,  finding  him  a  man  of  courage  and  parts,  labored  with 
him  to  take  up  arms.  But  the  man  expressing  constancy 
and  resolution  to  this  side,  the  Lieutenant-General  caused 
him  to  be  mounted,  and  with  two  troopers  to  ride  about  to 
view  their  gallant  Army ;  using  that  as  an  argument  to  per- 
suade him  to  their  side ;  and,  when  this  was  done,  dismissed 
him  to  us  in  a  bravery.  And  indeed  the  day  before  we 
fought,  they  did  express  so  much  insolency  and  contempt  of 
us,  to  some  soldiers  they  took,  as  was  beyond  apprehension. 
"  Your  Lordship's  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 


WHICH  high  officialities  being  ended,  here  are  certain  glad 
domestic  Letters  of  the  same  date. 

LETTER  CXLIII. 

"  For  my  beloved  Wife  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  at  the  Cockpit : 

These. 

"  DUNBAR,  4th  September,  1650. 

"MY  D^ARKST, —  I  have  not  leisure  to  write  much.  But  I 
(•mild  chide  thee  that  in  many  of  thy  Letters  thou  writest 
to  me,  That  I  should  not  be  unmindful  of  thee  and  thy  little 
ones.  Truly,  if  I  love  you  not  too  well,  I  think  I  err  not 
on  the  other  hand  much.  Thou  art  dearer  to  me  than  any 
riv;it.iire;  let  that  suffice. 

"  The  Lord  hath  showed  us  an  exceeding  mercy :  —  who 
r;m  ti-11  how  great  it  is!  My  weak  faith  hath  been  upheld. 

^papers  (in  'VOI«MV///<//HI,  p.  91). 
VOL.  XTIII.  10 


146  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

I  have  been  in  my  inward  man  marvellously  supported  ;  — 
though  I  assure  thee,  I  grow  an  old  man,  and  feel  infirmities 
of  age  marvellously  stealing  upon  me.  Would  my  corrup- 
tions did  as  fast  decrease !  Pray  on  my  behalf  in  the  latter 
respect.  The  particulars  of  our  late  success  Harry  Vane  or 
Gilbert  Pickering  will  impart  to  thee.  My  love  to  all  dear 
friends.  I  rest  thine, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 


LETTER  CXLIV. 

"  For  my  loving  Brother  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  Hursley : 

These. 

"DUNBAR,  4th  September,  1650. 

"  DEAR  BROTHER,  —  Having  so  good  an  occasion  as  the  im- 
parting so  great  a  mercy  as  the  Lord  has  vouchsafed  us  in 
Scotland,  I  would  not  omit  the  imparting  thereof  to  you, 
though  I  be  full  of  business. 

"  Upon  Wednesday 2  we  fought  the  Scottish  Armies.  They 
were  in  number,  according  to  all  computation,  above  twenty 
thousand;  we  hardly  eleven  thousand,  having  great  sickness 
upon  our  Army.  After  much  appealing  to  God,  the  Fight 
lasted  above  an  hour.  We  killed  (as  most  think)  three  thou- 
sand ;  took  near  ten  thousand  prisoners,  all  their  train,  about 
thirty  guns  great  and  small,  besides  bullet,  match  and  powder, 
very  considerable  Officers,  about  two  hundred  colors,  above 
ten  thousand  arms ;  —  lost  not  thirty  men.  This  is  the  Lord's 
doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes.  Good  Sir,  give  God 

1  Copied  from  the  Original  by  John  Hare,  Esq.,  Bosemont  Cottage,  Clifton. 
Collated  with  the  old  Copy,  in  British  Museum,  Cole  MSS.  no.  5834,  p.  38. 
"The  Original  was  purchased  at  Strawberry-Hill  Sale  (Horace  Walpole's), 
30th  April,  1842,  for  twenty-one  guineas." 

2  "Wedensd."  in  the  Original.     A  curious  proof  of  the  haste  and  con- 
fusion   Cromwell   was  in.     The   Battle   was   on    Tuesday,  —  yesterday,   3d 
September,  1650;  indisputably  Tuesday ;  and  he  is  now  writing  on  Wednes- 
day!— 


1660.  LETTER  CXLV.    DUNBAR.  147 

all  the  glory ;  stir  up  all  yours,  and  all  about  you,  to  do  so. 
Pray  for 

"  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"I  desire  my  love  may  be  presented  to  my  dear  Sister, 
ami  to  all  your  Family.  I  pray  tell  Doll  I  do  not  forget 
In  r  nor  her  little  Brat.  She  writes  very  cunningly  and 
complimentally  to  me ;  I  expect  a  Letter  of  plain  dealing 
from  her.  She  is  too  modest  to  tell  me  whether  she  breeds 
or  not.  I  wish  a  blessing  upon  her  and  her  Husband.  The 
Lord  make  them  fruitful  in  all  that's  good.  They  are  at 
leisure  to  write  often;  —  but  indeed  they  are  both  idle,  and 
worthy  of  blame."  l 


LETTER  CXLV. 

A  PIOUS  Word,  shot  off  to  Ireland,  for  Son  Treton  and  the 
"dear  Friends"  fighting  for  the  same  Cause  there.  That  tlu-y 
may  rejoice  with  us,  as  we  have  done  with  them  :  none  knows 
but  they  may  have  "  need  "  again  "  of  mutual  experiences  for 
refreshment." 

[To  Lieutenant- General  freton,  Deputy-Lieutenant  of  Ireland: 

These.'] 

"  DPNBAR,  4th  September,  1650. 

"  SIR,  — Though  I  hear  not  often  from  you,  yet  I  know  you 
forget  me  not.  Think  so  of  me  [too] ;  for  I  often  remember 
\  on  ;it,  tin'  Throne  of  Grace.  —  I  heard  of  the  Lord's  good  hand 
with  you  in  reducing  Waterford,  Duncannon,  and  Catherlogh : 3 
His  Name  be  praised. 

<%  We  have  been  engaged  upon  a  Service  the  fullest  of  trial 

1   H.-irrin,  p.  51.1 ;  one  of  the  Puaey  *tock,  the  last  now  hut  three. 

*  "Catherlogh"  is  Carlow :  Narrative  of  these  captures  (10th  Anpii.-t 
1650)  in  a  Letter  from  Ireton  to  the  Speaker  (PaHiamtntarf  History,  xix 
834-137). 


148  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

ever  poor  creatures  were  upon.  We  made  great  professions  of 
love;  knowing  we  were  to  deal  with  many  who  were  Godly, 
and  [who]  pretended  to  be  stumbled  at  our  Invasion  :  — indeed, 
our  bowels  were  pierced  again  and  again ;  the  Lord  helped  us 
to  sweet  words,  and  in  sincerity  to  mean  them.  We  were 
rejected  again  and  again ;  yet  still  we  begged  to  be  believed 
that  we  loved  them  as  our  own  souls ;  they  often  returned  evil 
for  good.  We  prayed  for  security  : 1  they  would  not  hear  or 
answer  a  word  to  that.  We  made  often  appeals  to  God ;  they 
appealed  also.  We  were  near  engagements  three  or  four  times, 
but  they  lay  upon  advantages.  A  heavy  flux  fell  upon  our 
Army;  brought  it  very  low,  —  from  fourteen  to  eleven  thou- 
sand :  three  thousand  five  hundred  horse,  and  seven  thousand 
five  hundred  foot.  The  Enemy  sixteen  thousand  foot,  and  six 
thousand  horse. 

"The  Enemy  prosecuted  the  advantage.  We  were  neces- 
sitated; and  upon  September2  the  3d,  by  six  in  the  morning, 
we  attempted  their  Army :  —  after  a  hot  dispute  for  about  an 
hour,  we  routed  their  whole  Army ;  killed  near  three  thousand ; 
and  took,  as  the  Marshal  informs  me,  ten  thousand  prisoners ; 
their  whole  Train,  being  about  thirty  pieces,  great  and  small ; 
good  store  of  powder,  match  and  bullet ;  near  two  hundred 
Colors.  I  am  persuaded  near  fifteen  thousand  Arms  left  upon 
the  ground.  And  I  believe,  though  many  of  ours  be  wounded, 
we  lost  not  above  Thirty  men.  Before  the  Fight  our  condition 
was  made  very  sad,  the  Enemy  greatly  insulted  and  menaced 
[us]  ;  but  the  Lord  upheld  us  with  comfort  in  Himself,  beyond 
ordinary  experience. 

"  I  knowing  the  acquainting  you  with  this  great  handiwork 
of  the  Lord  would  stir  up  your  minds  to  praise  and  rejoicing ; 
and  not  knowing  but  your  condition  may  require  mutual  ex- 
periences for  refreshment ;  and  knowing  also  that  the  news  we 
had  of  your  successes  was  matter  of  help  to  our  faith  in  our 
distress,  and  matter  of  praise  also,  —  I  thought  fit  (though  in 
the  midst  of  much  business)  to  give  you  this  account  of  the 

1  Begged  of  them  some  security  against  Charles  Stuart's  designs  upon 
England. 

8  "  7ber  "  he  writes. 


1650.  LETTER  CXLVI.    DUNBAR.  149 

unspeakable  goodness  of  the  Lord,  who  hath  thus  appeared, 
to  the  glory  of  His  great  Name,  and  the  refreshment  of  His 
Saints. 

"  The  Lord  bless  you,  and  us,  to  return  praises ;  to  live  them 
all  our  days.  Salute  all  our  dear  Friends  with  you,  as  if  I 
named  them.  I  have  no  more ;  —  but  rest, 

"  Your  loving  father  and  true  friend, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  1 

We  observe  there  are  no  regards  to  Bridget  Ireton,  no  news 
or  notice  of  her,  in  this  Letter.  Bridget  Ireton  is  at  London, 
safe  from  these  wild  scenes ;  far  from  her  Husband,  far  from 
her  Father : — will  never  see  her  brave  Husband  more. 


LETTER  CXLVI. 

DUBITATING  Wharton  must  not  let  "  success  "  too  much  sway 
him ;  yet  it  were  fit  he  took  notice  of  these  things  :  he,  and  idle 
Norton  whom  we  know,  and  Montague  of  Hinchinbrook,  and 
others.  The  Lord  General,  for  his  own  share,  has  a  better 
ground  than  "success ;  "  has  the  direct  insight  of  his  own  soul, 
such  as  suffices  him,  —  such  as  all  souls  to  which  "  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Almighty  giveth  understanding,"  are  or  may  be 
capable  of,  one  would  think ! 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  Wharton :  These. 

"DuNBAB,  4th  September,  1650. 

"  MY  DEAR  LORD,  —  Ay,  poor  I  love  you  !  Love  you  the 
Lord :  take  heed  of  disputing  !  —  I  was  untoward  when  I  spake 
last  with  you  in  St.  James's  Park.  I  spake  cross  in  stating 
[my]  grounds  :  I  spake  to  my  judgings  of  you  ;  which  were : 
That  you,  —  shall  I  name  others  ?  —  Henry  Lawrence,  Robert 
Hammond,  &c.,  had  ensnared  yourselves  with  disputes. 

1  KiimellV  Life  of  Cromwell  (Edinburgh,  1829;  forming  voU.  46,  47  of 
CotutabU't  AtUctUany),  ii.  317-319.  DOM  not  Buy  whence;  —  Letter  un- 
doubtedly genuine. 


150  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

"I  believe  you  desir.ed  to  be  satisfied;  and  had  tried  and 
doubted  your  [own]  sincerities.  It  was  well.  But  uprightness, 
if  it  be  not  purely  of  God,  may  be,  nay  commonly  is,  deceived. 
The  Lord  persuade  you,  and  all  my  dear  Friends  ! 

"  The  results  of  your  thoughts  concerning  late  Transactions 
I  know  to  be  mistakes  of  yours,  by  a  better  argument  than 
success.  Let  not  your  engaging  too  far  upon  your  own  judg- 
ments be  your  temptation  or  snare :  much  less  [let]  success,  — 
lest  you  should  be  thought  to  return  upon  less  noble  argu- 
ments.1 It  is  in  my  heart  to  write  the  same  things  to  Norton, 
Montague  and  others  :  I  pray  you  read  or  communicate  these 
foolish  lines  to  them.  I  have  known  my  folly  do  good,  when 
affection  has  overcome2  my  reason.  I  pray  you  judge  me 
sincere, — lest  a  prejudice  should  be  put  upon  after  advan- 
tages. 

"  How  gracious  has  the  Lord  been,  in  this  great  Business ! 
Lord,  hide  not  Thy  mercies  from  our  eyes  !  — 

"  My  service  to  the  dear  Lady.     I  rest, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CKOMWELL."  2 


LETTERS  CXLVII.-CXLIX. 

OF  these  Letters,  the  first  Two,  with  their  Keplies  and  Ad- 
juncts, Six  Missives  in  all,  form  a  Pamphlet  published  at 
Edinburgh  in  1650,  with  the  Title :  Several  Letters  and  Pas- 
sages between  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General  Cromwell  and  the 
Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle.  They  have  been  reprinted  in 
various  quarters  :  we  copy  the  Cromwell  part  of  them  from 
Thurloe ;  and  fancy  they  will  not  much  need  any  preface. 

1  Decide  as  the  essence  of  the  matter  is ;  neither  persist  nor  "  return  "  upon 
fallacious,  superficial,  or  external  considerations. 

2  outrun. 

?  Gentleman's  Magazine  (London,  1814),  Ixxxiv.  419.  Does  not  say  whence 
or  how. 


1650. 


LETTERS  CXLVII.-CXLIX.  151 


Here  are  some  words,  written  elsewhere  on  the  occasion,  some 
time  ago. 

"  These  Letters  of  Cromwell  to  the  Edinburgh  Clergy,  treat- 
ing of  obsolete  theologies  and  polities,  are  very  dull  to  modern 
men :  but  they  deserve  a  steady  perusal  by  all  such  as  will 
understand  the  strange  meaning  (for  the  present,  alas,  as  good 
as  obsolete  in  all  forms  of  it)  that  possessed  the  mind  of  Crom- 
well in  these  hazardous  operations  of  his.  Dryasdust,  carry- 
ing his  learned  eye  over  these  and  the  like  Letters,  finds  them, 
of  course,  full  of  '  hypocrisy,'  &c.  &c.  —  Unfortunate  Dryas- 
dust, they  are  coruscations,  terrible  as  lightning,  and  beautiful 
as  lightning,  from  the  innermost  temple  of  the  Human  Soul ;  — 
intimations,  still  credible,  of  what  a  Human  Soul  does  mean 
when  it  believes  in  the  Highest ;  a  thing  poor  Dryasdust  never 
did  nor  will  do.  The  hapless  generation  that  now  reads  these 
words  ought  to  hold  its  peace  when  it  has  read  them,  and  sink 
into  unutterable  reflections,  —  not  unmixed  with  tears,  and 
some  substitute  for  '  sackcloth  and  ashes/  if  it  liked.  In  its 
poor  canting  sniffing  flimsy  vocabulary  there  is  no  word  that 
can  make  any  response  to  them.  This  man  has  a  living  god- 
inspired  soul  in  him,  not  an  enchanted  artificial  'substitute  for 
salt,'  as  our  fashion  is.  They  that  have  human  eyes  can  look 
upon  him  ;  they  that  have  only  owl-eyes  need  not." 

Here  also  are  some  sentences  011  a  favorite  topic,  lightning 
and  ilijltt.  "As  lightning  is  to  light,  so  is  a  Cromwell  to  a 
Shakspeare.  The  light  is  beautifuler.  Ah,  yus;  but  until, 
by  lightning  and  other  fierce  labor,  your  foul  Chaos  has  become 
a  World,  you  cannot  have  any  light,  or  the  smallest  chance  for 
any !  Honor  the  Amphion  whose  music  makes  the  stones, 
rucks,  and  big  blocks  dance  into  figures,  into  domed  cities, 
with  temples  and  habitations  :  —  yet  know  him  too  ;  how,  as 
Volker's  in  the  old  Nibelungen,  oftentimes  his  '  fiddlebow '  has 
to  be  of  '  sharp  steel,'  and  to  play  a  tune  very  rough  to  rebel- 
lious ears !  The  melodious  Speaker  is  great,  but  the  melodious 
Worker  is  greater  than  he.  '  Our  time,'  says  a  certain  author, 
'  cannot  speak  at  all,  but  only  cant  and  sneer,  and  argumenta- 
tivrly  jargon,  and  recite  the  multiplication-table.  Neither  as 
y[  c.ui  it  work,  except  at  mure  railroads  and  cotton-spinning. 


152  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  9  Sept. 

It  will,  apparently,  return  to  Chaos  soon ;  and  then  more  light- 
nings will  be  needed,  lightning  enough,  to  which  Cromwell's 
was  but  a  mild  matter;  —  to  be  followed  by  light,  we  may 
hope!'" 

The  following  Letter  from  Whalley,  with  the  Answer  to  it, 
will  introduce  this  series.  The  date  is  Monday ;  the  Lord 
General  observing  yesterday  that  the  poor  Edinburgh  people 
were  sadly  short  of  Sermon,  has  ordered  the  Commissary- 
General  to  communicate  as  follows :  — 

"  For  the  Honorable  the  Governor  of  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh. 

"EDINBURGH,  9th  September,  1650. 

"  SIB,  —  I  received  command  from  my  Lord  General  to  desire 
you  to  let  the  Ministers  of  Edinburgh,  now  in  the  Castle  with 
you,  know,  That  they  have  free  liberty  granted  them,  if  they 
please  to  take  the  pains,  to  preach  in  their  several  Churches  ; 
and  that  my  Lord  hath  given  special  command  both  to  officers 
and  soldiers  that  they  shall  not  in  the  least  be  molested.  Sir, 
I  am, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"EDWARD  WHALLEY." 

To  which  straightway  there  is  this  Answer  from  Governor 
Dundas :  — 

[To  Commissary- General  Whalley. ] 

"  [EDINBURGH  CASTLE,]  9th  September,  1650. 

"  SIB,  —  I  have  communicated  the  desire  of  your  Letter  to 
such  of  the  Ministers  of  Edinburgh  as  are  with  me ;  who  have 
desired  me  to  return  this  for  Answer :  — 

"  That  though  they  are  ready  to  be  spent  in  their  Master's 
service,  and  to  refuse  no  suffering  so  they  may  fulfil  their 
ministry  with  joy ;  yet  perceiving  the  persecution  to  be  per- 
sonal, by  the  practice  of  your  Party  1  upon  the  Ministers  of 
Christ  in  England  and  Ireland,  and  in  the  Kingdom  of  Scot- 
land since  your  unjust  Invasion  thereof ;  and  finding  nothing 

1  Sectarian  Party,  of  Independents. 


1650.  LETTER  CXLVII.    EDINBURGH.  153 

expressed  in  yours  whereupon  to  build  any  security  for  their 
persons  while  they  are  there,  and  for  their  return  hither ;  — 
they  are  resolved  to  reserve  themselves  for  better  times,  and 
to  wait  upon  Him  who  hath  hidden  His  face  for  a  while  from 
the  sons  of  Jacob. 

"  This  is  all  I  have  to  say,  but  that  I  am,  Sir, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"W.  DUNDAS." 

To  which  somewhat  sulky  response  Oliver  makes  Answer  in 
this  notable  manner :  — 


LETTER  CXLVH. 

"  For  the  Honorable  the  Governor  of  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh  : 

These. 

"  EDINBURGH,  9th  September,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  The  kindness  offered  to  the  Ministers  with  you  was 
done  with  ingenuity ; 1  thinking  it  might  have  met  with  the 
like :  but  I  am  satisfied  to  tell  those  with  you,  That  if  their 
Master's  service  (as  they  call  it)  were  chiefly  in  their  eye,  im- 
agination of  suffering  a  would  not  have  caused  such  a  return ; 
much  less  [would]  the  practice  of  our  Party,  as  they  are  pleased 
to  say,  upon  the  Ministers  of  Christ  in  England,  have  been  an 
argument  of  personal  persecution. 

"  The  Ministers  in  England  are  supported,  and  have  liberty 
to  preach  the  Gospel ;  though  not  to  rail,  nor,  under  pretence 
thereof,*  to  overtop  the  Civil  Power,  or  debase  it  as  they  please. 
No  man  hath  been  troubled  in  England  or  Ireland  for  preach- 
ing the  Gospel ;  nor  has  any  Minister  been  molested  in  Scot- 
land since  the  coming  of  the  Army  hither.  The  speaking  truth 
becomes  the  Ministers  of  Christ. 

"  When  Ministers  pretend  to  a  glorious  Koformation ;  and 
lay  the  foundations  thereof  in  getting  to  themselves  worldly 
power;  and  can  make  worldly  mixtures  to  accomplish  the 

1  Means  always  imjenuutuly.  *  Fear  of  personal  damage. 

•  Of  preaching  the  Gospel. 


154  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  9  Sept. 

same,  such  as  their  late  Agreement  with  their  King ;  and  hope 
by  him  to  carry  on  their  design,  [they]  may  know  that  the 
Sion  promised  will  not  be  built  with  such  untempered  mortar. 

"As  for  the  unjust  Invasion  they  mention,  time  was  l  when 
an  Army  of  Scotland  canie  into  England,  not  called  by  the  Su- 
preme Authority.  We  have  said,  in  our  Papers,  with  what 
hearts,  and  upon  what  account,  we  came ;  and  the  Lord  Lath 
heard  us,2  though  you  would  not,  upon  as  solemn  an  appeal  as 
any  experience  can  parallel. 

"And  although  they  seem  to  comfort  themselves  with  being 
sons  of  Jacob,  from  whom  (they  say)  God  hath  hid  His  face 
for  a  time  ;  yet  it 's  no  wonder  when  the  Lord  hath  lifted  up 
His  hand  so  eminently  against  a  Family  as  He  hath  done  so 
often  against  this,8  and  men  will  not  see  His  hand,  —  [it 's  no 
wonder]  if  the  Lord  hide  His  face  from  such ;  putting  them 
to  shame  both  for  it  and  their  hatred  of  His  people,  as  it  is 
this  day.  When  they  purely  trust  to  the  Sword  of  the  Spirit, 
which  is  the  Word  of  God,  which  is  powerful  to  bring  down 
strongholds  and  every  imagination  that  exalts  itself,  —  which 
alone  is  able  to  square  and  fit  the  stones  for  the  new  Jerusa- 
lem ;  —  then  and  not  before,  and  by  that  means  and  no  other, 
shall  Jerusalem,  the  City  of  the  Lord,  which  is  to  be  the  praise 
of  the  whole  Earth,  be  built ;  the  Sion  of  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel. 

"  I  have  nothing  to  say  to  you  but  that  I  am,  Sir, 
"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

The  Scotch  Clergy  never  got  such  a  reprimand  since  they 
first  took  ordination !  A  very  dangerous  radiance  blazes 
through  these  eyes  of  my  Lord  General's,  — destructive  to  the 
owl-dominion  in  Edinburgh  Castle  and  elsewhere ! 

Let  Dundas  and  Company  reflect  on  it.  Here  is  their  ready 
Answer :  still  of  the  same  day. 

1  1648,  Duke  Hamilton's  time ;  to  say  nothing  of  1640  and  other  times. 

2  At  Dunbar,  six  days  ago.  3  Of  the  Stuart*. 
*  Thurloe,  i.  159  ;  Pamphlet  at  Edinburgh. 


1950.  LETTER  CXLVII.    EDINBURGH.  155 

[To  the  Right  ffonornble  the  Lord  Cromwell,  Commandewti- 
Chief  of  the  English  Army.] 

"  [EDINBURGH  CASTLE],  9th  September,  1650. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  Yours  I  have  communicated  to  those  with 
me  whom  it  concerned;  who  desire  me  to  return  this  An- 
swer :  — 

"  That  their  ingenuity  in  prosecuting  the  ends  of  the  Cove- 
nant, according  to  their  vocation  and  place,  and  in  adhering  to 
their  first  principles,  is  well  known  ;  and  one  of  their  greatest 
regrets  is  that  they  have  not  been  met  with  the  like.  That 
when  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  have  been  imprisoned,  deprived 
of  their  benefices,  sequestrated,  forced  to  flee  from  their  dwell- 
ings, and  bitterly  threatened,  for  their  faithful  declaring  the 
will  of  God  against  the  godless  and  wicked  proceedings  of 
men,  —  it  cannot  be  accounted  [an  imaginary  fear  of  suffering] 
in  such  as  are  resolved  to  follow  the  like  freedom  and  faithful- 
ness in  discharge  of  their  Master's  message.  That  it  savors 
not  of  [ingenuity]  to  promise  liberty  of  preaching  the  Gospel, 
and  to  limit  the  Preachers  thereof,  that  they  must  not  speak 
against  the  sins  and  enormities  of  Civil  Powers ;  since  their 
commission  carrieth  them  to  speak  the  Word  of  the  Lord  unto, 
and  to  reprove  the  sins  of,  persons  of  all  ranks,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest.  That  to  impose  the  name  of  [railing] 
upon  such  faithful  freedom  was  the  old  practice  of  Malignants, 
against  the  Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  who  laid  open  to  people 
the  wickedness  of  their  ways,  lest  men  should  be  ensnared 
thereby. 

"That  their  consciences  bear  them  record,  and  all  their 
hearers  do  know,  that  they  meddle  not  with  Civil  Affairs, 
further  than  to  hold  forth  the  rule  of  the  Word,  by  which  the 
straightness  and  crookedness  of  men's  actions  are  made  evident. 
I'.nt  t.liry  :n-"  smi\  ihr\  have  such  cause  to  regret  that  men  of 
mere  Civil  place  and  employment  should  usurp  the  calling  and 
employment  of  the  Ministry  : *  to  the  scandal  of  the  Reformed 
Kirks;  and,  particularly  in  Scotland,  contrary  to  the  govera- 

1  Certain  of  oar  Soldiers  and  Officers  preach;  verjr  many  of  them  r:m 
ni'l  ^reatlv  to  the  purpose  tool 


156  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  12  Sept. 

ment  and  discipline  therein  established,  —  to  the  mainte- 
nance whereof  you  are  bound,  by  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant. 

"  Thus  far  they  have  thought  lit  to  vindicate  their  return  to 
the  offer  in  Colonel  Whalley's  Letter.  The  other  part  of  yours, 
which  concerns  the  Public  as  well  as  them,  they  conceive  hath 
all  been  answered  sufficiently  in  the  public  Papers  of  the  State 
and  Kirk.  Only  to  that  of  the  success  upon  your  [solemn 
appeal],  they  say  again,  what  was  said  to  it  before,  That  they 
have  not  so  learned  Christ  as  to  hang  the  equity  of  their  Cause 
upon  events ;  but  desire  to  have  their  hearts  established  in  the 
love  of  the  Truth,  in  all  the  tribulations  that  befall  them. 

"I  only  do  add  that  I  am,  my  Lord,  your  most  humble 
servant, 

«  W.  DUNDAS.'' 

On  Thursday  follows  Oliver's  answer,  —  "  very  inferior  in 
composition,"  says  Dryasdust ;  —  composition  not  being  quite 
the  trade  of  Oliver !  In  other  respects,  sufficiently  superior. 


LETTER  CXLVm. 

"  For  the  Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  12th  September,  1650. 

"Sin,  —  Because  I  am  at  some  reasonable  good  leisure,  I 
cannot  let  such  gross  mistakes  and  inconsequential  reasonings 
pass  without  some  notice  taken  of  them. 

"And  first,  their  ingenuity  in  relation  to  the  Covenant,  for 
which  they  commend  themselves,  doth  no  more  justify  their 
want  of  ingenuity  in  answer  to  Colonel  Whalley's  Christian 
offer,  concerning  which  my  Letter  charged  them  with  guilti- 
ness [and]  deficiency,  than  their  bearing  witness  to  themselves 
of  their  adhering  to  their  first  principles,  and  ingenuity  in 
prosecuting  the  ends  of  the  Covenant,  justifies  them  so  to  have 
done  merely  because  they  say  so.  They  must  give  more  leave 
henceforwards  ;  for  Christ  will  have  it  so,  nill  they,  will  they. 


JG50.  LETTER  CXLVIII.    EDINBURGH.  157 

And  they  must  have  patience  to  have  the  truth  of  their  doc- 
trines and  sayings  tried  by  the  sure  touchstone  of  the  Word  of 
God.  And  if  there  be  a  liberty  and  duty  of  trial,  there  is  a 
liberty  of  judgment  also  for  them  that  may  and  ought  to  try  : 
which  being '  so,  they  must  give  others  leave  to  think  and  say 
that  they  can  appeal  to  equal  judges,  Who  have  been  the 
truest  fulfillers  of  the  most  real  and  equitable  ends  of  the 
Covenant  ? 

"But  if  these  Gentlemen  doa  assume  to  themselves  to  be 
the  infallible  expositors  of  the  Covenant,  as  they  do  too  much 
to  their  auditories  [to  be  the  infallible  expositors]  of  the 
Scriptures  [also]  counting  a  different  sense  and  judgment 
from  theirs  Breach  of  Covenant  and  Heresy,  —  no  marvel 
they  judge  of  others  so  authoritatively  and  severely.  But  we 
have  not  so  learned  Christ.  We  look  at  Ministers  as  helpers 
of,  not  Lords  over,  God's  people.  I  appeal  to  their  consciences, 
whether  any  [person]  trying  their  doctrines,  and  dissenting, 
shall  not  incur  the  censure  of  Sectary  ?  And  what  is  this  but 
to  deny  Christians  their  liberty,  and  assume  the  Infallible 
Chair  ?  What  doth  he  whom  we  would  not  be  likened  unto  * 
do  more  than  this  ? 

"  In  the  second  place,  it  is  affirmed  that  the  '  Ministers  of 
the  Gospel  have  been  imprisoned,  deprived  of  their  benefices, 
sequestered,  forced  to  fly  from  their  dwellings,  and  bitterly 
threatened,  for  their  faithful  declaring  of  the  will  of  God ; ' 
that  they  have  been  limited  that  they  might  not  '  speak  against 
the  sins  and  enormities  of  the  Civil  Powers ; '  that  to  '  impose 
the  name  of  railing  upon  such  faithful  freedom  was  the  old 
practice  of  Malignants  against  the  Preachers  of  the  Gospel,' 
&c. — [Now]  if  the  Civil  Authority,  or  that  part  of  it  which 
continued  faithful  to  their  trust,4  [and]  true  to  the  ends  of  the 
Covenant,  did,  in  answer  to  their  consciences,  turn  out  a 
Tyrant,  in  a  way  which  the  Christians  in  after  times  will  men- 
tion with  honor,  and  all  Tyrants  in  the  world  look  at  with 
fear;  and  [if]  while  many  thousands  of  saints  in  England 
rejoice  to  think  of  it,  and  have  received  from  the  hand  of  God 

>  "  if  "  in  orig.  «  "  which  do  "  in  orig. ;  deU  "  which." 

•  The  Pope.  •  Wheu  Iri-le  purged  them. 


158  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  12  Sept. 

a  liberty  from  the  fear  of  like  usurpations,  and  have  cast  off 
him *  who  trod  in  his  Father's  steps,  doing  mischief  as  far  as 
he  was  able  (whom  you  have  received  like  fire  into  your 
bosom,  —  of  which  God  will,  I  trust,  in  time  make  you  sen- 
sible) :  if  [I  say]  Ministers  railing  at  the  Civil  Power,  and 
calling  them  murderers  and  the  like  for  doing  these  things, 
have  been  dealt  with  as  you  mention,  —  will  this  be  found  a 
'personal  persecution'  ?  Or  is  sin  so,  because  they  say  so  ?2 
They  that  acted  this  great  Business 8  have  given  a  reason  of 
their  faith  in  the  action ;  and  some  here  4  are  ready  farther 
to  do  it  against  all  gainsayers. 

"But  it  will  be  found  that  these  reprovers  do  not  only  make 
themselves  the  judges  and  determiners  of  sin,  that  so  they  may 
reprove ;  but  they  also  took  liberty 6  to  stir  up  the  people  to 
blood  and  arms ;  and  would  have  brought  a  war  upon  England, 
as  hath  been  upon  Scotland,  had  not  God  prevented  it.  And 
if  such  severity  as  hath  been  expressed  towards  them  be  worthy 
of  the  name  of  '  personal  persecution,'  let  all  uninterested  men 
judge  :  [and]  whether  the  calling  of  the  practice  'railing'  be 
to  be  paralleled  with  the  Malignants'  imputation  upon  the 
Ministers  for  speaking  against  the  Popish  Innovations  in  the 
Prelates'  times,6  and  the  [other]  tyrannical  and  wicked  prac- 
tices then  on  foot,  let  your  own  consciences  mind  you !  The 
Koman  Emperors,  in  Christ's  and  his  Apostles'  times,  were 
usurpers  and  intruders  upon  the  Jewish  State  :  yet  what  foot- 
step 7  have  ye  either  of  our  blessed  Saviour's  so  much  as  will- 
ingness to  the  dividing  of  an  inheritance,  or  their8  [ever] 
meddling  in  that  kind  ?  This  was  not  practised  by  the  Church 
since  our  Saviour's  time,  till  Antichrist,  assuming  the  Infallible 
Chair,  and  all  that  he  called  Church  to  be  under  him,  practised 
this  authoritatively  over  Civil  Governors.  The  way  to  fulfil 

1  Your  Charles  II.,  as  yon  call  him. 

2  Because  you  call  it  so.  8  Of  judging  Charles  First. 
4  I  for  one.                                                       6  In  1 648. 

6  O  Oliver,  my  Lord   General,  the    Lindley-Murray  composition  here  is 
dreadful ;  the  meaning  struggling,  like  a  strong  swimmer,  in  an  element  very 
viscous! 

7  Vestige.  8  The  Apostles'. 


i860.  LETTER  CXLVIII.    EDINBURGH.  159 

your  Ministry  with  joy  is  to  preach  the  Gospel ;  which  I  wish 
some  who  take  pleasure  in  reproofs  at  a  venture,  do  not  forget 
too  much  to  do  ! 

"Thirdly,  you  say,  You  have  just  cause  to  regret  that  men 
of  Civil  employments  should  usurp  the  calling  and  employment 
of  the  Ministry ;  to  the  scandal  of  the  Reformed  Kirks.  —  Are 
you  troubled  that  Christ  is  preached  ?  Is  preaching  so  ex- 
clusively your  function  ? 1  Doth  it  scandalize  the  Reformed 
Kirks,  and  Scotland  in  particular  ?  Is  it  against  the  Cove- 
nant ?  Away  with  the  Covenant,  if  this  be  so  !  I  thought,  the 
Covenant  and  these  [professors  of  it]  could  have  been  willing 
that  any  should  speak  good  of  the  name  of  Christ :  if  not,  it 
is  no  Covenant  of  God's  approving ;  nor  are  these  Kirks  you 
mention  insomuch  a  the  Spouse  of  Christ.  Where  do  you  find 
in  the  Scripture  a  ground  to  warrant  such  an  assertion,  That 
Preaching  is  exclusively  your  function  ?  Though  an  Appro- 
bation from  men  hath  order  in  it,  and  may  do  well ;  yet  he 
that  hath  no  better  warrant  than  that,  hath  none  at  all.  I  hope 
He  that  ascended  up  on  high  may  give  His  gifts  to  whom  He 
pleases  :  and  if  those  gifts  be  the  seal  of  Mission,  be  not  [you] 
envious  though  Eldad  and  Medad  prophesy.  You  know  who 
bids  us  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts,  but  chiefly  that  we  may 
prophesy ;  which  the  Apostle  explains  there  to  be  a  speaking 
to  instruction  and  edification  and  comfort,  —  which  speaking, 
the  instructed,  the  edified  and  comforted  can  best  toll  the 
energy  and  effect  of  [and  say  whether  it  is  genuine].  If  such 
evidence  be,  I  say  again,  Take  heed  you  envy  not  for  your 
own  sakes ;  lest  you  be  guilty  of  a  greater  fault  than  Moses 
reproved  in  Joshua  for  envying  for  his  sake. 

"  Indeed,  you  err  through  mistaking  of  the  Scriptures.  Ap- 
probation'is  an  act  of  conveuiency  in  respect  of  order;  not 
of  necessity,  to  give  faculty  to  preach  the  Gospel.  Your  pre- 
tended fear  lest  Error  should  step  in,  is  like  the  man  who 
would  keep  all  the  wine  out  the  country  lest  men  should  bo 
drunk.  It  will  be  found  an  unjust  and  unwise  jealousy,  to 

1  "so  incluHive  in  your  function,"  moans  that. 

2  So  far  a*  their  notion  of  the  Covenant  goea. 

*  Or  . iay  "Ordination,"  S«li  mn  A  j.i.p.Uit L.U  ;unl  Appointment  l»y  men. 


160  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  12  Sept. 

deprive  a  man  of  his  natural  liberty  upon  a  supposition  lie 
may  abuse  it.  When  he  doth  abuse  it,  judge.  If  a  man  speak 
foolishly,  ye  suffer  him  gladly J  because  ye  are  wise ;  if  erro- 
neously, the  truth  more  appears  by  your  conviction  [of  him]. 
Stop  such  a  man's  mouth  by  sound  words  which  cannot  be 
gainsaid.  If  he  speak  blasphemously,  or  to  the  disturbance 
of  the  public  peace,  let  the  Civil  Magistrate  punish  him :  if 
truly,  rejoice  in  the  truth.  And  if  you  will  call  our  speakings 
together  since  we  came  into  Scotland,  —  to  provoke  one  another 
to  love  and  good  works,  to  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
repentance  from  dead  works ;  [and]  to  charity  and  love  to- 
wards you,  to  pray  and  mourn  for  you,  and  for  your  bitter 
returns  to  [our  love  of  you],  and  your  incredulity  of  our  pro- 
fessions of  love  to  you,  of  the  truth  of  which  we  have  made 
our  solemn  and  humble  appeals  to  the  Lord  our  God,  which 
He  hath  heard  and  borne  witness  to  :  if  you  will  call  [these] 
things  scandalous  to  the  Kirk,  and  against  the  Covenant,  be 
cause  done  by  men  of  Civil  callings,  —  we  rejoice  in  them, 
notwithstanding  what  you  say. 

"  For  a  conclusion :  In  answer  to  the  witness  of  God  upon 
our  solemn  Appeal,2  you  say  you  have  not  so  learned  Christ 
[as]  to  hang  the  equity  of  your  Cause  upon  events.  We  [for 
our  part]  could  wish  blindness  have  not  been  upon  your  eyes 
to  all  those  marvellous  dispensations  which  God  hath  lately 
wrought  in  England.  But  did  not  you  solemnly  appeal  and 
pray  ?  Did  not  we  do  so  too  ?  And  ought  not  you  and  we  to 
think,  with  fear  and  trembling,  of  the  hand  of  the  Great  God 
in  this  mighty  and  strange  appearance  of  His  ;  instead  of 
slightly  calling  it  an  <  event ' ! 8  Were  not  both  your  and  our 
expectations  renewed  from  time  to  time,  whilst  we  waited  upon 
God,  to  see  which  way  He  would  manifest  Himself  upon  our 
appeals  ?  And  shall  we,  after  all  these  our  prayers,  fastings, 
tears,  expectations  and  solemn  appeals,  call  these  bare  'events'  ? 
The  Lord  pity  you. 

"  Surely  we  [for  our  part]  fear ;  because  it  hath  been  a 

1  With  a  patient  victorious  feeling.  2  At  Dunbar 

3  "  but  can  slightly  call  it  an  eveut "  in  orig. 


1650.  LETTER  CXLVITT.    EDINBURGH.  161 

merciful  and  gracious  deliverance  to  us..  I  beseech  you,  in 
the  bowels  of  Christ,  search  after  the  mind  of  the  Lord  in  it 
towards  you ;  and  we  shall  help  you  by  our  prayers ;  that  you 
may  find  it  out :  for  yet  (if  we  know  our  hearts  at  all)  our 
bowels  do,  in  Christ  Jesus,  yearn  after  the  Godly  in  Scotland. 
We  know  there  are  stumbling-blocks  which  hinder  you :  the 
personal  prejudices  you  have  taken  up  against  us  *  and  our 
ways,  wherein  we  cannot  but  think  some  occasion  has  been 
given,2  and  for  which  we  mourn  :  the  apprehension  you  have 
that  we  have  hindered  the  glorious  Reformation  you  think  you 
were  upon  :  —  I  am  persuaded  these  and  such  like  bind  you  up 
from  an  understanding,  and  yielding  to,  the  mind  of  God,  in 
this  great  day  of  His  power  and  visitation.  And,  if  I  be  rightly 
informed,  the  late  Blow  you  received  is  attributed  to  profane 
counsels  and  conduct,  and  mixtures 8  in  your  Army,  and  such 
like.  The  natural  man  will  not  find  out  the  cause.  Look  up 
to  the  Lord,  that  He  may  tell  it  you.  Which  that  He  would 
do,  shall  be  the  fervent  prayer  of, 

"  Your  loving  friend  and  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"[P.S.]  These  [following]  Queries  are  sent  not  to  reproach 
you,  but  in  the  love  of  Christ  laying  them  before  you;  we 
being  persuaded  in  the  Lord  that  there  is  a  truth  in  them. 
Which  we  earnestly  desire  may  not  be  laid  aside  unsought 
after,  from  any  prejudice  either  against  the  things  themselves, 
or  the  unworthiness  or  weakness  of  the  person  that  offers 
them.  If  you  turn  at  the  Lord's  reproofs,  He  will  pour  out 
His  Spirit  upon  you ;  and  you  shall  understand  His  words ; 
and  they  will  guide  you  to  a  blessed  Reformation  indeed,4  — 
even  to  one  according  to  the  Word,  and  such  as  the  people  of 

1  Me,  Oliver  Cromwell 

*  I  have  ofton,  in  Parliament  and  elsewhere,  l>eon  crabbed  towards  your 
hide-bound  Presbyterian  Kuriiuila;  ami  given  it  many  a  fillip,  not  thinking 
Hufficiently  what  good  withal  was  in  it. 

1  Admission  <>f  Kir/  u:>  r-  ami  iuiu""Ily  people, 

4  "glorious  Ki'f'>rm:itic>n,"  "  M«~-«-<l    Ucfonnation,"  &c.  are  phraoes  loud 
ami  riim-nt  •  \«  rvwhere,  especially  among  the  Scotch,  for  teu  yean  past- 
VOL.   XVIII.  11 


1G2  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  12  Sept. 

God  wait  for :  wherein  you  will  find  us  and  all  saints  ready 
to  rejoice,  and  serve  you  to  the  utmost  in  our  places  and 
callings." 1 


ENCLOSED  is  the  Paper  of  Queries;  to  which  this  Editor, 
anxious  to  bring  out  my  Lord  General's  sense,  will  take  the 
great  liberty  to  intercalate  a  word  or  two  of  Commentary  as 
we  read. 

QUERIES. 

1.  "  Whether  the  Lord's  controversy  be  not  both  against  the 
Ministers  in  Scotland  and  in  England,  for  their  wresting  and 
straining  [of  the  Covenant],  and  employing2  the  Covenant 
against  the  Godly  and  Saints  in  England  (of  the  same  faith 
with  them  in  every  fundamental)  even  to  a  bitter  persecution ; 
and  so  making  that  which,  in  the  main  intention,  was  Spirit- 
ual, to  serve  Politics  and  Carnal  ends,  —  even  in  that  part 
especially  which  was  Spiritual,  and  did  look  to  the  glory  of 
God,  and  the  comfort  of  His  People  ?  " 

The  meaning  of  your  Covenant  was,  that  God's  glory  should 
be  promoted :  and  yet  how  many  zealous  Preachers  unpresby- 
terian  but  real  Promoters  of  God's  glory,  have  you,  by  wresting 
and  straining  of  the  verbal  phrases  of  the  Covenant,  found 
means  to  menace,  eject,  afflict  and  in  every  way  discourage  ! 

2.  "  Whether  the  Lord's  controversy  be  not   for  your  and 
the  Ministers  in  England's  sullenness  at  [God's  great  provi- 
dences], and  [your]  darkening  and  not  beholding  the  glory 
of  God's  wonderful  dispensations  in  this  series  of  His  provi- 
dences in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  both    now  and  for- 
merly, —  through  envy  at  instruments,  and  because  the  things 
did  not  work  forth  your  Platform,  and  the  Great  God  did  not 
come  down  to  your  minds  and  thoughts." 

This  is  well  worth  your  attention.  Perhaps  the  Great  God 
means  something  other  and  farther  than  you  yet  imagine. 

1  Thurloe.  i.  158-162.  2  "improving  "  in  orig. 


1650.  QUERIES.  163 

Perhaps  in  His  infinite  Thought,  and  Scheme  that  reaches 
through  Eternities,  there  may  be  elements  which  the  West- 
minster Assembly  has  not  jotted  down  ?  Perhaps  these  rev- 
erend learned  persons,  debating  at  four  shillings  and  sixpence 
a  day,  did  not  get  to  the  bottom  of  the  Bottomless,  after  all  ? 
Perhaps  this  Universe  was  not  entirely  built  according  to  the 
Westminster  Shorter  Catechism,  but  by  other  ground-plans 
withal,  not  yet  entirely  brought  to  paper  anywhere,  in  West- 
minster or  out  of  it,  that  I  hear  of?  0  my  reverend  Scotch 
friends  !  — 

3.  "  Whether  your  carrying  on  a  "Reformation,  so  much  by 
you  spoken  of,  have  not  probably  been  subject  to  some  mis- 
takes in  your  own  judgments  about  some  parts  of  the  same,  — 
laying  so  much  stress  thereupon  as  hath  been  a  temptation  to 
you  even  to  break  the  Law  of  Love  [the  greatest  of  all  laws], 
towards  your  brethren,  and  those  [whom]  Christ  hath  regen- 
erated ;  even  to  the  reviling  and  persecuting  of  them,  and  to 
stirring  up  of  wicked  men  to  do  the  same,  for  your  Form's 
sake,  or  but  [for]  some  parts  of  it." 

A  helpless  lumbering  sentence,  but  with  a  noble  meaning 
in  it. 

4.  "Whether  if  your  Reformation  be  so  perfect  and  so 
spiritual,  be  in<li-«'<l  the  Kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  it  will 
need  such  carnal  policies,  such  fleshly  mixtures,  such  unsin- 
cere  actings  as  [some  of  these  are]  ?    To  pretend  to  cry  down 
all  Ifalignantej  and  yet  to  receive  and  set  up  the  Head  of  them 
[all],  and  to  act  for  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  his  name,1  and 
upon  advantage  thereof  ?    And  to  publish  so  false  a  Paper,2 
so  full  of  special  pretences  to  piety,  as  the  fruit  and  effect  of 
his  'repentance,'  —  to  deceive  the  minds  of  all  the  Godly  in 
England,  Ireland  and  Scotland  ;  you,  in  your  own  consciences, 
knowing  with  what  regret  he  did  it,  and  with  what  importuni- 


1  (  'h.-xrloH  Stuart's  :  a  very  questionable  "  name  "  for  any  Kingdom  of  Christ 

tO  act  Hfmli  ! 

1  The  Declaration,  or  teetimuuy  agaiuat  hia  father's  fins. 


164  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  12  Sept. 

ties  and  threats  he  was  brought  to  do  it,  and  how  much  to  this 
very  day  he  is  against  it  ?  And  whether  this  be  not  a  high 
provocation  of  the  Lord,  in  so  grossly  dissembling  with  Him 
and  His  people  ?  "  1 

Yes,  you  can  consider  that,  my  Friends ;  and  think,  on  the 
whole,  what  kind  of  course  you  are  probably  getting  into ; 
steering  towards  a  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  with  Charles 
Stuart  and  Mrs.  Barlow  at  the  helm ! 

The  Scotch  Clergy  reply,  through  Governor  Dundas,  still 
in  a  sulky  unrepentant  manner,  that  they  stick  by  their  old 
opinions ;  that  the  Lord  General's  arguments,  which  would 
not  be  hard  to  answer  a  second  time,  have  already  been  an- 
swered amply,  by  anticipation,  in  the  public  Manifestoes  of  the 
Scottish  Nation  and  Kirk  ;  —  that,  in  short,  he  hath  a  longer 
sword  than  they  for  the  present,  and  the  Scripture  says,  "  There 
is  one  event  to  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,"  which  may 
probably  account  for  Dunbar,  and  some  other  phenomena. 
Here  the  correspondence  closes ;  his  Excellency  on  the  morrow 
morning  (Friday,  13th  September,  1650)  finding  no  "  reason- 
able good  leisure  "  to  unfold  himself  farther,  in  the  way  of 
paper  and  ink,  to  these  men.  There  remain  other  ways ;  the 
way  of  cannon-batteries  and  Derbyshire  miners.  It  is  likely 
his  Excellency  will  subdue  the  bodies  of  these  men ;  and  the 
Unconquerable  mind  will  then  follow  if  it  can. 


PROCLAMATION. 

"  WHEREAS  it  hath  pleased  God,  by  His  gracious  providence 
and  goodness,  to  put  the  City  of  Edinburgh  and  the  Town  of 
Leith  under  my  power  :  And  although  I  have  put  forth  several 
Proclamations,  since  my  coming  into  this  Country,  to  the  like 
effect  with  this  present:  Yet  for  farther  satisfaction  to  all 
those  whom  it  may  concern,  I  do  hereby  again  publish  and 
declare, 

1  Thurloe,  i.  158-162. 


1650.  LETTER  CXLTX.    EDINBURGH.  165 

"  That  all  the  Inhabitants  of  the  country,  not  now  being  or 
continuing  in  arms,  shall  have  free  leave  and  liberty  to  come 
to  the  Army,  and  to  the  City  and  Town  aforesaid,  with  their 
cattle,  corn,  horse,  or  other  commodities  or  goods  whatsoever ; 
and  shall  there  have  free  and  open  markets  for  the  same ;  and 
shall  be  protected  in  their  persons  and  goods,  in  coming  and 
returning  as  aforesaid,  from  any  injury  or  violence  of  the  Sol- 
diery under  my  command ;  and  shall  also  be  protected  in  their 
respective  houses.  And  the  Citizens  and  Inhabitants  of  the 
said  City  and  Town  shall  and  hereby  likewise  have l  free  leave 
to  vend  and  sell  their  wares  and  commodities ;  and  shall  be 
protected  from  the  plunder  and  violence  of  the  Soldiers. 

"  And  I  do  hereby  require  all  Officers  and  Soldiers  of  the 
Army  under  my  command,  To  take  due  notice  hereof,  and  to 
yield  obedience  hereto.  As  they  will  answer  the  contrary  at 
their  utmost  peril. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  at  Edinburgh,  the  14th  of  September, 

1650. 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"To  be  proclaimed  in  Leith  and  Edinburgh,  by  sound  of 
trumpet  and  beat  of  drum."  9 

Listen,  and  be  reassured,  ye  ancient  Populations,  though 
your  Clergy  sit  obstinate  on  their  Castle-rock,  and  your  Stuart 
King  has  vanished  !  —  While  this  comfortable  Oyez-oyez  goes 
sounding  through  the  ancient  streets,  my  Lord  General  is 
himself  just  getting  on  march  again;  as  the  next  Letter  will 
testify. 


LETTER  CXLIX. 

Tm?  Lord  General,  leaving  the  Clergy  to  meditate  his  Queries 
in  the  seclusion  of  their  Castle-rock,  sets  off  westward,  on  the 
second  day  after,  to  see  whether  he  cannot  at  once  dislodge 

1  Grammar  irrcmcdiahle ! 

8  King's  Pamphlftn,  small  4to,  no.  479,  art.  16  ("  The  Lord  General  Cromwell 
hi*  March  to  Stirling :  being  a  Diary  of  "  &C.  "  Published  by  Authority  "). 


166  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND  25  Sept. 

the  Governing  Committee-men  and  Covenanted  King ;  and 
get  possession  of  Stirling,  where  they  are  busily  endeavoring 
to  rally.  This,  he  finds,  will  not  answer,  for  the  moment. 

[To  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  of 
State:  These.] 

"  EDINBURGH,  25th  September,  1650. 

"...  On  Saturday,  the  14th  instant,  we  marched  six  miles 
towards  Stirling ;  and,  by  reason  of  the  badness  of  the  ways, 
were  forced  to  send  back  two  pieces  of  our  greatest  artillery. 
The  day  following,  we  marched  to  Linlithgow,  not  being  able 
to  go  farther  by  reason  of  much  rain  that  fell  that  day.  On 
the  16tb,  we  marched  to  Falkirk ;  and  the  next  day  following, 
within  canuon-shot  of  Stirling ;  —  where,  upon  Wednesday,  the 
18th,  our  Army  was  drawn  forth,  and  all  things  in  readiness 
to  storm  the  Town. 

"But  finding  the  work  very  difficult;  they  having  in  the 
Town  two  thousand  horse  and  more  foot ;  and  the  place  stand- 
ing upon  a  river  not  navigable  for  shipping  to  relieve  the  same, 
[so  that]  we  could  not,  with  safety,  make  it  a  Garrison,  if  God 
should  have  given  it  into  our  hands  :  —  upon  this,  and  other  con- 
siderations, it  was  not  thought  a  fit  time  to  storm.  But  such 
was  the  unanimous  resolution  and  courage  both  of  our  Officers 
and  Soldiers,  that  greater  could  not  be  (as  to  outward  appear- 
ance) in  men. 

"On  Thursday,  the  19th,  we  returned  from  thence  to  Lin- 
lithgow ;  and  at  night  we  were  informed  that,  at  Stirling,  they 
shot  off  their  great  guns  for  joy  their  King  was  come  thither. 
On  Friday,  the  20th,  three  Irish  soldiers  came  from  them  to 
us ;  to  whom  we  gave  entertainment  in  the  Army ;  they  say, 
Great  fears  possessed  the  soldiers  when  they  expected  us  to 
storm.  That  they  know  not  whether  old  Leven  be  their  Gen- 
eral or  not,  the  report  being  various  ;  but  that  Sir  John  Browne, 
a  Colonel  of  their  Army,  was  laid  aside.  That  they  are  endeav- 
oring to  raise  all  the  Forces  they  can,  in  the  North ;  that  many 
of  the  soldiers,  since  our  victory,  are  offended  at  their  Minis- 
ters ;  that  Colonel  Gilbert  Ker  and  Colonel  Strahan  are  gone 
with  shattered  forces  to  Glasgow,  to  levy  soldiers  there.  As 


1650.  LETTER  CXLIX.    EDINBURGH.  167 

yet  we  hear  not  of  any  of  the  old  Cavaliers  being  entertained  as 
Officers  among  them ;  [the  expectation  of]  which  occasions  dif- 
ferences betwixt  their  Ministers  and  the  Officers  of  the  Army. 
"  The  same  day,  we  came  to  Edinburgh  [again].  Where  we 
abide  without  disturbance ;  saving  that  about  ten  at  night,  and 
before  day  in  the  morning,  they  sometimes  tire  three  or  four 
great  guns  at  us ;  and  if  any  of  our  men  come  within  musket- 
shot,  they  fire  at  them  from  the  Castle.  But,  blessed  be  God, 
they  have  done  us  no  harm,  except  one  soldier  shot  (but  not 
to  the  danger  of  his  life),  that  I  can  be  informed  of.  There 
;ire  some  few  of  the  inhabitants  of  Edinburgh  returned  home  ; 
who,  perceiving  our  civility,  and  [our]  paying  for  what  we 
receive  of  them,  repent  their  departure;  open  their  shops,  and 
bring  provisions  to  the  market.  It's  reported  they  have  in 
the  Castle  provisions  for  fifteen  months ;  some  say}  for  a  longer 
time.  Generally  the  poor  acknowledge  that  our  carriage  to 
them  is  better  than  that  of  their  own  Army ;  and  [that]  had 
they  who  are  gone  away  known  so  much,  they  would  have 
stayed  at  home.  They  say,  one  chief  reason  wherefore  so  many 
are  gone  was,  They  feared  we  would  have  imposed  upon  them 
some  oath  wherewith  they  could  not  have  dispensed. 

"I  am  in  great  hopes,  through  God's  mercy,  we  shall  be 
able  this  Winter  to  give  the  People  such  an  understanding  of 
the  justness  of  our  Cause,  and  our  desires  for  the  just  liberties 
of  the  People,  that  the  better  sort  of  them  will  be  satisfied 
therewith;  although,  I  must  confess,  hitherto  they  continue 
obstinate.  I  thought  1  should  have  found  in  Scotland  a  con- 
scientious People,  and  a  barren  country :  about  Edinburgh,  it 
is  as  fertile  for  corn  as  any  part  of  England ;  but  the  People 
generally  [are  so]  given  to  the  most  impudent  lying,  and  frc 
ijueiit  swearing,  as  is  incredible  to  be  believed.  I  rest, 
[Your  Lordship's  most  humble  servant,] 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."' 

What  to  do  with  Scotland,  in  these  mixed  circumstances,  is 
a  question.     We  have  friends  among  them,  a  distinct  coinci- 

1  Newspapers  (in  Parliamentary  Hittory,  xix.  404). 


168  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  29  Sept. 

dence  with  them  in  the  great  heart  of  their  National  Purpose, 
could  they  understand  us  aright ;  and  we  have  all  degrees  of 
enemies  among  them,  up  to  the  bitterest  figure  of  Malignancy 
itself.  What  to  do  ?  For  one  thing,  Edinburgh  Castle  ought 
to  be  reduced.  "  We  have  put  forces  into  Liulithgow,  and  our 
Train  is  lodged  in  Leith,"  Lesley's  old  citadel  there ;  "  the  wet 
being  so  great  that  we  cannot  march  with  our  Train."  Do  we 
try  Edinburgh  Castle  with  a  few  responsive  shots  from  the 
Calton  Hill.;  or  from  what  point?  My  Scotch  Antiquarian 
friends  have  not  informed  me.  We  decide  on  reducing  it  by 
mines. 

"  Sunday,  29th  September,  1650.  Kesolution  being  taken  for 
the  springing  of  mines  in  order  to  the  reducing  of  Edinburgh 
Castle ;  and  our  men  beginning  their  galleries  last  night,  the 
Enemy  fired  five  pieces  of  ordnance,  with  several  volleys  of 
shot,  from  the  Castle ;  but  did  no  execution.  We  hope  this 
work  will  take  effect ;  notwithstanding  the  height,  rockiness, 
and  strength  of  the  place.  —  His  Excellency  with  his  Officers 
met  this  day  in  the  High  Church  of  Edinburgh,  forenoon  and 
afternoon ;  where  was  a  great  concourse  of  people."  Mr. 
Stapyltou,  who  did  the  Hursley  Marriage-treaty,  and  is  other- 
wise transiently  known  to  mankind,  —  he,  as  was  above  inti- 
mated, occupies  the  pulpit  there  ;  the  Scots  Clergy  still  sitting 
sulky  in  their  Castle,  with  Derby  miners  now  operating  on 
them.  "  Many  Scots  expressed  much  affection  at  the  doctrine 
preached  by  Mr.  Stapylton,  in  their  usual  way  of  groans,"  — 
Hum-m-mrrh  !  —  "  and  it 's  hoped  a  good  work  is  wrought  in 
some  of  their  hearts."  l  I  am  sure  I  hope  so.  But  to  think 
of  brother  worshippers,  partakers  in  a  Gospel  of  this  kind, 
cutting  one  another's  throats  for  a  Covenanted  Charles  Stuartj 
—  Hum-m-mrrh ! 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwdliana,  p.  92). 


M,o.  LETTERS  CL.-CLXL  1C9 


LETTERS   CL.-CLXL 

HVSTK  and  other  considerations  forbid  us  to  do  more  than 
ghmcc,  timidly  from  the  brink,  into  that  sea  of  confusions  in 
which  tin-  pi  lor  Scotch  people  have  involved  themselves  by 
soldering  Christ's  Crown  to  Charles  Stuart's !  Poor  men,  they 
have  got  a  Covenanted  King ;  but  he  is,  so  to  speak,  a  Solecism 
Incarnate :  good  cannot  come  of  him,  or  of  those  that  follow 
him  in  this  course  ;  only  inextricability,  futility,  disaster  and 
discomfiture  can  come.  There  is  nothing  sadder  than  to  see 
such  a  Purpose  of  a  Nation  led  on  by  such  a  set  of  persons  ; 
staggering  into  ever  deeper  confusion,  down,  down,  till  it  fall 
prostrate  into  utter  wreck.  Were  not  Oliver  here  to  gather 
up  the  fragments  of  it,  the  Cause  of  Scotland  might  now  die  ; 
<  Miver,  little  as  the  Scots  dream  of  it,  is  Scotland's  Friend  too, 
as  he  was  Ireland's  :  what  would  become  of  Scotch  Puritanism, 
the  one  great  feat  hitherto  achieved  by  Scotland,  if  Oliver  were 
not  now  there  !  Oliver's  Letters  out  of  Scotland,  what  will 
elucidate  Oliver's  footsteps  and  utterances  there,  shall  alone 
•  •rn  us  at  present.  For  sufficing  which  object,  the  main 
features  of  these  Scotch  confusions  may  become  conceivable 
without  much  detail  of  ours. 

The  first  Scotch  Army,  now  annihilated  at  Dunbar,  had  been 
sedulously  cleared  of  all  Hamilton  Engagers  and  other.  Malig- 
nant or  Quasi-Malignant  Persons,  according  to  a  scheme  pain- 
fully laid  down  in  what  was  called  the  Act  of  Classes,  —  a 
General-Assembly  Act,  defining  and  classifying  such  men  as 
shall  not  be  allowed  to  fight  on  this  occasion,  lest  a  curse  over- 
take the  Cause  on  their  account.  Something  other  than  a 
ing  has  overtaken  the  Cause: — and  now,  on  rallying  at 
Stirling  with  unbroken  purpose  of  struggle,  there  arise  in  the 
Committee  of  Estates  and  Kirk,  and  over  the  Nation  generally, 
earnest  considerations  as  to  the  methods  of  farther  struggle  ; 
huge  discrepancies  as  to  the  ground  and  figure  it  ought  hence- 


170  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  October, 

forth  to  take.  As  was  natural  to  the  case,  Three  Parties  uo\v 
develop  themselves :  a  middle  one,  and  two  extremes.  The 
Official  Party,  Argyle  and  the  Official  Persons,  especially  the 
secular  portion  of  them,  think  that  the  old  ground  should  as 
much  as  possible  be  adhered  to  :  Let  us  fill  up  our  old  ranks 
with  new  men,  and  fight  and  resist  with  the  Covenanted  Charles 
Stuart  at  the  head  of  us,  as  we  did  before.  This  is  the  middle 
or  Official  opinion. 

No,  answers  an  extreme  Party,  Let  us  have  no  more  to  do 
with  your  covenanting  pedantries  ;  let  us  sign  your  Covenant 
one  good  time  for  all,  and  have  done  with  it ;  but  prosecute 
the  King's  Interest,  and  call  on  all  men  to  join  us  in  that.  An 
almost  openly  declared  Malignant  Party  this ;  at  the  head  of 
which  Lieutenant-General  Middleton,  the  Marquis  of  Huntly 
and  other  Royalist  Persons  are  raising  forces,  publishing  mani- 
festoes, in  the  Highlands  near  by.  Against  whom  David  Lesley 
himself  at  last  has  to  march.  This  is  the  one  extreme ;  the  Ma- 
lignant or  Royalist  extreme.  The  amount  of  whose  exploits 
was  this  :  They  invited  the  poor  King  to  run  off  from  Perth  and 
his  Church-and-State  Officials,  and  join  them  ;  which  he  did,  — 
rode  out  as  if  to  hawk,  one  afternoon,  softly  across  the  South 
Inch  of  Perth,  then  galloped  some  forty  miles  ;  found  the  ap- 
pointed place,  —  a  villanous  hut  among  the  Grampian  Hills, 
without  soldiers,  resources,  or  accommodations,  "  with  nothing 
but  a  turf  pillow  to  sleep  on  : "  and  was  easily  persuaded  back, 
the  day  after  ; l  making  his  peace  by  a  few  more  —  what  shall 
we  call  them  ?  —  poetic  figments  ;  which  the  Official  Persons, 
with  an  effort,  swallowed.  Shortly  after,  by  official  persuasion 
and  military  coercion,  this  first  extreme  Party  was  suppressed, 
reunited  to  the  main  body ;  and  need  not  concern  us  farther. 

But  now,  quite  opposite  to  this,  there  is  another  extreme 
Party  ;  which  has  its  seat  in  "  the  Western  Shires,"  from  Ren- 
frew down  to  Dumfries  ;  —  which  is,  in  fact,  I  think,  the  old 
Whiggamore  Raid  of  1648  under  a  new  figure  ;  these  Western 
Shires  being  always  given  that  way.  They  have  now  got  a 
"  Western  Army,"  with  Colonel  Ker  and  Colonel  Strahan  to 
command  it ;  and  most  of  the  Earls,  Lairds,  and  Ministers  in 

1  4th-6th  October,  Balfour,  iv.  113-115. 


1650.  LETTER  CL.    LINLTTHGOW.  171 

those  parts  have  joined.  Very  strong  for  the  Covenant ;  very 
strong  against  all  shams  of  the  Covenant.  Colonel  Ker  is  the 
"  famed  Commander  Gibby  Carre,"  who  came  to  commune  with 
us  in  the  Burrow-Moor,  when  we  lay  on  Pentland  Hills :  Colonel 
Strahan  is  likewise  a  famed  Commander,  who  was  thought  to 
be  slain  at  Musselburgb  once,  but  is  alive  here  still ;  an  old 
acquaintance  of  my  Lord  General  Cromwell's,  and  always  sus- 
pected of  a  leaning  to  Sectarian  courses.  These  Colonels  and 
( iciitry  having,  by  Sanction  of  the  Committee  of  Estates,  raised 
a  Western  Army  of  some  five  thousand,  and  had  much  con- 
sideration with  themselves ;  and  seen,  especially  by  the  flight 
into  the  Grampians,  what  way  his  Majesty's  real  inclinations 
are  tending,  —  decide,  or  threaten  to  decide,  that  they  will  not 
serve  under  his  Majesty  or  his  General  Lesley  with  their  Army, 
till  they  see  new  light ;  that  in  fact  they  dare  not ;  being  ap- 
prehensive he  is  no  genuine  Covenanted  King,  but  only  the 
sham  of  one,  whom  it  is  terribly  dangerous  to  follow !  On  this 
Party  Cromwell  has  his  eye ;  and  they  on  him.  What  becomes 
of  them  we  shall,  before  long,  learn. 

Meanwhile  here  is  a  Letter  to  the  Official  Authorities ;  which, 
however,  produces  small  effect  upon  them. 

LETTER  CL. 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Committee  of  Estates  of  Scotland, 
at  Stir  liny,  or  elsewhere :  These. 

"  LINLITHOOW,  9th  October,  1650. 

"  RIGHT  HONORABLE,  —  The  grounds  and  ends  of  the  Army's 
entering  Scotland  have  been  heretofore,  often  and  clearly,  made 
known  unto  you ;  and  how  much  we  have  desired  the  same 
illicit  In-  accomplished  without  blood.  But,  according  to  what 
returns  we  have  received,  it  is  evident  your  hearts  had  not 
that  love  to  us  as  we  can  truly  say  we  had  towards  you.  And 
we  are  persuaded  those  difficulties  in  which  you  have  involved 
\oin-i-lv.-s, —  by  «'s]K)usiuL,r  your  King's  interest,  and  taking 
intc.  your  Ixismn  that  1'rrson.  in  whom  (notwithstanding  what 
kith  [Ix-fii]  <»r  may  !>••  ttid  to  the  contrary)  that  which  is  really 


172  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  9Oct 

Malignancy  and  all  Malignants  do  centre;  against  whose 
Family  the  Lord  hath  so  eminently  witnessed  for  bloodguilti- 
ness,  not  to  be  done  away  by  such  hypocritical  and  formal 
shows  of  repentance  as  are  expressed  in  his  late  Declaration  ; 
and  your  strange  prejudices  against  us  as  men  of  heretical 
opinions  (which,  through  the  great  goodness  of  God  to  us,  have 
been  unjustly  charged  upon  us),  —  have  occasioned  your  reject- 
ing those  Overtures  which,  with  a  Christian  affection,  were 
offered  to  you  before  any  blood  was  spilt,  or  your  People  had 
suffered  damage  by  us. 

"  The  daily  sense  we  have  of  the  calamity  of  War  lying 
upon  the  poor  People  of  this  Nation,  and  the  sad  conse- 
quences of  blood  and  famine  likely  to  come  upon  them ;  the 
advantage  given  to  the  Malignant,  Profane,  and  Popish  party 
by  this  War ;  and  that  reality  of  affection  which  we  have  so 
often  professed  to  you,  —  and  concerning  the  truth  of  which 
we  have  so  solemnly  appealed, — do  again  constrain  us  to 
send  unto  you,  to  let  you  know,  That  if  the  contending  foi 
that  Person  be  not  by  you  preferred  to  the  peace  and  wel- 
fare of  your  Country,  the  blood  of  your  Peoples,  the  love  o{ 
men  of  the  same  faith  with  you,  and  (in  this  above  all)  the 
honor  of  that  God  we  serve,  —  Then  give  the  State  of  Eng- 
land that  satisfaction  and  security  for  their  peaceable  and 
quiet  living  beside  you,  which  may  in  justice  be  demanded 
from  a  Nation  giving  so  just  ground  to  ask  the  same,  —  from 
those  who  have,  as  you,  taken  their  enemy  into  their  bosom, 
whilst  he  was  in  hostility  against  them :  [Do  this ;]  and  it 
will  be  made  good  to  you,  That  you  may  have  a  lasting  and 
durable  Peace  with  them,  and  the  wish  of  a  blessing  upon 
you  in  all  religious  and  civil  things. 

"  If  this  be  refused   by  you,  we  are  persuaded  that  God, 
who  hath  once  borne  His  testimony,  will  do  it  again  on  the  be- 
half of  us  His  poor  servants,  who  do  appeal  to  Him  whether 
their  desires  flow  from  sincerity  of  heart  or  not.     I  rest, 
"  Your  Lordships'  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELI,/'  ' 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  93). 


1650.  LETTER  CL.    LINLITHGOW.  173 

The  Committee  of  Estates  at  Stirling  or  elsewhere  debated 
about  an  Answer  to  this  Letter;  but  sent  none,  except  of 
civility  merely,  and  after  considerable  delays.  A  copy  of  the 
Letter  was  likewise  forwarded  to  Colonels  Ker  and  Strahan 
and  their  Western  Army,  by  whom  it  was  taken  into  consid- 
eration ;  and  some  Correspondence,  Cromwell's  part  of  which 
is  not  yet  altogether  lost,  followed  upon  it  there ;  and  indeed 
Cromwell,  as  we  dimly  discover  in  the  old  Books,  set  forth  to- 
wards Glasgow  directly  on  the  back  of  it,  in  hopes  of  a  closer 
communication  with  these  Western  Colonels  and  their  Party. 

While  Ker  and  Strahan  are  busy  "  at  Dumfries,"  says  Bail- 
lie,  "  Cromwell  with  the  whole  body  of  his  Army  and  cannon 
conies  peaceably  by  way  of  Kilsyth  to  Glasgow."  It  is  Friday 
evening,  18th  October,  1650.  "  The  Ministers  and  Magistrates 
flee  all  away.  I  got  to  the  Isle  of  Cumbrae  with  my  Lady 
Montgomery ;  but  left  all  my  family  and  goods  to  Cromwell's 
courtesy,  —  which  indeed  was  great ;  for  he  took  such  a  course 
with  his  soldiers  that  they  did  less  displeasure  at  Glasgow 
than  if  they  had  been  in  London  ;  though  Mr.  Zachary  Boyd," 
a  fantastic  old  gentleman  still  known  in  Glasgow  and  Scot- 
land, "railed  on  them  all,  to  their  very  face,  in  the  High 
Church ; " 1  calling  them  Sectaries  and  Blasphemers,  the  fan- 
tastic old  gentleman !  "  Glasgow,  though  not  so  big  or  rich  as 
Edinburgh,  is  a  much  sweeter  place ;  the  completest  town  we 
have  yet  seen  here,  and  one  of  their  choicest  Universities." 
The  people  were  much  afraid  of  us  till  they  saw  how  we 
treated  them.  "  Captain  Covel  of  the  Lord  General's  regi- 
ment of  horse  was  cashiered  here  for  holding  some  blasphemous 
opinions."1  —  This  is  Cromwell's  first  visit  to  Glasgow:  he 
made  two  others,  of  which  on  occasion  notice  shall  be  taken. 
In  Pinkerton's  Correspondence  are  certain  "  anecdotes  of  Crom- 
well at  Glasgow  ; "  which,  like  many  others  on  Cromwell,  need 
not  be  repeated  anywhere  except  in  the  nursery. 

Cromwell  entered  Glasgow  on  Friday  evening ;  over  Sunday, 
was  patient  with  Zachary  Boyd :  but  got  no  result  out  of  Ker 
and  St  ml  inn.  Ker  and  Strahan,  at  Dumfries  on  the  Thursday, 

1  Baillie,  iii.  119;  Whitlix-ke,  p.  459. 

*  Whitlucke,  p.  459 ;   CromweUianu,  pp  92,  93. 


174  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  i8Oct 

have  perfected  and  signed  their  Remonstrance  of  the  Western 
Army  ; l  a  Document  of  much  fame  iu  the  old  Scotch  Books. 
"Expressing  many  sad  truths,"  says  the  Kirk  Committee. 
Expressing,  in  fact,  the  apprehension  of  Ker  and  Strahan  that 
the  Covenanted  King  may  probably  be  a  Solecism  Incarnate, 
tinder  whom  it  will  not  be  good  to  fight  longer  for  the  Cause 
of  Christ  and  Scotland ;  —  expressing  meanwhile  considerable 
reluctancy  as  to  the  English  Sectaries ;  and  deciding,  on  the 
whole,  to  fight  them  still,  though  on  a  footing  of  our  own. 
Not  a  very  hopeful  enterprise !  Of  which  we  shall  see  the 
issue  by  and  by.  Meanwhile  news  come  that  this  Western 
Army  is  aiming  towards  Edinburgh,  to  get  hold  of  the  Castle 
there.  Whereupon  Cromwell,  in  all  haste,  on  Monday,  sets  off 
thitherward;  "lodges  the  first  night  in  a  poor  cottage  fourteen 
miles  from  Glasgow ; "  arrives  safe,  to  prevent  all  alarms. 
His  first  visit  to  Glasgow  was  but  of  two  days. 


LETTER  CLI. 

THE  Western  Colonels  have  given  in  their  "Remonstrance  to 
the  Committee  of  Estates;  and  sat  in  deliberation  on  their 
copy  of  Cromwell's  Expostulatory  Letter  to  that  Body,  the 
Letter  we  have  just  read,  —  in  which  these  two  words,  "  secur- 
ity "  and  "  satisfaction,"  are  somewhat  abstruse  to  the  West- 
ern Colonels.  They  decide  that  it  will  not  be  convenient  to 
return  any  public  Answer ;  but  they  have  forwarded  a  private 
Letter  of  acknowledgment  with  "  Six  Queries : "  Letter  lost 
to  us ;  Six  Queries  still  surviving.  To  which,  directly  after 
his  return  to  Edinburgh,  here  is  Cromwell's  Answer.  The  Six 
Queries,  being  very  brief,  maybe  transcribed;  the  Letter  of 
acknowledgment  can  be  conceived  without  transcribing  : 

"  Query  1.   Why  is  <  satisfaction '  demanded  ?     2.    What  is 

the  satisfaction  demanded?      3.   For  what   is  the  'security* 

demanded  ?   4.  What  is  the  security  ye  would  have  ?   5.  From 

whom  is  the  security  required  ?      6.    To  whom  is  the  security 

*  Dated  17th  October;  given  in  Balfour,  iv.  141-160. 


IfiUO.  LETTER  CLI.    EDINBURGH.  175 

to  be  given  ?  "  l  —  Queries  which,  I  think,  do  not  much  look 
like  real  despatch  of  business  in  the  present  intricate  con- 
juncture ! 

This  Letter  it  appears,  is,  if  not  accompanied,  directly  fol- 
lowed by  "  Mr.  Alexander  Jaffray  "  Provost  of  Aberdeen,  and  a 
"Reverend  Mr.  Carstairs  "  of  Glasgow,  two  Prisoners  of  Oliver's 
ever  since  Dunbar  Drove,  who  are  to  "  agent "  the  same.* 

[To  Colonel  Strahan,  icith  the  Western  Army :  These.] 

"  EDINBURGH,  25th  October,  1650. 

"  SIB,  —  I  have  considered  of  the  Letter  and  the  Queries ; 
and,  having  advised  with  some  Christian  friends  about  the 
same,  think  fit  to  return  an  Answer  as  followeth :  — 

"  [That]  we  bear  unto  the  Godly  of  Scotland  the  same 
Christian  affection  we  have  all  along  professed  in  our  Papers ; 
being  ready,  through  the  grace  of  God,  upon  all  occasions,  to 
give  such  proof  and  testimony  thereof  as  the  Divine  Provi- 
dence shall  minister  opportunity  to  us  to  do.  That  nothing 
would  be  more  acceptable  to  us  to  see  than  the  Lord  removing 
offences,  and  inclining  the  hearts  of  His  People  in  Scotland  to 
meet  us  with  the  same  affection.  That  we  do  verily  appre- 
hend, with  much  comfort,  that  there  is  some  stirriug  of  your 
bowels  by  the  Lord ;  giving  some  hope  of  His  good  pleasure 
tending  hereunto ;  which  we  are  most  willing  to  comply  with, 
and  not  to  be  wanting  in  anything  on  our  part  which  may 
further  the  same. 

"  And  having  seen  the  heads  of  two  Remonstrances,  the  one 
of  the  Ministers  of  Glasgow,  and  the  other  of  the  Officers  and 
Gentlemen  of  the  West,"  we  do  from  thence  hope  that  the  Lord 
hath  cleared  unto  you  some  things  that  were  formerly  hidden, 
and  which  we  hope  may  lead  to  a  better  understanding.  Never- 
theless, we  cannot  but  take  notice,  that  from  some  expressions 
in  the  same  Papers,  we  have  too  much  cause  to  note  that  there 

1  Balfour,  iv.  135.  a  Baillie,  iii.  120. 

•  Remonstrance  of  the  Western  Army  is  this  latter ;  the  other,  very  con- 
In  as  a  kind  of  codicil  to  this,  is  not  known  to  me  except  at  second- 
baud,  from  Raillie'a  eager,  earnest,  very  headlong  and  perplexed  account  of 
that  Business  (iv.  130, 122  et 


176  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  25  Oct. 

is  still  so  great  a  difference  betwixt  us  as  we  are  looked  upon 
and  accounted  as  Enemies. 

"  And  although  we  hope  that  the  Six  Queries,  sent  by  you 
to  us  to  be  answered,  were  intended  to  clear  doubts  and  remove 
the  remaining  obstructions  ;  which  we  shall  be  most  ready  to 
do :  yet,  considering  the  many  misconstructions  which  may 
arise  from  the  clearest  pen  (where  men  are  not  all  of  one 
mind),  and  the  difficulties  at  this  distance  to  resolve  doubts 
and  rectify  mistakes,  we  conceive  our  Answer  in  Writing  may 
not  so  effectually  reach  that  end  as  a  friendly  and  Christian 
Conference  by  equal  persons  [might]. 

"  And  we  doubt  not  we  can,  with  ingenuity  and  clearness, 
give  a  satisfactory  account  of  those  general  things  held  forth 
in  the  Letter  sent  by  us  to  the  Committee  of  Estates,1  and  in 
our  former  Declarations  and  Papers ;  which  we  shall  be  ready 
to  do  by  a  Friendly  Debate,  —  when  and  where  our  answer  to 
these  particulars  may  probably  tend  to  the  better  and  more 
clear  understanding  betwixt  the  Godly  Party  of  both  Nations. 

"  To  speak  plainly  in  a  few  words :  If  those  who  sincerely 
love  and  fear  the  Lord  amongst  you  are  sensible  that  matters 
have  been  and  are  carried  by  your  State  so  as  that  therewith 
God  is  not  well  pleased,  but  the  Interest  of  His  People  [is] 
hazarded,  in  Scotland  and  England,  to  Malignants,  to  Papists, 
and  to  the  Profane,  —  we  can,  through  Grace,  be  willing  to  lay 
our  bones  in  the  dust  for  your  sakes  ;  and  can,  as  heretofore 
we  have  [said],  still  continue  to  say,  That,  not  to  impose 
upon  you  in  Religious  or  Civil  Interests,  not  dominion  nor 
any  worldly  advantage  [not  these],  but  the  obtaining  of  a 
just  security  to  ourselves,2  were  the  motives,  and  satisfactions 
to  our  consciences,  in  this  Undertaking.  [A  just  security ;] 
which  we  believe  by  this  time  you  may  think  we  had  cause 
to  be  sensible  was  more  than  endangered  by  the  carriage  of 
affairs  with  your  King.  And  it  is  not  success,  and  more 
visible  clearness  to  our  consciences  arising  out  of  the  dis- 
coveries God  hath  made  of  the  hypocrisies  of  men,  that  hath 
altered  [or  can  alter]  our  principles  or  demands.  But  we  take 

1  Letter  CL.  *  "  securing  ourselves  "  in  orig. 


1650.  PROCLAMATION.  177 

from  thence  humble  encouragement  to  follow  the  Lord's  provi- 
dence in  serving  His  Cause  and  People ;  not  doubting  but  He 
will  give  such  an  issue  to  this  Business  as  will  be  to  His  glory 
and  your  comfort.  I  rest, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." * 

There  followed  no  "  Friendly  Debate "  upon  this  Letter ; 
nothing  followed  upon  it  except  new  noise  in  the  Western 
Army,  and  a  strait-laced  case  of  conscience  more  perplexing 
than  ever.  Jaffray  and  Carstairs  had  to  come  back  on  parole 
again;  Strahan  at  length  withdrew  from  the  concern:  the 
Western  Army  went  its  own  separate  middle  road,  —  to  what 
issue  we  shall  see. 


Here  is  another  trait  of  the  old  time  ;  not  without  illumina- 
tion for  us.  "  One  Watt,  a  tenant  of  the  Earl  of  Tweedale's 
being  sore  oppressed  by  the  English,  took  to  himself  some  of 
his  own  degree;  arid  by  daily  incursions  and  infalls.on  the 
English  Garrisons  and  Parties  in  Lothian,  killed  and  took  of 
them  above  four  hundred,"  or  say  the  half  or  quarter  of  so 
many,  "  and  enriched  himself  by  their  spoils."  The  like  "  did 
one  Augustin,  a  High-German,"  not  a  Dutchman,  "being  purged 
out  of  the  Army  before  Dunbar  Drove," — of  whom  we  shall 
hear  farther.  In  fact,  the  class  called  Moss-troopers  begins 
to  abound;  the  only  class  that  can  flourish  in  such  a  state 
of  affairs.  Whereupon  comes  out  this 

PROCLAMATION. 

"I  Fixnixo  that  divers  of  the  Army  under  my  command  are 
not  only  spoiled  and  robbed,  but  also  sometimes  barbarously 
and  inhumanly  butchered  and  slain,  by  a  sort  of  Outlaws  and 
Robbers,  not  under  the  discipline  of  any  Army ;  and  finding 
that  all  our  tenderness  to  the  Country  produceth  no  other 
effect  than  their  compliance  with,  and  protection  of,  such 

1   Clarendon  State-Papers  (Oxford,  1773),  ii.  551,  552. 

VOL     XVIII.  12 


178  PART  VI.   WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  18  Nov. 

persons  ;  and  considering  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  Coun- 
try to  detect  and  discover  them  (many  of  them  being  in- 
habitants of  those  places  where  commonly  the  outrage  is 
committed)  ;  and  perceiving  that  their  motion  is  ordinarily 
by  the  invitation,  and  according  ^  to  intelligence  given  them 
by  Countrymen : 

"I  do  therefore  declare,  that  wheresoever  any  under  my 
command  shall  be  hereafter  robbed  or  spoiled  by  such  parties, 
I  will  require  life  for  life,  and  a  plenary  satisfaction  for  their 
goods,  of  those  Parishes  and  Places  where  the  fact  shall  be 
committed ;  unless  they  shall  discover  and  produce  the  of- 
fender. And  this  I  wish  all  persons  to  take  notice  of,  that 
none  may  plead  ignorance. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  at  Edinburgh,  the  5th  of  November, 
1650. 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 


LETTER  CLH. 

ONE  nest  of  Moss-troopers,  not  far  off,  in  the  Dalkeith  region, 
ought  specially  to  be  abated. 

"  To  the  Governor  of  Borthwick  Castle  :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  18th  November,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  I  thought  fit  to  send  this  Trumpet  to  you,  to  let 
you  know,  That  if  you  please  to  walk  away  with  your  com- 
pany, and  deliver  the  House  to  such  as  I  shall  send  to  receive 
it,  you  shall  have  liberty  to  carry  off  your  arms  and  goods, 
and  such  other  necessaries  as  you  have. 

"You  have  harbored  such  parties  in  your  House  as  have 
basely  and  inhumanly  murdered  our  men :  if  you  necessitate 
me  to  bend  my  cannon  against  you,  you  may  expect  what  I 
doubt  you  will  not  be  pleased  with.  I  expect  your  present 
Answer ;  and  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  2 
1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  94). 
8  Russell's  Life  of  Cromwell,  ii.  95  (from  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland). 


1650.  LETTER  CLIII.    EDINBURGH.  179 

The  Governor  of  Borthwick  Castle,  Lord  Borthwick  of  that 
Ilk,  did  as  he  was  bidden ;  "  walked  away,"  with  movable  goods, 
with  wife  and  child,  and  had  "fifteen  days"  allowed  him  to 
pack  :  whereby  the  Dalkeith  region  and  Carlisle  Road  is  a  little 
quieter  huiiceforth. 


LETTER  CLIII. 

COLONELS  Ker  and  Strahan  with  their  Remonstrance  have 
filled  all  Scotland  with  a  fresh  figure  of  dissension.  The  Kirk 
finds  "  many  sad  truths  "  in  it ;  knows  not  what  to  do  with  it. 
In  the  Estates  themselves  there  is  division  of  opinion.  Men 
of  worship,  the  Minister  in  Kirkcaldy  among  others,  are  heard 
to  say  strange  things :  "  That  a  Hypocrite,"  or  Solecism  Incar- 
nate, "  ought  not  to  reign  over  us ;  that  we  should  treat  with 
Cromwell,  and  give  him  assurance  not  to  trouble  England  with 
a  King ;  that  whosoever  mars  such  a  Treaty,  the  blood  of  the 
slain  shall  be  on  his  head ! "  "  Which  are  strange  words," 
says  Baillie,  "  if  true."  Scotland  is  in  a  hopeful  way.  The 
extreme  party  of  Malignants  in  the  North  is  not  yet  quite  ex- 
tinct ;  and  here  is  another  extreme  party  of  Kemonstrants  in 
the  West,  —  to  whom  all  the  conscientious  rash  men  of  Scot- 
land, in  Kirkcaldy  and  elsewhere,  seem  as  if  they  would  join 
themselves  !  Nothing  but  remonstrating,  protesting,  treatyiug 
ami  mistreatying  from  sea  to  sea. 

To  have  taken  up  such  a  Remonstrance  at  first,  and  stood 
by  it,  before  the  War  began,  had  been  very  wise :  but  to  take 
it  up  now,  and  attempt  not  to  make  a  Peace  by  it,  but  to  con- 
tinue the  War  with  it,  looks  mad  enough !  Such,  neverthe- 
less, is  Colonel  Gibby  Ker's  project,  —  not  Strahan's,  it  would 
seem  :  men's  projects  strangely  cross  one  another  in  this  time 
of  bewilderment ;  and  only  perhaps  in  doing  nothing  could  a 
man  in  such  a  scene  act  wisely.  Lambert,  however,  is  gone 
into  the  West  with  three  thousand  horse  to  deal  with  Ker  ami 
his  projects ;  the  Lord  General  has  himself  been  in  the  West : 
tin-  riid  of  KIT'S  projects  is  succinctly  shadowed  forth  in  the 


180  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Dec. 

following  Letter.  From  Baillie l  we  learn  that  Ker,  with  his 
Western  Army,  was  lying  at  a  place  called  Carnmnnock,  when 
he  made  this  infall  upon  Lambert ;  that  the  time  of  it  was 
"  four  in  the  morning  of  Sunday,  1st  December,  1650 ; "  and 
the  scene  of  it  Hamilton  Town,  and  the  streets  and  ditches 
thereabouts  :  a  dark  sad  business,  of  an  ancient  Winter  morn- 
ing ;  —  sufficiently  luminous  for  our  purpose  with  it  here. 

The  "  treaties  among  the  Enemy "  means  Ker  and  Strahan's 
confused  remonstratings  and  treatyings  ;  the  "  result,"  or  gen- 
eral upshot,  of  which  is  this  scene  in  the  ditches  at  four  in  the 
morning.2 

u  To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of 
the  Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  4th  December,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  I  have  now  sent  you  the  results  of  some  Treaties 
amongst  the  Enemy,  which  came  to  my  hand  this  day. 

"  The  Major-General  and  Commissary-General  Whalley 
marched  a  few  days  ago  towards  Glasgow.  The  Enemy  at- 
tempted his  quarters  in  Hamilton ;  were  entered  the  Town : 
but  by  the  blessing  of  God,  by  a  very  gracious  hand  of  Provi- 
dence, without  the  loss  of  six  men  as  I  hear  of,  he  beat  them 
out ;  killed  about  an  Hundred ;  took  also  about  the  same  num- 
ber, amongst  whom  are  some  prisoners  of  quality ;  and  near  an 
hundred  horse,  —  as  I  am  informed.  The  Major-General  is 
still  in  the  chase  of  them ;  to  whom  also  I  have  since  sent  the 
addition  of  a  fresh  party.  Colonel  Ker  (as  my  Messenger,  this 
night,  tells  me)  is  taken  :  his  Lieutenant-Colonel ;  and  one  that 
was  sometimes  Major  to  Colonel  Strahan ;  and  Ker's  Captain- 
Lieutenant.  The  whole  Party  is  shattered.  And  give  me 
leave  to  say  it,  If  God  had  not  brought  them  upon  us,  we 
might  have  marched  three  thousand  horse  to  death,  and  not 
have  lighted  on  them.  And  truly  it  was  a  strange  Providence 
brought  them  upon  him.  For  I  marched  from  Edinburgh 
on  the  north  side  of  Clyde ;  [and  had]  appointed  the  Major- 
General  to  march  from  Peebles  to  Hamilton,  on  the  south  side 
of  Clyde.  I  came  thither  by  the  time  expected ;  tarried  the 

1  Ui.  125.  a  See  also  Whitlocke,  16th  December,  1650. 


1050.  LETTER  CLIII.    EDINBURGH.  181 

remainder  of  the  day,  and  until  near  seveu  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  —  apprehending  [then  that]  the  Major-General  would 
not  come1,  by  reason  of  the  waters.  I  being  retreated,  the 
Enemy  took  encouragement;  marched  all  that  night;  and  came 
upon  the  Mujor-General's  quarters  about  two  hours  before  day ; 
where  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  order  as  you  have  heard. 

"The  Major-General  and  Commissary-General  (as  he  sent 
me  word)  were  still  gone  on  in  the  prosecution  of  them ;  and 
[he]  saith  that,  except  an  hundred  and  fifty  horse  in  one  body, 
he  hears  they  are  fled,  by  sixteen  or  eighteen  in  a  company, 
all  the  country  over.  Robin  Montgomery  was  come  out  of 
Stirling,  with  four  or  five  regiments  of  horse  and  dragoons,1 
but  was  put  to  a  stand  when  he  heard  of  the  issue  of  this  busi- 
ness. Strahan  and  some  other  Officers  had  quitted  some  three 
weeks  or  a  month  before  this  business ;  so  that  Ker  commanded 
this  whole  party  in  chief. 

"  It  is  given  out  that  the  Malignants  will  be  almost  all  re- 
ceived, and  rise  unanimously  and  expeditiously.  I  can  assure 
you,  that  those  that  serve  you  here  find  more  satisfaction  in 
having  to  deal  with  men  of  this  stamp  than  [with]  others ; 
and  it  is  our  comfort  that  the  Lord  hath  hitherto  made  it  the 
matter  of  our  prayers,  and  of  our  endeavors  (if  it  might  have 
been  the  will  of  God),  To  have  had  a  Christian  understanding 
between  those  that  fear  God  in  this  land  and  ourselves.  And 
yet  we  hope  it  hath  not  been  carried  on  with  a  willing  failing 
of  our  duty  to  those  that  trust  us  :  —  and  I  am  persuaded  the 
Lord  hath  looked  favorably  upon  our  sincerity  herein ;  and 
will  still  do  so ;  and  upon  you  also,  whilst  you  make  the  Inter- 
est of  God's  People  yours. 

"  Those  religious  People  of  Scotland  that  fall  in  this  Cause 
we  cannot  but  pity  and  mourn  for  them  ;  and  we  pray  that  all 

1  For  the  purpose  of  rallying  to  him  these  Western  forces,  or  such  of  them 
as  would  follow  the  official  Authorities  and  him  ;  and  leading  them  to  Stirling, 
to  tin:  main  Army  (Hailliv,  ubi  tnpra).  Poor  Ker  thought  it  might  be  useful 
to  do  a  feat  on  his  own  footing  first :  and  here  is  the  conclusion  of  him !  Colo- 
iii  1  ••  Ijutiin  Munt^iiini-ry  "  is  the  Earl  of  Kgliuton'd  Sou,  whom  wo  have  re- 
peatedly (K.-CU  before 


182  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Dec. 

good  men  may  do  so  too.  Indeed,  there  is  at  this  time  a  very 
great  distraction,  and  mighty  workings  of  God  upon  the  hearts 
of  divers,  both  Ministers  and  People ;  much  of  it  tending  to  the 
justification  of  your  Cause.  And  although  some  are  as  bitter 
and  as  bad  as  ever ;  making  it  their  business  to  shuffle  hypo- 
critically with  their  consciences  and  the  Covenant,  to  make  it 
[seem]  lawful  to  join  with  Malignants,  which  now  they  do,  — 
as  well  they  might  long  before,  having  taken  in  the  Head 
[Malignant]  of  them  :  yet  truly  others  are  startled  at  it ;  and 
some  have  been  constrained  by  the  work  of  God  upon  their 
consciences,  to  make  sad  and  solemn  accusations  of  themselves, 
and  lamentations  in  the  face  of  their  Supreme  Authority ; 
charging  themselves  as  guilty  of  the  blood  shed  in  this  War, 
by  having  a  hand  in  the  Treaty  at  Breda,  and  by  bringing  the 
King  in  amongst  them.  This  lately  did  a  Lord  of  the  Session ; 
and  withdrew  [from  the  Committee  of  Estates].  And  lately 
Mr.  James  Livingston,  a  man  as  highly  esteemed  as  any  for 
piety  and  learning,  who  was  a  Commissioner  for  the  Kirk  at 
the  said  Treaty,  —  charged  himself  with  the  guilt  of  the  blood 
of  this  War,  before  their  Assembly ;  and  withdrew  from  them, 
and  is  retired  to  his  own  house. 

"  It  will  be  very  necessary,  to  encourage  victuallers  to  come 
to  us,  that  you  take  off  Customs  and  -Excise  from  all  things 
brought  hither  for  the  use  of  the  Army. 

"  I  beg  your  prayers  ;  and  rest, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

This,  then,  is  the  end  of  Ker's  fighting  project ;  a  very  mad 
one,  at  this  state  of  the  business.  The  Remonstrance  continued 
long  to  be  the  symbol  of  the  Extreme-Covenant  or  Whiggamore 
Party  among  the  Scots  ;  but  its  practical  operation  ceased 
here.  Ker  lies  lamed,  dangerously  wounded ;  and,  I  think, 
will  fight  no  more.2  "  Strahan  and  some  others,  voted  traitorous 
by  the  native  Authorities,  went  openly  over  to  Cromwell ;  — 

1  Newspapers  (in  Crormvelliana,  pp.  94,  95). 

2  Other  notice  of  him,  and  of  his  unsubduable  stiffness  of  neck,  in  Thur 
loe,  iv.  480  (Dec.  1655),  &c. 


1650.  LETTER  CLIII.    EDINBURGH.  ltfo 

Strahan  soon  after  died.  As  for  the  Western  Army,  it  straight- 
way dispersed  itself ;  part  towards  Stirling  and  the  Authori- 
ties ;  the  much  greater  part  to  their  civil  callings  again, 
wishing  they  had  never  quitted  them.  "  This  .miscarriage  of 
affairs  in  the  West  by  a  few  unhappy  men,"  says  Baillie,  "  put 
us  all  under  the  foot  of  the  Enemy.  They  presently  ran  over 
all  the  country  ;  destroying  cattle  and  crops  ;  putting  Glasgow 
and  all  other  places  under  grievous  contributions.  This  makes 
me,"  for  my  part,  "  stick  at  Perth ;  not  daring  to  go  where  the 
Enemy  is  master,  as  he  now  is  of  all  Scotland  south  of  the 
Forth." * 

It  only  remains  to  be  added,  that  the  two  Extreme  Parties 
being  broken,  the  Middle  or  Official  one  rose  supreme,  and 
widened  its  borders  by  the  admission,  as  Oliver  anticipated, 
"  of  the  Malignants  almost  all ;  "  a  set  of  "  Public  Resolutions  " 
so  called  being  passed  in  the  Scotch  Parliament  to  that  end, 
and  ultimately  got  carried  through  4he  Kirk  Assembly  too. 
Official  majority  of  "  Besolutioners,"  with  a  zealous  party  of 
"  Remonstrants,"  who  are  also  called  "  Protesters  :  "  in  Kirk 
and  State,  these  long  continue  to  afflict  and  worry  one  another, 
sad  fruit  of  a  Covenanted  Charles  Stuart ;  but  shall  not  far- 
ther concern  us  here.  It  is  a  great  comfort  to  the  Lord  General 
that  he  has  now  mainly  real  Malignants  for  enemies  in  this 
country ;  and  so  can  smite  without  reluctance.  Unhappy 
"  Kcsolutioners,"  if  they  could  subdue  Cromwell,  what  would 
become  of  them  at  the  hands  of  their  own  Malignants  !  They 
have  admitted  the  Chief  Malignant,  "  in  whom  all  Malignity 
doth  centre,"  into  their  bosom ;  and  have  an  Incarnate  Sole- 
cism presiding  over  them.  Satisfactorily  descended  from 
Elizabeth  Muir  of  Caldwell,  but  in  all  other  respects  most 
unsatisfactory  !  — 

The  "  Lord  of  the  Session,"  who  felt  startled  at  this  con- 
dition of  things,  and  "  withdrew  ''  from  it,  I  take  to  have  been 
Sir  James  Hope  of  Craighall,8  of  whom,  and  whose  scruples, 
and  the  censures  they  got,  there  is  frequent  mention  in  these 
months.  But  the  Laird  of  Swinton,  another  of  the  same,  went 
still  farther  in  the  same  course ;  and  indeed,  soon  after  this 

1  iii.  m  (d»te,*l  January,  165O-1).  -  BaUuur.iv.  173,235. 


184  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  12  Dec. 

defeat  of  Ker,  went  openly  over  to  Cromwell.  "  There  is  very 
great  distraction,  there  are  mighty  workings  upon  the  hearts 
of  divers."  "  Mr.  James  Livingston,"  the  Minister  of  Aucrum, 
has  left  a  curious  Life  of  himself :  —  he  is  still  represented  by 
a  distinguished  family  in  America. 


LETTER  CLIV. 

THE  next  affair  is  that  of  Edinburgh  Castle.  Our  Derbyshire 
miners  found  the  rock  very  hard,  and  made  small  way  in  it : 
but  now  the  Lord  General  has  got  his  batteries  ready  ;  and,  on 
Thursday,  12th  December,  after  three  months'  blockade,  salutes 
the  place  with  his  "  guns  and  mortars,"  and  the  following  set 
of  Summonses ;  which  prove  effectual. 

"  For  the  Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  12th  December,  1650. 

"  SIB,  —  We  being  now  resolved,  by  God's  assistance,  to 
make  use  of  such  means  as  He  hath  put  into  our  hands  towards 
the  reducing  of  Edinburgh  Castle,  I  thought  fit  to  send  you 
this  Summons. 

"  What  the  grounds  of  our  proceedings  have  been,  and  what 
our  desires  and  aims  in  relation  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
common  Interest  of  His  People,  we  have  often  expressed  in 
our  Papers  tendered  to  public  view.  To  which  though  credit 
hitherto  hath  not  been  given  by  men,  yet  the  Lord  hath  been 
pleased  to  bear  a  gracious  and  favorable  testimony ;  and  hath 
not  only  kept  us  constant  to  our  profession,  and  in  our  affec- 
tions to  such  as  fear  the  Lord  in  this  Nation,  but  hath  un- 
masked others  from  their  pretences,  —  as  appears  by  the 
present  transactions  at  St.  Johnston.1  Let  the  Lord  dispose 
your  resolutions  as  seemeth  good  to  Him :  my  sense  of  duty 

1  Readmission  "  of  the  Malignants  almost  all ; "  Earl  of  Calendar,  Duke 
of  Hamilton,  &c.  (Balfour,  iv.  179-203) ;  by  the  Parliament  at  Perth,  — at 
"  St.  Johnston,"  aa  the  old  name  is. 


l«0.  LETTER  CLV.    EDINBURGH.  185 

presseth  me,  for  the  ends  aforesaid,  and  to  avoid  the  effusion 
of  more  blood,  To  demand  the  rendering  of  this  place  to  me 
upon  fit  conditions. 

"  To  which  expecting  your  answer  this  day,  I  rest, 
"  Sir,  your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

The  Governor's  Answer  to  my  Lord  General's  Letter  is 
this:  — 

"For  his  Excellency  the  General  of  the  English  Forces. 

"EDINBURGH,  12th  December,  1650. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  I  am  intrusted  by  the  Estates  of  Scotland  with 
this  place ;  and  being  sworn  not  to  deliver  it  to  any  without 
their  warrant,  I  have  no  power  to  dispose  thereof  by  myself. 
I  do  therefore  desire  the  space  of  ten  days,  wherein  I  may  con- 
veniently acquaint  the  said  Estates,  and  receive  their  answer. 
And  for  this  effect,  your  safe-conduct  for  them  employed  in 
the  message.  Upon  the  receipt  of  their  answer,  you  shall 
have  the  resolution  of,  —  my  Lord, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  W. 


The  Lord  General's  Eeply  to  Governor  Walter  Dundas :  — 

LETTER  CLV. 
u  For  the  Governor  of  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh. 

"EDINBURGH,  12th  December,  1650. 

"SiR,  —  It  concerns  not  me  to  know  your  obligations  to 
those  that  trust  you.  I  make  no  question  the  apprehensions 
you  have  of  your  abilities  to  resist  those  impressions  which 
shall  be  made  upon  you,1  are  the  natural  and  equitable  rules 
of  all  men's  judgments  and  consciences  in  your  condition;  — 
except  you  had  taken  an  oath  beyond  a  possibility.  I  leave 
that  to  your  consideration  ;  and  shall  not  seek  to  contest  with 

1  By  my  cannons  and  mortars. 


186  PAKT  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  13  Dec 

your  thoughts  :  only  I  think  it  may  become  me  to  let  }uu 
know,  You  may  have  honorable  terms  for  yourself  and  those 
with  you  ;  and  both  yourself  and  soldiers  have  satisfaction  to 
all  your  reasonable  desires  ;  and  those  that  have  other  employ- 
ments, liberty  and  protection  in  the  exercise  of  them. 

'•  But  to  deal  plainly  with  you,  I  will  not  give  liberty  to 
you  to  consult  your  Committee  of  Estates ;  because  I  hear, 
those  that  are  honest  amongst  them  enjoy  not  satisfaction, 
and  the  rest  are  now  discovered  to  seek  another  Interest 
than  they  have  formerly  pretended  to.  And  if  you  desire 
to  be  informed  of  this,  you  may,  by  them  you  dare  trust, 
at  a  nearer  distance  than  St.  Johnston. 

"  Expecting  your  present  answer,  I  rest, 

"  Sir,  your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

The  Governor's  Reply,  No.  2,  arrives  on  the  morrow,  Friday ; 

"  For  his  Exceuency  the  Lord  General  of  the  English  Forces 
in  Scotland. 

"EDINBURGH  CASTLE,  13th  December,  1650. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  It  much  concerneth  me  (considering  my 
obligations)  to  be  found  faithful  in  the  trust  committed  to 
me.  And  therefore,  in  the  fear  of  the  living  God,  and  of  His 
great  Name  called  upon  in  the  accepting  of  my  trust,  I  do 
again  press  the  liberty  of  acquainting  the  Estates.  The  time 
is  but  short ;  and  I  do  expect  it,  as  answerable  to  your  pro- 
fession of  affection  to  those  that  fear  the  Lord.  In  the  mean 
time  I  am  willing  to  hear  information  of  late  proceedings 
from  such  as  he  dare  trust  who  is,  —  my  Lord, 
"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  W.  DtJNDAS." 

The  Lord  General's  Keply,  No.  2 :  — 


1660.  LETTER  CLVI.    EDINBURGH.  187 

LETTER  CLVI. 

u  For  the  Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  13th  December,  1650. 

"Sin, —  Because  of  your  strict  and  solemn  adjuration  of 
me,  in  the  fear  and  Name  of  the  living  God,  That  I  give  you 
time  to  send  to  the  Committee  of  Estates,  to  whom  you  under- 
took the  keeping  of  this  place  under  the  obligation  of  an  oath, 
as  you  affirm,  —  I  cannot  but  hope  that  it  is  your  conscience, 
and  not  policy,  carrying  you  to  that  desire.  The  granting  of 
which,  if  it  be  prejudicial  to  our  affairs,  —  1  am  as  much 
obliged  in  conscience  not  to  do  it,  as  you  can  pretend  cause 
for  your  conscience'  sake  to  desire  it. 

"  Now  considering  [that]  our  merciful  and  wise  God  binds 
not  His  People  to  actions  too  cross  one  to  another ;  but  that 
our  bands  may  be,1  as  I  am  persuaded  they  are,  through 
our  mistakes  and  darkness,  —  not  only  in  the  question  about 
the  surrendering  this  Castle,  but  also  in  all  the  present 
differences: —  I  have  much  reason  to  believe  that,  by  a  COR- 
iricuce,  you  may  be  well  satisfied,  in  point  of  fact,  of  your 
Estates  (to  whom  you  say  you  are  obliged)  carrying  on 
an  Interest  destructive  and  contrary  to  what  they  professed 
when  they  committed  that  trust  to  you,  —  having  made  to 
depart  from  them  many  honest  men  through  fear  of  their 
own  safety,*  and  making  way  for  the  reception  of  professed 
Malignants,  both  in  their  Parliament  and  Army  ;  —  and  also 
[that  you]  may  have  laid  before  you  such  grounds  of  our  ends 
and  aims  to  the  preservation  of  the  interest  of  honest  men  in 
Scotland  as  well  as  England,  as  will  (if  God  vouchsafe  to 
appear  in  them)  give  your  conscience  satisfaction.  Which 
if  you  refuse,  I  hope  you  will  not  have  cause  to  say  that  we 
are  either  unmindful  of  the  great  Name  of  the  Lord  which 
you  have  mentioned,  nor  that  we  are  wanting  to  answer  our 
profession  of  affection  to  those  that  fear  the  Lord. 

1  oar  perplexities  are  caused. 

•  Swintoii.  Straban.  llopo  of  Crmfghall.  4c. 


188  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  14  Dec. 

"  I  am  willing  to  cease  hostility  for  some  hours,  or  con- 
venient time  to  so  good  an  end  as  information  of  judgment 
and  satisfaction  of  conscience ;  —  although  I  may  not  give 
liberty  for  the  time  desired,  to  send  to  the  Committee  of 
Estates ;  or  at  all  stay  the  prosecution  of  my  attempt. 
"  Expecting  your  sudden  answer,  I  rest, 

"Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  J 

The  Governor's  Reply,  No.  3,  comes  out  on  Saturday :  — 

11  For  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General  of  the  English  Forces 
in  Scotland:  These. 

"EDINBURGH  CASTLE,  14th  December,  1650. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  What  I  pressed,  in  my  last,  proceeded  from 
conscience  and  not  from  policy :  and  I  conceived  that  the  few 
days  desired  could  not  be  of  such  prejudice  to  your  affairs  as 
to  bar  the  desired  expressions  of  professed  affection  towards 
those  that  fear  the  Lord.  And  I  expected  that  a  small  delay 
of  our  own 2  affairs  should  not  have  preponderated  the  satis- 
faction of  a  desire  pressed  in  so  serious  and  solemn  a  manner 
for  satisfying  conscience. 

"  But  if  you  will  needs  persist  in  denial,  I  shall  desire  to 
hear  the  information  of  late  proceedings  from  such  as  I  dare 
trust,  and  [as]  have  had  occasion  to  know  the  certainty  of 
things.  Such  I  hope  you  will  permit  to  come  alongst  at  the 
first  convenience ;  and  during  that  time  all  acts  of  hostility, 
and  prosecution  of  attempts,  be  forborne  on  both  sides.  I  am, 
my  Lord, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  W.  DUNDAS." 

The  Lord  General's  Eeply,  No.  3 :  — 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  97). 
fi  "  oar  own,"  one't  own. 


185'..  LETTER  CLVIII.    EDINBURGH.  189 

LETTER  CLVIL 

u  For  the  Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle  :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  14th  December,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  You  will  give  me  leave  to  be  sensible  of  delays  out 
of  conscience  of  duty  [too]. 

"If  you  please  to  name  any  you  would  speak  with  [who 
are]  now  in  Town,  they  shall  have  liberty  to  come  and  speak 
with  you  for  one  hour,  if  they  will ;  provided  you  send  pres- 
ently. I  expect  there  be  no  loss  of  time.  I  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CBOMWELL."  * 

Governor  Dundas  applies  hereupon  for  Mr.  Alexander 
Jaffray  and  the  Reverend  John  Carstairs  to  be  sent  to  him  : 
two  official  persons,  whom  we  saw  made  captive  in  Dunbar 
Drove,  who  have  ever  since  been  Prisoners-on-parole  with  his 
Excellency ;  doing  now  and  then  an  occasional  message  for » 
him ;  much  meditating  on  him  and  his  ways.  Who  very 
naturally  decline  to  be  concerned  with  so  delicate  an  opera- 
tion as  this  now  on  hand,  —  in  the  following  characteristic 
Note,  enclosed  in  his  Excellency's  lieply,  No.  4 :  — 


LETTER  CLVHI. 

"  For  the  Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  14th  December,  1650. 

"SiR, —  Having  acquainted  the  Gentlemen  with  your  desire 
to  speak  with  them,  and  they  making  some  difficulty  of  it, 
[they]  have  desired  me  to  send  you  this  enclosed.     I  rest, 
"  Sir,  your  servant, 

"OLIVES  CROMWELL."' 

Here  is  "  this  enclosed : "  — 

1  Newspapers  (in  Crvmuxlliana,  p.  97).  *  Ibid.  p.  98. 


190  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  UDec. 


"for  the  Right  Honorable  the  Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle: 

These. 

"EDINBURGH,  14th  December,  1650. 

"  RI'GHT  HONORABLE,  —  We  now  hearing  that  you  was  de- 
sirous to  speak  with  us  for  your  information  of  the  posture 
of  affairs,  we  would  be  glad,  and  we  think  you  make  no  doubt 
of  it,  to  be  refreshing  or  useful  to  you  in  anything ;  but  the 
matter  is  of  so  high  concernment,  especially  since  it  may  be 
you  will  lean  somewhat  upon  our  information  in  managing 
that  important  trust  put  upon  you,  that  we  dare  not  take 
upon  us  to  meddle  :  ye  may  therefore  do  as  ye  find  your- 
selves clear  and  in  capacity ;  and  the  Lord  be  with  you.  We 
are,  Sir,  your  honor's  humble  servants,  well-wishers  in  the 
Lord, 

"AL.  JAFFRAY. 
Jo.  CARSTAIRS." 

So  that,  for  this  Saturday,  nothing  can  be  done.  On  Sunday, 
we  suppose,  Mr.  Stapylton,  in  black,  teaches  in  St.  Giles's ; 
and  other  qualified  persons,  some  of  them  in  red  with  belts, 
teach  in  other  Kirks ;  the  Scots,  much  taken  with  the  doc- 
trine, "  answering  in  their  usual  way  of  groans,"  Hum-m-mrrh  ! 
—  and  on  Monday,  it  is  like,  the  cannons  and  mortar-pieces 
begin  to  teach  again,  or  indicate  that  they  can  at  once  begin. 
Wherefore,  on  Wednesday,  here  is  a  new  Note  from  Governor 
Dundas;  which  we  shall  call  Reply  No.  4,  from  that  much- 
straitened  Gentleman:  — 

"EDINBURGH  CASTLE,  18th  December,  1650. 

"My  LORD,  —  I  expected  that  conscience,  which  you  pre- 
tended to  be  your  motive  that  did  induce  you  to  summon  this 
house  before  you  did  attempt  anything  against  it,  should  also 
have  moved  you  to  have  expected  my  Answer  to  your  Demand 
of  the  house ;  which  I  could  not,  out  of  conscience,  suddenly 
give  without  mature  deliberation ;  it  being  a  business  of  such 
high  importance.  You  having  refused  that  little  time,  which 


1650.  LETTER  CLIX.    EDINBURGH.  191 

I  did  demand  to  the  effect  I  might  receive  the  commands  of 
them  that  did  intrust  me  with  this  place ;  and  [I]  yet  not  daring 
to  fulfil  your  desire,  —  I  do  demand  such  a  competent  time  as 
may  be  condescended  upon  betwixt  us,  within  which  if  no 
relief  come,  I  shall  surrender  this  place  upon  such  honorable 
conditions  as  can  be  agreed  upon  by  capitulation ;  and  duriug 
which  time  all  acts  of  hostility  and  prosecution  of  attempts  on 
both  sides  may  be  forborne.  I  am,  my  Lord, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"W.    DUNDAS." 

The  Lord  General's  Reply,  No.  5 :  — 


LETTER  CLIX. 

u  For  the  Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle:  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  18th  December,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  All  that  I  have  to  say  is  shortly  this :  That  if  you 
will  send  out  Commissioners  by  eleven  o'clock  this  night, 
thoroughly  instructed  and  authorized  to  treat  and  conclude, 
you  may  have  terms,  honorable  and  safe  to  you,  and  [to]  those 
whose  interests  are  concerned  in  the  things  that  are  with  you. 
I  shall  give  a  safe-conduct  to  such  whose  names  you  shall 
send  within  the  time  limited,  and  order  to  forbear  shooting 
at  their  coming  forth  and  going  in. 

"  To  this  I  expect  your  answer  within  one  hour,  and  rest, 
"  Sir,  your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

The  Governor's  Reply,  No.  5 :  — 

"  EDINBURGH  OAMTLE,  18th  December.  1650. 

"MY  LORD,  —  I  have  thought  upon  these  two  Gentlemen 
whose  names  are  here  inontiom-il ;  to  wit,  Major  Andrew 
Aberuethy  and  Captain  Robert  Henderson;  whom  I  purpose 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromuxlliana,  p.  98). 


192  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  18  Dec. 

to  send  out  instructed,  in  order  to  the  carrying  on  the  Capita 
lation.  Therefore  expecting  a  safe-conduct  for  them  with  this 
bearer,  —  I  rest,  my  Lord, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

«W.   DUNDAS." 

The  Lord  General's  Reply,  No.  6 :  — 


LETTER  CLX. 

"  For  the  Governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  18th  December,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  I  have,  here  enclosed,  sent  you  a  safe-conduct 
for  the  coming  forth  arid  return  of  the  Gentlemen  you 
desire;  and  have  appointed  and  authorized  Colonel  Monk 
and  Lieutenant-Colonel  White  to  meet  with  your  Commis- 
sioners, at  the  house  in  the  safe-conduct  mentioned :  there  to 
treat  and  conclude  of  the  Capitulation  on  my  part.  I  rest, 
"  Sir,  your  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

Here  is  his  Excellency's  Pass  or  safe-conduct  for  them :  — • 

PASS. 
"  To  all  Officers  and  Soldiers  under  my  Command. 

"  You  are  on  sight  hereof  to  suffer  Major  Andrew  Abernethy 
and  Captain  Robert  Henderson  to  come  forth  of  Edinburgh 
Castle,  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Wallace  in  Edinburgh,  and  to  re- 
turn back  into  the  said  Castle,  without  any  trouble  or  moles- 
tation. 

"  Given  under  my  hand,  this  18th  December,  1650. 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."' 

By  to-morrow  morning,  in  Mr.  Wallace's  House,  Colonel 
^torik  jtnd  the  other  Three  have  agreed  upon  handsome  terms  ; 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  98).  2  Ibid.  p.  99 


1650.  PROCLAMATION.  193 

of  which,  except  what  indicates  itself  in  the  following  Proc- 
lamation, published  by  beat  of  drum  the  same  day,  we  need 
say  nothing.  All  was  handsome,  just  and  honorable,  as  the 
case  permitted;  my  Lord  General  being  extremely  anxious 
to  gain  this  place,  and  conciliate  the  Godly  People  of  the 
Nation.  By  one  of  the  conditions,  the  Public  Registers,  now 
deposited  in  the  Castle,  are  to  be  accurately  bundled  up  by 
authorized  persons,  and  carried  to  Stirling,  or  whither  the 
Authorities  please;  concerning  which  some  question  after- 
wards accidentally  rises. 


PROCLAMATION. 

To  be  proclaimed  by  the  Marshal-general,  by  beat  of  drum  in 
Edinburgh  and  Leith. 

"  WHEREAS  there  is  an  agreement  of  articles  by  treaty  con 
eluded  betwixt  myself  and  Colonel  Walter  Dundas,  Governor 
of  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh,  which  doth  give  free  liberty  to  all 
Inhabitants  adjacent,  and  all  other  persons  who  have  any  goods 
in  the  said  Castle,  to  fetch  forth  the  same  from  thence : 

"  These  are  therefore  to  declare,  That  all  such  people  before 
mentioned  who  have  any  goods  in  the  Castle,  as  is  before  ex- 
pressed, shall  have  free  liberty  between  this  present  Thursday, 
the  19th  instant,  and  Tuesday,  the  24th,  To  repair  to  the  Cas- 
tle, and  to  fetch  away  their  goods,  without  let  or  molestation. 
And  I  do  hereby  farther  declare  and  require  all  Officers  and 
Soldiers  of  this  Army,  That  they  take  strict  care,  that  no  vio- 
lation be  done  to  any  person  or  persons  fetching  away  their 
goods,  and  carrying  them  to  such  place  or  places  as  to  them 
seeraeth  fit.  And  if  it  shall  so  fall  out  that  any  Soldier  shall 
be  found  willingly  or  wilfully  to  do  anything  contrary  here- 
unto, he  shall  suffer  death  for  the  same.  And  if  it  shall  appear 
that  any  Officer  shall,  either  through  connivance  or  otherwise, 
do  or  suffer  [to  be  done]  anything  contrary  to  and  against 
the  said  Proclamation,  wherein  it  might  lie  in  his  power  to 

VOL.    XVIII  13 


194  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  24  Dec. 

prevent  or  hinder  the  same,  he  the  said  Officer  shall  likewise 
suffer  death. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  the  19th  of  December,  1  650. 

CRCMWELL."1 


It  is  now  Thursday  :  we  gain  admittance  to  the  Castle  on 
the  Tuesday  following,  and  the  Scotch  forces  march  away,  — 
in  a  somewhat  confused  manner,  I  conceive.  For  Governor 
Dun  das  and  the  other  parties  implicated  are  considered  little 
better  than  traitors,  at  Stirling  :  in  fact,  they  are,  openly  or 
secvetly,  of  the  Remonstrant  or  Protester  species  ;  and  may  as 
well  come  over  to  Cromwell  ;  —  which  at  once  or  gradually 
the  most  of  them  do.  What  became  of  the  Clergy,  let  us  not 
inquire  :  Remonstrants  or  Resolutioners,  confused  times  await 
them  !  Of  which  here  and  there  a  glimpse  may  turn  up  as 
we  proceed.  The  Lord  General  has  now  done  with  Scotch 
Treaties  ;  the  Malignants  and  Quasi-Malignants  are  ranked  in 
one  definite  body  ;  and  he  may  smite  Avithout  reluctance.  Here 
is  his  Letter  to  the  Speaker  on  this  business.  After  which, 
we  may  hope,  the  rest  of  his  Scotch  Letters  may  be  given  in  a 
mass  ;  sufficiently  legible  without  commentary  of  ours. 


LETTER  CLXI. 

"  For  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England  :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  24th  Dec.  1650. 

"  RIGHT  HONORABLE,  —  It  hath  pleased  God  to  cause  this 
Castle  of  Edinburgh  to  be  surrendered  into  our  hands,  this 
day  about  eleven  o'clock.  I  thought  fit  to  give  you  such  ac- 
count thereof  as  I  could,  and  [as]  the  shortness  of  time  would 
permit. 

"  I  sent  a  Summons  to  the  Castle  upon  the  12th  instant ; 
which  occasioned  several  Exchanges  and  Replies,  which,  for 
their  unusualness,  I  also  thought  fit  humbly  to  present Jx>  you.2 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  99). 
3  We  have  already  read  them. 


1660.  LETTERS   CLXII.-CLXXXI.  195 

Indeed  the  mercy  is  very  great,  and  seasonable.  I  think,  I 
need  to  say  little  of  the  strength  of  the  place ;  which,  if  it  had 
not  come  in  as  it  did,  would  have  cost  very  much  blood  to  have 
attained,  if  at  all  to  be  attained ;  and  did  tie  up  your  Army 
to  that  inconvenience,  That  little  or  nothing  could  have  been 
attempted  whilst  this  was  in  design ;  or  little  fruit  had  of  any- 
thing brought  into  your  power  by  your  Army  hitherto,  without 
it.  I  must  needs  say,  not  any  skill  or  wisdom  of  ours,  but  the 
good  hand  of  God  hath  given  you  this  place. 

"  I  believe  all  Scotland  hath  not  in  it  so  much  brass  ordnance 
as  this  place.  I  send  you  here  enclosed  a  List  thereof,1  and 
of  the  arms  and  ammunition,  so  well  as  they  could  be  taken 
on  a  sudden.  Not  having  more  at  present  to  trouble  you  with. 
I  take  leave,  and  rest,  Sir, 

"Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 


LETTERS  CLXII.-CLXXXI. 

THE  Lord  General  is  now  settled  at  Edinburgh  till  the  sea- 
son for  campaigning  return.  Tradition  still  reports  him  as 
lodged,  as  in  1(>48,  in  that  same  spacious  and  sumptuous  "  Earl 
of  Murrie's  House  in  the  Cannigate  ;  "  credibly  enough  ;  though 
Tradition  does  not  in  this  instance  produce  any  written  voucher 
hitherto.8  The  Lord  General,  as  we  shall  find  by  and  by. 
falls  dangerously  sick  here  ;  worn  down  by  overwork  and  the 
rugged  climate. 

The  Soots  He  entrenched  at  Stirling,  diligently  raising  new 
;  parliamenting  and  committeeing  diligently  at  Perth;  — 


1  Drake*,  minions,  murderers,  monkeys,  of  brass  and  iron,  —  not  interest- 
ing to  u»,  except  it  f*  "  the  great  iron  murderer  called  Muckle-Meg"  already 
in  existence,  and  still  held  in  some  confused  remembrance  in  those  Northern 

potk 

•  Newspapers  (in  CromweUiana,  p.  99). 

•  Ye«,  iu  fine:  Menorie  of  tht  Somervilte*  (Edinburgh,  1815),  ii.  423,  give* 
*  my  Lady  Home's  Lodging,"  which  is  known  to  signify  that  same  House. 
(Ak«  0/1857.) 


196  PART  VI.     WAK   WITH   SCOTLAND.  s  Feb. 

crown  their  King  at  Scone  Kirk,  on  the  First  of  January,1  in 
token  that  they  have  now  all  "complied"  with  him.  The 
Lord  General  is  virtually  master  of  all  Scotland  south  of  the 
Forth ;  —  fortifies,  before  long,  a  Garrison  as  far  west  as 
"  Newark,"  2  which  we  now  call  Port  Glasgow,  on  the  Clyde. 
How  his  forces  had  to  occupy  themselves,  reducing  detached 
Castles ;  coercing  Moss-troopers ;  and,  in  detail,  bringing  the 
Country  to  obedience,  the  old  Books  at  great  length  say,  and 
the  reader  here  shall  fancy  in  his  mind.  Take  the  following 
two  little  traits  from  Whitlocke,  and  spread  them  out  to  the 
due  expansion  and  reduplication :  — 

"February  3d,  1650.  Letters  that  Colonel  Eenwick  sum- 
moned Hume  Castle  to  be  surrendered  to  General  Cromwell. 
The  Governor  answered,  '  I  know  not  Cromwell ;  and  as  for 
my  Castle,  it  is  built  on  a  rock.'  Whereupon  Colonel  Fenwick 
played  upon  him "  a  little  "  with  the  great  guns."  But  the 
Governor  still  would  not  yield ;  nay  sent  a  Letter  couched  in 
these  singular  terms :  — 

"  I,  William  of  the  Wastle, 
Am  now  in  my  Castle ; 
And  aw  the  dogs  in  the  town 
Shanna  gar  3  me  gang  down." 

So  that  there  remained  nothing  but  opening  the  mortars  upon 
this  William  of  the  Wastle ;  which  did  gar  him  gang  down,  — 
more  fool  than  he  went  up. 

We  also  read  how  Colonel  Hacker  and  others  rooted  out 
bodies  of  Moss-troopers  from  Strength  after  Strength ;  and 
"took  much  oatmeal,"  which  must  have  been  very  useful 
there.  But  this  little  Entry,  a  few  days  subsequent  to  that  of 
Willie  Wastle,  affected  us  most :  "  Letters  that  the  Scots  in 
a  Village  called  Geddard  rose,  and  armed  themselves  ;  and  set 
upon  Captain  Dawson  as  he  returned  from  pursuing  some 
Moss-troopers  ;  —  killed  his  guide  and  trumpet ;  and  took  Daw- 
son  and  eight  of  his  party,  and  after  having  given  them  quar- 

1  Minute  description  of  the  ceremony  in  Somers  Tracts,  ri.  117. 

8  Milton  State-Papers,  p.  84. 

•  "  Shaud  garre  "  is  Whitlocke's  reading. 


1651.  LETTER  CLX11.    EDINBURGH.  197 

ter,  killed  them  all  in  cold  blood,"  1  In  which  "  Village  called 
Geddard,"  do  not  some  readers  recognize  a  known  place,  Jed- 
dart  or  Jedburgh,  friendly  enough  to  Moss-troopers  ;  and  in  the 
transaction  itself,  a  notable  example  of  what  is  called  "  Jeddart 
Justice,"  —  killing  a  man  whom  you  have  a  pique  at;  killing 
him  first,  to  make  sure,  and  then  judging  him !  —  However 
there  come  Letters  too,  "That  the  English  soldiers  married 
divers  of  the  Scots  Women ; "  which  was  an  excellent  move- 
ment on  their  part ;  —  and  may  serve  as  the  concluding  feature 
here. 

LETTER  CLXH. 

THE  "  Empson "  of  this  Letter,  who  is  now  to  have  a  Com- 
pany iu  Hacker's  regiment,  was  transiently  visible  to  us  once 
already,  as  "  Lieutenant  Empson  of  my  regiment,"  in  the 
Skirmish  at  Musselburgh,  four  months  ago.8  Hacker  is  the 
well-known  Colonel  Francis  Hacker,  who  attended  the  King 
on  the  scaffold  ;  having  a  signed  Warrant,  which  we  have  read, 
addressed  to  him  and  two  other  Officers  to  that  effect.  The 
most  conspicuous,  but  by  no  means  the  most  approved,  of  his 
military  services  to  this  Country  !  For  which  one  indeed,  in 
overbalance  to  many  others,  he  was  rewarded  with  death  after 
the  Restoration.  A  Rutlandshire  man ;  a  Captain  from  the 
beginning  of  the  "War;  and  rather  favorably  visible,  from 
time  to  time,  all  along.  Of  whom  a  kind  of  continuous  Out- 
line of  a  Biography,  considerably  different  from  Caulfield's 
and  other  inane  Accounts  of  him,8  might  still  be  gathered,  did 
it  much  concern  us  here.  To  all  appearance,  a  somewhat  taci- 
turn, somewhat  indignant,  very  swift,  resolute  and  valiant 
man.  He  died  for  his  share  in  the  Regicide ;  but  did  not  pro- 
fess to  repent  of  it ;  intimated,  in  his  taciturn  way,  that  he  was 
willing  to  accept  the  results  of  it,  and  answer  for  it  in  a  much 
higher  Court  than  the  Westminster  one.  We  are  indeed  to 
understand  generally,  in  spite  of  the  light  phrase  which  Crom- 

1  14th  February,  1650  (Whitlocke,  p.  464). 

tor  CXXXV.,  antea,  p.  106. 
»  Caulfield's  High  Court  of  Justice,  pp.  83-87 ;  Truil*  of  the  Rryictde* ;  Ac. 


198  PART  VI.    WAR    WITH   SCOTLAND.  25  Dec. 

well  reprimands  in  this  Letter,  that  Hacker  was  a  religious 
man  j  and  in  his  regicides  and  other  operations  did  not  act 
without  some  warrant  that  was  very  satisfactory  to  him.  For 
the  present  he  has  much  to  do  with  Moss-troopers ;  very  active 
upon  them  ;  —  for  which  "  Peebles  "  is  a  good  locality.  He 
continues  visible  as  a  Republican  to  the  last ;  is  appointed  "  to 
raise  a  regiment "  for  the  expiring  Cause  in  1659,  —  in  which, 
what  a  little  concerns  us,  this  same  "Hubbert "  here  in  ques- 
tion is  to  be  his  Major.1 

"  To  the  Honorable  Colonel  Ifacker,  at  Peebles  or  elsewhere  : 

These. 

"[EDINBURGH,]  25th  December,  1650. 

"  SIB,  —  I  have  [used]  the  best  consideration  I  can,  for  the 
present,  in  this  business ;  and  although  I  believe  Captain 
Hubbert  is  a  worthy  man,  and  hear  so  much,  yet,  as  the  case 
stands,  I  cannot,  with  satisfaction  to  myself  and  some  others, 
revoke  the  Commission  I  had  given  to  Captain  Empson,  with- 
out offence  to  them,  and  reflection  upon  my  own  judgment. 

"  I  pray  let  Captain  Hubbert  know  I  shall  not  be  unmind- 
ful of  him,  and  that  no  disrespect  is  intended  to  him.  But 
indeed  I  was  not  satisfied  with  your  last  speech  to  me  about 
Empson,  That  he  was  a  better  preacher  than  fighter  or  sol- 
dier, —  or  words  to  that  effect.  Truly  I  think  he  that  prays 
and  preaches  best  will  fight  best.  I  know  nothing  [that]  will 
give  like  courage  and  confidence  as  the  knowledge  of  God  in 
Christ  will ;  and  I  bless  God  to  see  any  in  this  Army  able  and 
willing  to  impart  the  knowledge  they  have,  for  the  good  of 
others.  And  I  expect  it  be  encouraged,  by  all  the  Chief 
Officers  iii  this  Army  especially ;  and  I  hope  you  will  do  so. 
I  pray  receive  Captain  Empson  lovingly  ;  I  dare  assure  you 
he  is  a  good  man  and  a  good  officer ;  I  would  we  had  no  worse. 
I  rest, 

"  Your  loving  friend, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

1  Commons  Journals,  vii.  669,  675,  824. 

z  Harris,  p.  516  ;  Lausdowne  MfcjS.,  1236,  fol.  99,  contains  the  address,  which 
Harris  has  omitted. 


1860.  LETTER  CLXUl.    EDINBURGH.  199 

LETTER  CLXTII. 

LETTER  hundred-and-sixty-third  relates  to  the  exchange  of 
three  Prisoners  whom  we  saw  taken  in  Dunbar  Drove,  and 
have  had  an  occasional  glimpse  of  since.  Before  reading  it, 
let  us  read  another  Letter,  which  is  quite  unconnected  with 
this ;  but  which  lies,  as  we  may  see,  on  the  Lord  General's 
table  in  Moray  House  in  the  Canongate,  while  he  writes  this  ; 
—  and  indeed  is  a  unique  of  its  kind  :  A  Letter  from  the  Lord 
General's  Wife. 

"  My  Lord  Chief  Justice  "  is  Oliver  St.  John,  known  to  us 
this  long  while  ;  "  President "  is  Bradshaw  ;  "  Speaker  "  is 
Lenthall :  high  official  persons  ;  to  whom  it  were  better  if  the 
Lord  General  took  his  Wife's  advice,  and  wrote  occasionally. 

"  The  Lady  Elizabeth  Cromwell  to  her  Husband  the  Lord 
General  at  Edinburgh. 

"  [COCKPIT,  LONDON,]  27th  December,  1650. 

"  MY  DEAJBEST,  —  I  wonder  you  should  blame  me  for  writing 
no  oftener,  when  I  have  sent  three  for  one :  I  cannot  but  think 
they  are  miscarried.  Truly  if  I  know  my  own  heart,  I  should 
as  soon  neglect  myself  as  to  [omit]  *  the  least  thought  to- 
wards you,  who  in  doing  it,  I  must  do  it  to  myself.  But  when 
I  do  write,  my  Dear,  I  seldom  have  any  satisfactory  answer ; 
which  makes  mu  think  my  writing  is  slighted  ;  as  well  it  may  : 
but  I  cannot  but  think  your  love  covers  my  weakness  and 
infirmities. 

"  I  should  rejoice  to  hear  your  desire  in  seeing  me ;  but  I 
desire  to  submit  to  the  Providence  of  God;  hoping  the  Lord, 
who  hath  separated  us,  and  hath  often  brought  us  together 
again,  will  in  His  good  time  bring  us  again,  to  the  praise  of 
His  name.  Truly  my  life  is  but  half  a  life  in  your  absence, 
did  not  the  Lord  make  it  up  in  Himself,  which  I  must  acknowl- 
edge to  the  praise  of  His  grace. 

"  I  would  you  would  think  to  write  sometimes  to  your  dear 
friend  my  Lord  Chief  Justice,  of  whom  I  have  often  put  you 
in  mind.  And  truly,  my  Dear,  if  you  would  think  of  what  I 

1  Word  torn  oat. 


200  PART  Vi.    WAR   WITH  SCOTLAND. 

put  you  in  mind  of  some,  it  might  be  to  as  much  purpose  as 
others ; 1  writing  sometimes  a  Letter  to  the  President,  and 
sometimes  to  the  Speaker.  Indeed,  my  Dear,  you  cannot 
think  the  wrong  you  do  yourself  in  the  want  of  a  Letter, 
though  it  were  but  seldom.  I  pray  think  on  ; 2  and  so  rest, 
"  Yours  in  all  faithfulness, 

"  ELIZABETH  CROMWELL."  8 

This  Letter,  in  the  original,  is  frightfully  spelt :  but  other- 
wise exactly  as  here :  the  only  Letter  extant  of  this  Heroine  ; 
and  not  unworthy  of  a  glance  from  us.  It  is  given  in  Harris 
too,  and  in  Noble  very  incorrectly. 

And  now  for  the  Letter  concerning  Provost  Jaffray  and  his 
two  fellow-prisoners  from  Dunbar  Drove. 

"For  the  Right  Honorable  Lieutenant- General  David  Lesley  : 

These. 

"  EDINBURGH,  17th  January,  1650. 

"  SIB,  —  I  perceive  by  your  last  Letter  you  had  not  met  with 
Mr.  Carstairs  4  and  Mr.  Waugh,  who  were  to  apply  themselves 
to  you  about  Provost  Jaff ray's  and  their  release,  [in  ex- 
change] for  the  Seamen  and  Officers.  But  I  understood,  by 
a  Paper  since  shown  me  by  them  under  your  hand,  that  you 
were  contented  to  release  the  said  Seamen  and  Officers  for 
those  Three  Persons,  —  who  have  had  their  discharges  accord- 
ingly. 

"I  am  contented  also  to  discharge  the  Lieutenant  [in  ex- 
change] for  the  Four  Troopers  at  Stirling,  who  hath  solicited 
me  to  that  purpose. 

"  I  have,  here  enclosed,  sent  you  a  Letter,5  which  I  desire 
you  to  cause  to  be  conveyed  to  the  Committee  of  Estates ;  and 
that  such  return  shall  be  sent  back  to  me  as  they  shall  please 
to  give.  I  remain,  Sir, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

1  The  grammar  bad  ;  the  meaning  evident  or  discoverable,  —  and  the  bad 
grammar  a  part  of  that ! 

2  "  think  of"  is  the  Lady's  old  phrase.  8  Milton  State-Pafters,  p.  40. 
4  Custaires.  6  The  next  Letter. 

•    •  Thurloe,  i.  172.    Laigh  Parliament  House. 


1651.  LETTER  CLX111.     ED1NBUKUH  201 

Here  is  a  notice  from  Balfour :  *  At  Perth,  •  22d  Novem- 
ber, 1650  (licrje  prcesente"  the  King  being  present,  as  usually 
after  that  Flight  to  the  Grampian  Hills  he  is  allowed  to 
be),  "the  Committee  of  Estates  remits  to  the  Committee  of 
Quarterings  the  exchange  of  Prisoners  anent  Mr.  Alexander 
Jaffray  and  Mr.  John  Carstairs,  Minister,  with  some  English 
Prisoners  in  the  Castle  of  Dumbarton. ;'  Nevertheless,  at  this 
date,  six  or  seven  weeks  after,  the  business  is  not  yet  perfected.- 

Alexander  Jaffray,  as  we  know  already,  is  Provost  of  Aber- 
deen ;  a  leading  man  for  the  Covenant  from  of  old ;  and  gen- 
erally the  Member  for  his  Burgh  in  the  Scotch  Parliaments  of 
these  years.  In  particular,  he  sits  as  Commissioner  for  Aber- 
deen in  the  Parliament  that  met  4th  January,  1649 ;  *  under 
which  this  disastrous  Quarrel  with  the  English  began.  He 
was  famed  afterwards  (infamous  it  then  meant)  as  among  the 
first  of  the  Scotch  Quakers ;  he,  with  Barclay  of  Urie,  and 
other  lesser  Fallen-Stars.  Personal  intercourse  with  Crom- 
well, the  Sectary  and  Blasphemer,  had  much  altered  the  no- 
tions of  Mr.  Alexander  Jaffray.  Baillie  informed  us,  three 
months  ago,  he  and  Carstairs,  then  Prisoners-ou -parole,  were 
sent  Westward  by  Cromwell  "  to  agent  the  Remonstrance,"  — 
to  guide  towards  some  good  issue  the  Ker-and-Strahan  Nego- 
tiation ;  which,  alas,  could  only  be  guided  headlong  into  the 
ditches  at  Hamilton  before  daybreak,  as  we  saw!  —  Jaffray 
but  afterwards  in  the  Little  Parliament ;  was  an  official  person 
in  Scotland,*  and  one  of  Cromwell's  leading  men  there. 

Carstairs,  we  have  to  say  or  repeat,  is  one  of  the  Ministers 
of  Glasgow ;  deep  in  the  confused  Remonstrant-Resolutioner 
Controversies  of  that  day  ;  though  on  which  side  precisely 
one  does  not  altogether  know,  perhaps  he  himself  hardly  alto- 
gether knew.  From  Baillie,  who  has  frequent  notices  of  him, 
it  is  clear  he  tends  strongly  towards  the  Cromwell  view  in 
many  things;  yet  with  repugnancies,  anti-sectary  and  other, 
difficult  for  frail  human  nature.  How  he  managed  his  life- 

1  iv.  168.  •  Balfonr,  iii.  382. 

*  Ousted  our  friend  Scotetarvet,  —  most  nnjostly,  thinks  he  of  the  Stagncr- 
«»<7  State  (p.  19!)  There  wanted  only  that  to  make  the  Homily  on  Life's 


202  FAIiT  VI.    WAIi  WITH   SCOTLAND.  17  Jan. 

pilotage  in  these  circumstances  shall  concern  himself  mainly. 
His  Son,  I  believe,  is  the  "  Principal  Carstairs,"  *  who  became 
very  celebrated  among  the  Scotch  Whigs  in  King  William's 
time.  He  gets  home  to  Glasgow  now,  where  perhaps  we 
shall  see  some  glimpses  of  him  again. 

John  Waugh  (whom  they  spell  Vauch  and  Wauch.  and 
otherwise  distort)  was  the  painful  Minister  of  Borrowstoun- 
ness,  in  the  Shire  of  Linlithgow.  A  man  of  many  troubles, 
now  and  afterwards.  Captive  in  the  Duubar  Drove ;  still 
deaf  he  to  the  temptings  of  Sectary  Cromwell ;  deafer  than 
ever.  In  this  month  of  January,  1651,  we  perceive  he  gets 
his  deliverance ;  returns  with  painfully  increased  experience, 
but  little  change  of  view  derived  from  it,  to  his  painful  Min- 
istry ;  where  new  tribulations  await  him.  From  Baillie  2  I 
gather  that  the  painful  Waugh's  invincible  tendency  was  to 
the  Resolutioner  or  Quasi-Malignant  side ;  and  too  strong 
withal ;  —  no  level  sailing,  or  smooth  pilotage,  possible  for 
poor  Waugh  !  For  as  the  Remonstrant,  Protester,  or  Ker-and- 
Strahan  Party,  having  joined  itself  to  the  Cromwellian,  came 
ultimately  to  be  dominant  in  Scotland,  there  ensued  for  strait- 
laced  clerical  individuals  who  would  cling  too  desperately  tc 
the  opposite  Resolutioner  or  Quasi-Malignant  side,  very  bad 
times.  There  ensued  in  the  first  place,  very  naturally,  this, 
That  the  strait-laced  individual,  who  would  not  cease  to  pray 
publicly  against  the  now  Governing  Powers,  was  put  out  of  his 
living :  this ;  and  if  he  grew  still  more  desperate,  worse  than 
this. 

Of  both  which  destinies  our  poor  strait-laced  Waugh  may 
serve  to  us  as  an  emblem  here.  Some  three  years  hence  we 
find  that  the  Cromwellian  Government  has,  in  Waugh's,  as  in 
various  other  cases,  ejected  the  strait-laced  Resolutioner,  and 
inducted  a  Zoose-laced  Protester  into  his  Kirk ;  —  leaving  poor 
"Waugh  the  strait-laced  to  preach  "in  a  barn  hard  by."  And 
though  the  loose-laced  "  have  but  fifteen,"  and  the  strait-laced 
"all  the  Parish,"  it  matters  not;  the  stipend  and  the  Kirk 
go  with  him  whose  lacing  is  loose  :  one  has  nothing  but  one's 
barn  left,  and  sad  reflections.  Nay  in  Waugh's  case,  the  very 

1  B'uxj.  Britann.  in  voce ;  somewhat  indistinct.  -  iii.  248. 


1651.  LETTER  CLXIV.    EDINBURGH.  203 

barn,  proving  as  is  likely  an  arena  of  too  vehement  discourse, 
was  taken  away  from  him ;  and  he,  Waugh,  was  lodged  in 
Prison,  in  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh.1  For  Waugh  "  named  the 
King  in  his  prayers,"  he  and  "  Mr.  Robert  Knox  "  even  went 
that  length !  In  Baillie,  under  date  llth  November,  1653,  is 
a  most  doleful  inflexible  Letter  from  Waugh's  own  hand : 
"brought  to  the  top  of  this  rock,"  as  his  ultimate  lodging- 
place  ;  "  having  my  habitation  among  the  owls  of  the  desert, 
because  of  my  very  great  uselessness  and  fruitlessness  among 
the  sons  of  men."  Yet  he  is  right  well  satisfied,  conscience 
yielding  him  a  good  &c.  &c.  —  Poor  Waugh,  I  wish  he  would 
reconsider  himself.  Whether  it  be  absolutely  indispensable 
to  Christ's  Kirk  to  have  a  Nell-Gwynn  Defender  set  over  it, 
even  though  descended  from  Elizabeth  Muir  ;  and  if  no  other, 
not  the  bravest  and  devoutest  of  all  British  men,  will  do  for 
that  ?  0  Waugh,  it  is  a  strange  camera-obscura,  the  head  of 
man!  — 


LETTER  CLXIV. 

WE  have  heard  of  many  Moss-troopers :  we  heard  once  of  a 
certain  Watt,  a  Tenant  of  the  Earl  of  Tweedale's,  who  being 
ruined  out  by  the  War,  distinguished  himself  in  this  new 
course  ;  and  contemporary  with  him,  of  "  one  Augustin  a  High- 
German."  To  which  latter  some  more  special  momentary  no- 
tice now  falls  due. 

Read  Bal  four's  record,  and  then  Cromwell's  Letter.  "  One 
Augustin,  a  High-German,  being  purged  out  of  the  Army 
before  Dunbar  Drove,  but  a  stout  and  resolute  young  man, 
:nul  lover  of  the  Scots  Nation,  —  imitating  Watt,  —  in  Octo- 
ber or  November  this  year,  annoyed  the  Enemy  very  much ; 
killing  many  of  his  stragglers ;  and  made  nightly  infalls  upon 
tlu-ir  quarters,  taking  aud  killing  sometimes  twenty,  some- 
times thirty,  and  more  or  less  of  them  :  whereby  he  both  en- 
riched himself  and  his  followers,  and  greatly  damnified  the 
His  chief  abode  was  aliout  and  iu  the  Mountains  of 

i  Baillie,  in,  24S,  253,  22ft. 


204  FART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  i?  Jan. 

Pentland  and  Soutra." — And  again,  from  Perth,  19th  Decem- 
ber, 1650  :  "  Memorandum,  That  Augustin  departed  from  Fife 
with  a  party  of  sixscore  horse ;  crossed  at  Blackness  on  Fri- 
day, 13th  December ;  forced  Cromwell's  guards ;  killed  eighty 
men  to  the  Enemy ;  put  in  thirty-six  men  to  Edinburgh  Cas- 
tle, with  all  sorts  of  spices,  and  some  other  things ;  took  thirty- 
five  horses  and  five  prisoners,  which  he  sent  to  Perth  the  14th 
of  this  instant."  Which  feat,  with  the  spices  and  thirty-six 
men,  could  not  indeed  save  Edinburgh  Castle  from  surrender- 
ing, as  we  saw,  next  week ;  but  did  procure  Captain  Augustin 
"thanks  from  the  Lord  Chancellor  and  Parliament  in  his 
Majesty's  name,"  and  good  outlooks  for  promotion  in  that 
quarter.1 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  the  Committee  of  Estates  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Scotland :   These. 

"EDINBURGH,  17th  January,  1650 

"Mr  LORDS,  —  Having  been  informed  of  divers  barbarous 
murders  and  inhuman  acts,  perpetrated  upon  our  men  by  one 
Augustin  a  German  in  employ  under  you,  and  one  Ross  a  Lieu- 
tenant, I  did  send  to  Lieutenant-General  David  Lesley,  desir- 
ing justice  against  the  said  persons.  And  to  the  end  I  might 
make  good  the  fact  upon  them,  I  was  willing  either  by  com- 
missioners on  both  parts,  or  in  any  other  equal  way,  to  have 
the  charge  proved. 

"The  Lieutenant-General  was  pleased  to  allege  a  want  of 
power  from  Public  Authority  to  enable  him  herein  :  which 
occasions  me  to  desire  your  Lordships  that  this  business  may 
be  put  into  such  a  way  as  may  give  satisfaction ;  —  whereby 
I  may  understand  what  rules  your  Lordships  will  hold  during 
this  sad  Contest  between  the  two  Nations ;  [rules]  which  may 
evidence  the  War  to  stand  upon  other  pretences  at  least  than 
the  allowing  of  such  actions  will  suppose. 

"  Desiring  your  Lordships'  answer,  I  rest,  my  Lords, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."' 

1  Balfour,  iv.  166,  210,  214. 

2  Thurloe,  i.  173.     Laigh  Parliament  House. 


1651.  LETTER  CLXV.    EDINBURGH.  205 

No  effect  whatever  seems  to  have  boen  produced  by  this  Let- 
ter. The  Scotch  Quasi-Malignant  Authorities  have  "thanked  " 
Augustin,  and  are  determined  to  have  all  the  benefit  they  can 
of  him,  —  which  cannot  be  much,  one  would  think !  In  the 
following  June  accordingly  we  find  him  become  "  Colonel 
Augustin,"  probably  Major  or  Lieutenant-Colonel;  quartered 
with  Robin  Montgomery  "  at  Dumfries ;  "  giving  "  an  alarm  to 
Carlisle,"  but  by  no  means  taking  it;  —  "falling  in,"  on  an- 
other occasion,  "  with  two  hundred  picked  men,"  but  very  glad 
to  fall  out  again,  "  nearly  all  cut  off."  In  strong  practical  Re 
monstrance  against  which,  the  learned  Bulstrode  has  Letters 
in  November,  vague  but  satisfactory,  "  That  the  Scots  them- 
selves rose  against  Augustin,  killed  some  of  his  men,  and  drove 
away  the  rest ; "  entirely  disapproving  of  such  courses  and 
personages.  And  then  finally  in  January  following,  "  Letters 
that  Augustin  the  great  robber  in  Scotland,  —  upon  disband- 
ing of  the  Marquis  of  Huntly's  forces,"  the  last  remnant  of 
Scotch  Malignancy  for  the  present,  —  "  went  into  the  Orcades, 
and  there  took  ship  for  Norway."  *  Fair  wind  and  full  sea  to 
himl  — 


LETTER  CLXV. 

AN  Official  Medallist  has  arrived  from  London  to  take  the 
Effigies  of  the  Lord  General,  for  a  Medal  commemorative  of 
the  Victory  at  Dunbar.  The  Effigies,  Portrait,  or  "  Statue  "  as 
they  sometimes  call  it,  of  the  Lord  General  appears  to  be  in  a 
state  of  forwardness ;  but  he  would  fain  waive  such  a  piece  of 
vanity.  The  "  Gratuity  to  the  Army  "  is  a  solid  thing :  but 
this  of  the  Effigies,  or  Stamp  of  my  poor  transient  unbeautiful 
Face  —  ?  However,  the  Authorities,  as  we  may  surmise,  have 
made  up  their  mind, 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromweliiana,  p.  104) ;  Whitlocke,  23d  November,  1651; 
ib  i4th  January,  1651-2. 


206  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Feb. 

"  For  the  Honorable  the   Committee  of  the  Army  [at  London] : 

These. 

"EDINBURGH,  4th  February,  1650. 

"  GENTLEMEN, —  It  was  not  a  little  wonder  to  me  to  see  that 
you  should  send  Mr.  Synionds  so  great  a  journey,  about  a  busi- 
ness importing  so  little,  as  far  as  it  relates  to  me ;  whereas,  if 
my  poor  opinion  may  not  be  rejected  by  you,  I  have  to  offer  to 
that 1  which  I  think  the  most  noble  end,  to  wit,  The  Commemo- 
ration of  that  great  Mercy  at  Dunbar,  and  the  Gratuity  to  the 
Army.  Which  might  be  better  expressed  upon  the  Medal,  by 
engraving,  as  on  the  one  side  the  Parliament,  which  I  hear 
was  intended  and  will  do  singularly  well,  so  on  the  other  side 
an  Army,  with  this  Inscription  over  the  head  of  it,  The  Lord 
of  Hosts,  which  was  our  Word  that  day.  Wherefore,  if  I  may 
beg  it  as  a  favor  from  you,  I  most  earnestly  beseech  you,  if 
I  may  do  it  without  offence,  that  it  may  be  so.  And  if  you 
think  not  fit  to  have  it  as  I  offer,  you  may  alter  it  as  you  see 
cause  ;  only  I  do  think  I  may  truly  say,  it  will  be  very  thank- 
fully acknowledged  by  me,  if  you  will  spare  the  having  my 
Effigies  in  it. 

"The  Gentleman's  pains  and  trouble  hither  have  been  very 
great ;  and  I  shall  make  it  my  second  suit  unto  you  that  you 
will  please  to  confer  upon  him  that  Employment  which  Nich- 
olas Briot  had  before  him  :  indeed  the  man  is  ingenious,  and 
worthy  of  encouragement.  I  may  not  presume  much ;  but  if, 
at  my  request,  and  for  my  sake,  he  may  obtain  this  favor,  I 
shall  put  it  upon  the  account  of  my  obligations,  which  are  not 
few;  and,  I  hope,  shall  be  found  ready  to  acknowledge  [it], 
and  to  approve  myself,  Gentlemen, 

"  Your  most  real  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

Of  "  Nicholas  Briot "  and  "  Mr.  Symonds,"  since  they  have 
the  honor  of  a  passing  relation  to  the  Lord  General,  and  still 
enjoy,  or  suffer,  a  kind  of  ghost-existence  in  the  Dilettante 
memory,  we  may  subjoin,  rather  than  cancel,  the  following 

1  I  should  vote  exclusively  for  that.  2  Harris,  p.  519. 


1851.  LETTER  CLXV.    EDINBURGH.  207 

authentic  particulars.  In  the  Commons  Journals  of  20th 
August,  1<>42,  it  is :  "  Ordered,  That  the  Earl  of  Warwick," 
now  Admiral  of  our  Fleet,  "be  desired  that  Monsieur  Bryatt 
may  hare  delivery  of  his  wearing  apparel ;  and  all  his  other 
goods  stayed  at  Scarborough,  not  belonging  to  Minting  and 
Coining  of  Moneys." — This  Nicholas  Bryatt,  or  Briot,  then, 
must  have  been  Chief  Engraver  for  the  Mint  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Civil  Wars.  We  perceive,  he  has  gone  to  the  King 
northward;  but  is  here  stopt  at  Scarborough,  with  all  his 
baggage,  by  Warwick  the  Lord  High  Admiral :  and  is  to  get 
away.  What  became  of  him  afterwards,  or  what  was  his 
history  before,  no  man  and  hardly  any  Dilettante  knows. 

Symonds,  Symons,  or,  as  the  moderns  call  him,  Simon,  is 
still  known  as  an  approved  Medal-maker.  In  the  Commons 
Journals  of  17th  December,  1651,  we  find :  "  Ordered,  That  it 
be  referred  to  the  Council  of  State  to  take  order  that  the  sum 
of  £300  be  paid  unto  Thomas  Symonds,  which  was  agreed  by 
the  Committee  appointed  for  that  purpose  to  be  paid  unto 
him,  for  the  Two  Great  Seals  made  by  him,  and  the  materials 
thereof :  And  that  the  said  Council  do  take  consideration  of 
what  farther  recompense  is  fit  to  be  given  unto  him  for  his 
extraordinary  pains  therein ;  and  give  order  for  the  payment 
of  such  sum  of  money  as  they  shall  think  fit  in  respect 
thereof." 

An  earlier  entry,  which  still  more  concerns  us  here,  is  an 
<  >nliT,  in  favor  of  one  whose  name  has  not  reached  the  Clerk, 
and  is  now  indicated  only  by  stars,  That  the  Council  of  State 
shall  pay  him  for  "making  the  Statue  of  the  General,"  — 
doubtless  this  Medal  or  Effigies  of  the  General;  the  name  in- 
dicated by  stars  being  again  that  of  Symonds.  The  Order,  we 
observe,  has  the  same  date  as  the  present  Letter.1  The  Medal 
of  Cromwell,  executed  on  this  occasion,  still  exists,  and  is  said 
to  be  a  good  likeness.8  The  Committee-men  had  not  taken  my 
Lord  General's  advice  about  the  Parliament,  about  the  Army 
with  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  the  total  omitting  of  his  own 
Effigies.  Vertue  published  Engravings  of  all  these  Medals  of 
Simon  (as  he  spells  him)  in  the  year  1753. 

1  CommtM*  Jvuntdt,  4th  February    16MM  *  Harris,  p.  518. 


208  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Feb. 

The  "  Two  Great  Seals/'  mentioned  in  the  Excerpt  above, 
are  also  worth  a  word  from  us.  There  had  a  good  few  Great 
Seals  to  be  made  in  the  course  of  this  War :  all  by  Symonds  : 
of  whom,  with  reference  thereto,  we  find,  in  authentic  quarters, 
various  notices,  of  years  long  prior  and  posterior  to  this.  The 
first  of  all  the  "  new  Great  Seals  "  was  the  one  made,  after 
infinite  debates  and  hesitations,  in  1643,  when  Lord  Keeper 
Ly ttleton  ran  away  with  the  original :  Symonds  was  the  maker 
of  this,  as  other  entries  of  the  same  Rhadamanthine  Commons 
Journals  instruct  us  :  On  the  llth  July,  1643,  Henry  Marten 
is  to  bring  "the  man  "  that  will  make  the  new  Great  Seal,  and 
let  us  see  him  "  to-morrow ;  "  which  man,  it  turns  out,  at  sight 
of  him,  not  "  to-morrow,"  but  a  week  after,  on  the  19th  July,  is 
"Mr.  Simonds,"  l  —  who,  we  find  farther,  is  to  have  £100  for 
his  work ;  £40  in  hand,  £30  so  soon  as  his  work  is  done,  and  the 
other  £30  one  knows  not  when.  Symonds  made  the  Seal  duly ; 
but  as  for  his  payment,  we  fear  it  was  not  very  duly  made.  Of 
course  when  the  Commonwealth  and  Council  of  State  began,  a 
couple  of  new  Great  Seals  were  needed ;  and  these  too,  as  we 
see  above,  Symonds  made ;  and  is  to  be  paid  for  them,  and  for 
the  General's  Statue ;  —  which  we  hope  he  was,  but  are  not 
sure  ! 

Other  new  Seals,  Great  and  Not-so-great,  in  the  subsequent 
mutations,  were  needed ;  and  assiduous  Symonds  made  them 
all.  Nevertheless,  in  1659,  when  the  Protectorate  under 
Richard  was  staggering  towards  ruin,  we  find,  "Mr.  Thomas 
Symonds  Chief  Graver  of  the  Mint  and  Seals,"  repeatedly 
turning  up  with  new  Seals,  new  order  for  payment,  and  new 
indication  that  the  order  was  but  incompletely  complied  with.3 
May  14th,  1659,  he  has  made  a  new  and  newest  Great  Seal ;  he 
is  to  be  paid  for  that,  and  "  for  the  former,  for  which  he  yet 
remains  unsatisfied."  Also  on  the  24th  May,  1659,8  the  Coun- 
cil of  State  get  a  new  Seal  from  him.  Then  on  the  22d  August, 
on  the  Rump  Parliament's  re-assembling,  he  makes  a  "new 
Parliament  Seal ; "  and  presents  a  modest  Petition  to  have  his 
money  paid  him  :  order  is  granted  very  promptly  to  that  end  5 

1  Commons  Journals,  iii.  162, 174.  2  Ibid.  vii.  654. 

8  Ibid.  vii.  663. 


1651.  LETTER  CLXVI.    EDINBURGH.  209 

"his  debt  to  be  paid  for  this  Seal,  and  for  all  former  work 
done  by  him ;  "  —  we  hope,  with  complete  effect.1 

The  Restoration  soon  followed,  and  Symonds  continued  still 
in  the  Mint  under  Charles  II. ;  when  it  is  not  very  likely  his 
claims  were  much  better  attended  to ;  the  brave  Hollar,  and 
other  brave  Artists,  having  their  own  difficulties  to  get  life 
kept  in,  during  those  rare  times,  Mr.  Rigmarole  !  —  Symonds, 
we  see,  did  get  the  place  of  Nicholas  Briot ;  and  found  it,  like 
other  brave  men's  places,  full  of  hard  work  and  short  rations. 
Enough  now  of  Symonds  and  the  Seals  and  Effigies. 


LETTER  CLXVI. 

ALONG  with  Symonds,  various  English  strangers,  we  per- 
ceive, are  arriving  or  arrived,  on  miscellaneous  business  with 
the  Lord  General  in  his  Winter-quarters.  Part  of  the  Oxford 
Caput  is  here  in  Edinburgh,  with  "  a  very  high  testimony  of 
respect ; "  whom,  in  those  same  hours,  the  Lord  General  dis- 
misses honorably  with  their  Answer. 

We  are  to  premise  that  Oxford  University,  which  at  the  end 
of  the  First  Civil  War  had  been  found  in  a  most  broken,  Ma- 
lignant, altogether  waste  and  ruinous  condition,  was  after- 
\s -.mis,  not  without  difficulty,  and  immense  patience  on  the 
jurt  of  the  Parliament  Commissioners,  radically  reformed. 
Philip  Earl  of  Pembroke,  he  of  the  loud  voice,  who  dined  once 
with  Bulstrode  in  the  Guildhall ; 3  he,  as  Chancellor  of  the 
University,  had  at  last  to  go  down  in  person,  in  the  Spring  of 
1C  IS;  —  put  the  intemperate  Dr.  Fell,  incorrigible  otherwise, 
under  lock  and  key;  left  the  incorrigible  Mrs.  Dr.  Fell,  "whom 
the  soldiers  had  to  carry  out  in  her  chair,"  "sitting  in  the 
<iu;idr;in<,rle;"  appointed  a  new  Vice-Chancellor,  new  Heads 
where  needful,  —  and,  on  the  whole,  swept  the  University 
dean  of  much  loud  Nonsense,  and  left  some  Piety  and  Sense, 
the  l)cst  he  could  meet  with,  at  work  there  in  its  stead.*  At 

1   <  '"mmoitt  Journal*,  vii.  654,  663,  765.  -  Auteo,  vol.  xvii.  p.  435. 

1  Act  ami  Viniton*'  n.m,.-  in  Scobell,  i.  116  (1st  May,  1047)  :  see  Commons 
Journal*,  \.   *i   I  rj    (loth   February- 15th  April,  1647):  8th   March,  1647-8, 
>•<•!.    xviu.  14 


210  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  4  Feb. 

work,  with  earnest  diligence  and  good  success,  as  it  has  since 
continued  actually  to  be,  —  for  the  contemporary  clamors  and 
Querelas  about  Vandalism,  Destruction  of  Learning,  and  so 
forth,  prove  on  examination  to  be  mere  agonized  shrieks,  and 
uumelodious  hysterical  wind,  forgettable  by  all  creatures.  Js  ot 
easily  before  or  since  could  the  Two  Universities  give  such 
account  of  themselves  to  mankind,  under  all  categories,  human 
and  divine,  as  during  those  Puritan  years. 

But  now  Philip  of  Pembroke,  the  loud-voiced  Chancellor  of 
Oxford,  is  dead ;  and  the  reformed  University,  after  due  con- 
sultation, has  elected  the  Lord  General  in  his  stead  ;  to  which 
"high  testimony"  here  is  his  response.  —  "Dr.  Greenwood," 
who,  I  think,  has  some  cast  about  his  eyes,  is  otherwise  a  most 
recommendable  man:  "Bachelor,  then  Doctor  of  Divinity, 
sometimes  Fellow  of  Brasenose  College,"  says  Royalist  An- 
thony,1 "  and  lately  made  Principal  of  the  said  College  by  the 
Committee  and  Parliamentary  Visitors ;  a  severe  and  good 
Governor,  as  well  in  his  Vice-Chancellorship  as  Principality ; 
continued  till  the  King's  return,  and  then  "  — 

"  To  the  Reverend  Dr.  Greenwood,  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  and  other  Members  of  the  Convocation. 

"EDINBUBGH,  4th  Feb.  1650. 

"  HONORED  GENTLEMEN,  —  I  have  received,  by  the  hands  of 
those  worthy  Persons  of  your  University  sent  by  you  into 
Scotland,  a  Testimony  of  very  high  respect  and  honor,  in 
[your]  choosing  me  to  be  your  Chancellor.  Which  deserves  a 
fuller  return,  of  deep  resentment,  value  and  acknowledgment, 
than  I  am  any  ways  able  to  make.  Only  give  me  leave  a 
little  to  expostulate,  on  your  and  my  own  behalf.  I  confess 
it  was  in  your  freedom  to  elect,  and  it  would  be  very  uu in- 
genious in  me  to  reflect  upon  your  action ;  only  (though  some- 
Chancellor  Pembroke  is  to  go  (Neal,  ii.  307  ;  Walker,  i.  133)  ;  makes  report, 
and  is  thanked,  21st  April,  1648  (Commons  Journals,  v.  538).  Copious  history 
of  the  proceedings,  from  the  Puritan  side,  in  Neal,  ii.  290-314  ;  and  from  the 
Royalist  side,  in  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  i.  124-142,  which  latter, 
amid  its  tempestuous  froth,  has  mauy  entertaining  traits. 

1  Wood's  Fasti,  ii.  157  (in  Athence,  iv .).  <>f  July,  1649. 


1861.  LETTEK  CLXVI.    EDINBURGH.  211 

what  late)  let  me  advise  you  of  my  unfitness  to  answer  the 
ends  of  so  great  a  Service  and  Obligation,  with  some  things 
very  obvious. 

"  I  suppose  a  principal  aim  in  such  elections  hath  not  only 
respected  abilities  and  interest  to  serve  you,  but  freedom  [as] 
to  opportunities  of  time  and  place.  As  the  first  may  not  be 
well  supposed,  so  the  want  of  the  latter  may  well  become  me 
to  represent  to  you.  You  know  where  Providence  hath  placed 
me  for  the  present ;  and  to  what  I  am  related  if  this  call  were 
off,1  —  I  being  tied  to  attendance  in  another  Land  as  much  out 
of  the  way  of  serving  you  as  this,  for  some  certain  time  yet  to 
come  appointed  by  the  Parliament.  The  known  esteem  and 
honor  of  this  place  is  such,  that  I  should  wrong  it  and  your 
favor  very  much,  and  your  freedom  in  choosing  me,  if,  either 
by  pretended  modesty  or  in  any  unbenign  way,  I  should  dis- 
pute the  acceptance  of  it.  Only  I  hope  it  will  not  be  imputed 
to  me  as  a  neglect  towards  you,  that  I  cannot  serve  you  in  the 
measure  I  desire. 

"  I  offer  these  exceptions  with  all  candor  and  clearness  to 
you,  as  [leaving  you]  most  free  to  mend  your  choice  in  case 
you  think  them  reasonable ;  and  shall  not  reckon  myself  the 
less  obliged  to  do  all  good  offices  for  the  University.  But  if 
these  prevail  not,  and  that  I  must  continue  this  honor,  —  until 
I  can  personally  serve  you,  you  shall  not  want  my  prayers 
That  that  seed  and  stock  of  Piety  and  Learning,  so  marvellously 
springing  up  amongst  you,  may  be  useful  to  that  great  aud 
glorious  Kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  of  the  approach 
of  which  so  plentiful  an  effusion  of  the  Spirit  upon  those  hope- 
ful plants  is  one  of  the  best  presages.  And  in  all  other  things 
I  shall,  by  the  Divine  assistance,  improve  my  poor  abilities 
and  interests  in  manifesting  myself,  to  the  University  and 
yourselves, 

"  Your  most  cordial  friend  and  servant, 

"OLIVER  CKOMWM.L."  u 

1  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  "  for  throe  years  to  come  "  ( Common*  Journals, 

'»),  22d  Jane,  1649. 
8  From  the  Archives  of  Oxford  University ;  communicated  by   Rev.  Dr. 


212  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Feb. 

On  the  same  Tuesday,  4th  February,  1650-1,  while  the  Lord 
General  is  writing  this  and  the  former  Letter,  his  Army,  issu- 
ing from  its  Leith  Citadel  and  other  Winter-quarters,  has 
marched  westward  towards  Stirling ;  he  himself  follows  on  the 
morrow.  His  Army  on  Tuesday  got  to  Linlithgow ;  the  Lord 
General  overtook  them  at  Falkirk  on  Wednesday.  Two  such 
days  of  wind,  hail,  snow  and  rain  as  made  our  soldiers  very 
uncomfortable  indeed.  On  Friday,  the  morning  proving  fair, 
we  set  out  again ;  got  to  Kilsyth ;  —  but  the  hail-reservoirs 
also  opened  on  us  again :  we  found  it  impossible  to  get  along ; 
and  so  returned,  by  the  road  we  came  ;  back  to  Edinburgh  on 
Saturday,1  —  coated  with  white  sleet,  but  endeavoring  not  to 
be  discouraged.  We  hope  we  much  terrified  the  Scots  at 
Stirling ;  but  the  hail-reservoirs  proved  friendly  to  them. 


LETTER  CLXVII. 

THE  Oxford  Convocation  has  received  the  foregoing  Letter, 
"  canting  Letter  sent  thereunto,"  as  crabbed  Anthony  desig- 
nates it,  "  dated  at  Edinburgh  on  the  4th  of  February,"  and 
now  at  length  made  public  in  print;  they  have  "read  it  in 
Convocation,"  continues  Anthony,  "  whereat  the  Members  made 
the  House  resound  with  their  cheerful  acclamations ; " 2 —  and 
the  Lord  General  is  and  continues  their  Chancellor ;  encourag- 
ing and  helping  forward  them  and  their  work,  in  many  ways, 
amid  his  weighty  affairs,  in  a  really  faithful  manner.  As  be- 
gins to  be  credible  without  much  proof  of  ours,  and  might  still 
be  abundantly  proved  if  needful. 

Here  however,  in  the  first  blush  of  the  business,  comes 
Mr.  Waterhouse,  with  a  small  recommendation  from  the  Lord 
General;  "  John  Waterhouse  of  Great  Greenford  in  Middlesex, 
son  of  Francis  Waterhouse  by  Bridget  his  wife,"  if  anybody 
want  to  know  him  better  ; 3  —  "a  student  heretofore  for  eigh- 

1  Perfect  Diurnal  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  100).  2  Fasti,  ii.  159. 

3  Ibid.  163  :  "created  Doctor  of  Physic  by  virtue  of  the  Letters  of  Olivet 
Cromwell,  General"  (12th  March,  1650-1). 


1651.  LETTER  CLXVIII.    EDINBURGH.  213 


years  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,"  a  meritorious  Man 
and  Healer  since  ;  whom  one  may  well  decorate  with  a  Degree, 
or  decorate  a  Degree  with,  by  the  next  opportunity. 

"  To  my  very  Worthy  Friend  Dr.  Greenwood,  Vice-  Chancellor 
of  tlie  University  of  Oxford. 

"EDINBUKGH,  14th  February,  1650. 

"  SIB,  —  This  Gentleman,  Mr.  Waterhouse,  went  over  into 
Ireland  as  Physician  to  the  Army  there  ;  of  whose  diligence, 
fidelity  and  abilities  I  had  much  experience.  Whilst  I  was 
there,  he  constantly  attended  the  Army  :  and  having,  to  my 
own  knowledge,  done  very  much  good  to  the  Officers  and  Sol- 
diers, by  his  skill  and  industry  ;  —  and  being  upon  urgent 
occasion  lately  come  into  England,  [he]  hath  desired  me  to 
recommend  him  for  the  obtaining  of  the  Degree  of  Doctor  in 
that  Science.  Wherefore  I  earnestly  desire  you  that,  when  he 
shall  repair  to  you,  you  *  will  give  him  your  best  assistance  for 
the  obtaining  of  the  said  Degree  ;  he  being  shortly  to  return 
back  to  his  charge  in  Ireland. 

"  By  doing  whereof,  as  you  will  encourage  one  who  is  will- 
ing and  ready  to  serve  the  Public,  so  you  will  also  lay  a  very 
great  obligation  upon, 

"  Sir,  your  affectionate  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  3 


LETTER  CLXVITL 

COLONEL  ROBERT  LILBURN,  a  stout  impetuous  soldier,  as 
both  his  Brothers  were,  and  steady  to  his  side  as  neither  of 
them  was,  had  the  honor,  at  a  critical  time,  in  the  Summer  of 
1648,  while  Duke  Hamilton  and  his  Scots  were  about  invading 
us,  to  do  the  State  good  service,  as  we  transiently  saw ;  *  —  to 
beat  down,  namely,  and  quite  suppress,  in  Lancashire,  a  cer- 

1  "  that  you  "  in  the  hasty  original. 

1  From  the  Archived  of  Oxford  University ;  communicated  by  Rev.  Dr. 

BliM. 

•  Ante*,  vol.  xvii.  p.  317. 


214  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  8  March, 

tain  Sir  Richard  Tempest  and  his  hot  levyings  of  "  1,000 
horse,"  and  indeed  thereby  to  suppress  all  such  levyings  on 
behalf  of  the  said  Duke,  in  those  Northern  parts.  An  impor- 
tant, and  at  the  time  most  welcome  service.  Letter  of  thanks, 
in  consequence ;  reward  of  £1,000  in  consequence,  —  reward 
voted,  never  yet  paid,  nor,  as  would  seem,  likely  soon  to  be. 
Colonel  Eobert  will  take  Delinquents'  lands  for  his  £1,000 ; 
will  buy  Bear  Park,  with  it  and  with  other  debentures  or 
moneys :  Bear  Park,  once  Beaurepaire,  a  pleasant  manor  near 
native  Durham,  belongs  to  the  Cathedral  land  ;  and  might  an- 
swer both  parties,  would  the  Committee  of  Obstructions  move. 

"  To  the  Right  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of 
the  Parliament  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England :  These. 

"EDINBUHGH,  8th  March,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  I  am  informed  that  Colonel  Robert  Lilburn  is  like 
to  be  damnified  very  much,  in  relation  to  his  purchase  of  the 
Manor  of  Bear  Park  in  the  County  of  Durham,  by  being  em- 
ployed in  the  service  of  the  Commonwealth  in  *  Scotland  :  — 
which  business  (as  I  understand),  upon  his  Petition  to  the 
Parliament,  was  referred  to  the  Committee  of  Obstructions, 
and  a  Report  thereof  hath  lain  ready  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  John 
Corbet,  a  long  time,  unreported. 

"  I  do  therefore  humbly  desire  that  the  House  may  be  moved 
to  take  the  said  Report  into  speedy  consideration,  that  so 
Colonel  Lilburn  may  have  redress  therein,  according  as  you 
think  fit ;  and  that  his  readiness  and  willingness  to  return  to 
his  charge  here,  and  leave  his  own  affairs  to  serve  the  Public, 
may  not  turn  to  his  disadvantage.  I  doubt  not  but  those 
services  he  hath  done  in  England  and  here  will  be  a  sufficient 
motive  to  gratify  him  herein ;  which  shall  be  acknowledged 
by,  Sir, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." a 

Committee  of  Obstructions,  "  a  Committee  for  removing  Ob- 
structions to  the  Sale  of  Dean-and-Chapter  Lands,"  does  accord- 
!  "  pf  "  in  orig.  2  Baker  MSS.  (Cambridge),  xxxv.  79. 


1651.  LETTER  CLXIX.    EDINBURGH  215 

ingly  bestir  itself;  and  on  Tuesday,  18th  March,  the  due  order 
is  given.1  To  which,  we  doubt  not,  as  the  matter  then  drops, 
effect  was  given,  —  till  the  Restoration  came,  and  ousted  Colo- 
nel Robert  and  some  others.  Whether  the  <Colonel  personally 
ever  lived  at  Bear  Park,  or  has  left  any  trace  of  his  presence 
there,  the  County  Histories  and  other  accessible  records  do 
not  say. 


LETTER  CLXIX, 

HERE  next,  from  another  quarter,  is  a  new  University  mat- 
ter, —  Project  of  a  College  at  Durham ;  emerging  incidentally 
like  a  green  fruitful  islet  from  amid  the  dim  storms  of  War; 
agreeably  arresting  the  eye  for  a  moment. 

Concerning  which  read  in  the  Comrnous  Journals  of  May 
last :  "A  Letter  from  the  Sheriff  and  Gentlemen  of  the  County 
of  Ihiresme,  dated  24th  April,  1650 ;  with  a  Paper  "  or  Petition 
of  the  same  date,  " '  delivered  in  by  the  Grand  Jury  at  the 
Sessions  of  the  Peace  holden  at  Duresme  the  24th  of  April, 
1650,  To  be  presented  to  the  Honorable  Parliament  of  this 
Nation,'  —  were  this  day  read.  Ordered,  That  it  be  referred 
to  the  Committee  of  Obstructions  for  Sale  of  Dean-and-Chapter 
Lands,  to  consider  these  desires  of  the  Gentlemen  and  others 
of  that  County,  touching  the  converting  some  of  the  Buildings 
at  Duresme  called  the  (  College,'  which  were  the  Houses  of  the 
late  Dean  and  Chapter,  into  some  College  or  School  of  Litera- 
tun-;  to  state  the  business,  to"3 — in  short,  to  get  on  with  it 
if  possible. 

This  was  some  ten  months  ago,  but  still  there  is  no  visible 
way  made  ;  and  now  in  the  wild  Spring  weather  here  has  been, 
I  suppose,  some  Deputation  of  the  Northern  Gentry  riding 
through  the  wild  mountains,  with  humane  intent,  to  represent 
tin  matter  to  the  Lord  General  at  Edinburgh  ;  from  whom,  if 

1   Common*  Journalt,  vi.  492  (7th  November.  1650),  his  "  Petition,"  referred 
to  in  thia  Letter;  ih.  f>49  (iKtli  March,  165O),  due  "  redrew  "  to  him. 
*  Ibid.  vj.  410  (8th  May,  1650). 


216  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.         11  March, 

he  pleased  to  help  it  forward,  a  word  might  be  very  further- 
some.  The  Lord  General  is  prompt  with  his  word  ;  —  writes 
this  Letter,  as  I  find,  this  and  the  foregoing,  in  some  interval 
of  a  painful  fit  of  sickness  he  has  been  laboring  under. 

"  To  the  Eight  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of 
the  Parliament  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England :  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  llth  March,  1650. 

"  SIR,  —  Having  received  information  from  the  Mayor  and 
Citizens  of  Durham,  and  some  Gentlemen  of  the  Northern 
Counties,  That  upon  their  Petition  to  the  Parliament,  '  that 
the  Houses  of  the  late  Dean  and  Chapter  in  the  City  of  Dur- 
ham might  be  converted  into  a  College  or  School  of  Literature/ 
the  Parliament  was  pleased  in  May  last  to  refer  the  same  to 
the  Committee  for  removing  Obstructions  in  the  sale  of  Dean- 
and-Chapter  Lands,  '  to  consider  thereon,  and  to  report  their 
opinion  therein  to  the  House  :?1  Which  said  Committee,  as  I 
am  also  informed,  have  so  far  approved  thereof  as  that  they 
are  of  an  opinion  That  the  said  Houses  will  be  a  fit  place  to 
erect  a  College  or  School  for  all  the  Sciences  and  Literature, 
and  that  it  will  be  a  pious  and  laudable  work  and  of  great  use 
to  the  Northern  parts  ;  and  have  ordered  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig 
to  make  report  thereof  to  the  House  accordingly :  And  the 
said  Citizens  and  Gentlemen  having  made  some  address  to  me 
to  contribute  my  assistance  to  them  therein  : 

"To  which,  in  so  good  and  pious  a  work,  I  could  not  but 
willingly  and  heartily  concur.  And  not  knowing  wherein  I 
might  better  serve  them,  or  answer  their  desires,  than  by 
recommending  the  same  to  the  Parliament  by,  Sir,  yourself 
their  Speaker,  —  I  do  therefore  make  it  my  humble  and  earnest 
request  that  the  House  may  be  moved,  as  speedily  as  conven- 
iently may  be,  to  hear  the  Report  of  the  said  Committee  con- 
cerning the  said  Business,  from  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig;  Kthat 
so  the  House,  taking  the  same  into  consideration,  may  do 
therein  what  shall  seem  meet  for  the  good  of  those  poor 
Countries. 

1  Commons  Journals,  ubi  suprk. 


165L  LETTER  CLXIX.    EDINBURGH.  217 

"  Truly  it  seems  to  me  a  matter  of  great  concernment  and 
importance ;  as  that  which,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  may  much 
conduce  to  the  promoting  of  learning  and  piety  in  those  poor 
rude  and  ignorant  parts ;  —  there  being  also  many  concurring 
advantages  to  this  Place,  as  pleasantness  and  aptness  of  situa- 
tion, healthful  air,  and  plenty  of  provisions,  which  seem  to 
favor  and  plead  for  their  desires  therein.  And  besides  the 
good,  so  obvious  to  us,  [which]  those  Northern  Counties  may 
reap  thereby,  who  knows  but  the  setting  on  foot  this  work 
at  this  time  may  suit  with  God's  present  dispensations ;  and 
may  —  if  due  care  and  circumspection  be  used  in  the  right 
constituting  and  carrying  on  the  same  —  tend  to,  and  by  the 
blessing  of  God  produce,  such  happy  and  glorious  fruits  as  are 
scarce  thought  on  or  foreseen ! 

"  Sir,  not  doubting  of  your  readiness  and  zeal  to  promote 
so  good  and  public  a  work,  I  crave  pardon  for  this  boldness ; 
and  rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."1 

Whereupon  the  Committee  for  removing  Obstructions  does 
bestir  itself;  manages,  in  three  months  hence  (for  we  do 
nothing  rashly),  to  report*  by  "Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  touch- 
ing Duresme  College-Buildings  to  be  converted  to  a  College 
or  School  for  all  the  Sciences  of  Literature :  That "  —  that  — 
And,  in  brief,  History  itself  has  to  report  that  the  pious 
Project,  thanks  mainly  to  furtherance  by  the  Lord  General, 
whose  power  to  further  it  increased  by  and  by,  did  actually, 
some  seven  years  hence,  take  effect;8  —  actually  began  giving 
Lessons  of  human  Grammar,  human  Geography,  Geometry, 
and  other  divine  Knowledge,  to  the  vacant  human  mind,  —  in 

1  Baker  MSS.  xxviii.  455 :  printed  also  in  Ilutchinson's  History  of  Durham , 
and  elsewhere. 

8  Commons  Journal*  (vi.  589),  18th  Jane,  1651. 

•  Protector's  Letter* Patent  of  15th  May,  1657,  following  tip  hi«  Ordinance 

»cil  of  the  previous  Year  :  Ilutrhinson's  History  of  the  County  Palatine 

of  Durham  (Newcastle,  1785),  i.  514-530.     See  Cooper's  Annals  of  Cambridge, 

in    »:::  n  ••unhri.lgo  IVtiti..n  againal  it:  18th  April,  1659).     "  Throve  apace," 

wya  Hntchuuon,  "  till  "  &c. 


218  PART  VI.    WAR    WITH   SCOTLAND.  24  March, 

those  once  sleepy  Edifices,  dark  heretofore,  or  illuminated 
mainly  by  Dr.  Cosins's  Papistical  waxlights  or  the  like  :  and 
so  continued,  in  spite  of  opposition,  till  the  Blessed  Restora- 
tion put  a  stop  to  it,  and  to  some  other  things.  In  late  years 
there  is  again  some  kind  of  Durham  College  giving  Lessons, 
—  I  hope,  with  good  success. 


LETTER  CLXX. 

BY  that  tempestuous  sleety  expedition  in  the  beginning  of 
February  my  Lord  General  caught  a  dangerous  illness,  which 
hung  about  him,  reappearing  in  three  successive  relapses,  till 
June  next ;  and  greatly  alarmed  the  Commonwealth  and  the 
Authorities.  As  this  to  Bradshaw,  and  various  other  Letters 
still  indicate. 

"  To  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  of 
State:  These. 

"EDINBURGH,  24th  March,  1650. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  I  do  with  all  humble  thankfulness  acknowl- 
edge your  high  favor,  and  tender  respect  of  me,  expressed  in 
your  Letter,  and  the  Express  sent  therewith  to  inquire  after 
one  so  unworthy  as  myself. 

"  Indeed,  my  Lord,  your  service  needs  not  me :  I  am  a  poor 
creature  ;  and  have  been  a  dry  bone ;  and  am  still  an  unprofit- 
able servant  to  my  Master  and  you.  I  thought  I  should  have 
died  of  this  fit  of  sickness ;  but  the  Lord  seemeth  to  dispose 
otherwise.  But  truly,  my  Lord,  I  desire  not  to  live,  unless  I 
may  obtain  mercy  from  the  Lord  to  approve  my  heart  and 
life  to  Him  in  more  faithfulness  and  thankfulness,  and  [to] 
those  I  serve  in  more  profitableness  and  diligence.  And  I 
pray  God,  your  Lordship,  and  all  in  public  trust,  may  im- 
prove all  those  unparalleled  experiences  of  the  Lord's  won- 
derful Workings  in  your  sight,  with  singleness  of  heart  to 
His  glory,  and  the  refreshment  of  His  People;  who  are  to 


1651.  LETTER  CLXXI.    EDINBURGH.  219 

Him  as  the  apple  of  His  eye  ;  and  upon  whom  your  enemies, 
both  former  and  latter,  who  have  fallen  before  you,  did  split 
themselves. 

"  This  shall  be  the  unfeigned  prayer  of, 

"  My  Lord,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

From  Edinburgh,  of  date  18th  March,  by  special  Express 
we  have  this  comfortable  intelligence:  "The  Lord  General  is 
now  well  recovered :  he  was  in  his  dining-room  to-day  with 
his  Officers,  and  was  very  cheerful  and  pleasant."  And  the 
symptoms,  we  see,  continue  good  and  better  on  the  24th.  "  So 
that  there  is  not  any  fear,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  but  our 
General  will  be  enabled  to  take  the  field  when  the  Provisions 
arrive."  "  Dr.  Goddard  "  is  attending  him.2  Before  the  end 
of  the  month  he  is  on  foot  again ;  sieging  Blackness,  sieging 
the  Island  of  Inchgarvie,  or  giving  Colonel  Moiik  directions 
to  that  end. 


LETTER  CLXXI. 

THE  following  Letter  brings  its  own  commentary :  — 

"  for  my  beloved  Wife  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  at  the  Cockpit  : 

These. 

"  [EDINBUBOH,]  12th  April,  1651. 

"Mr  DEAREST,  —  I  praise  the  Lord  I  am  increased  in 
strength  in  my  outward  man:  But  that  will  not  satisfy  me 
.:«•«•]  >t  1  get  a  heart  to  love  and  serve  my  heavenly  Father 
better ;  and  get  more  of  the  light  of  His  countenance,  which 
is. bettor  than  life,  and  more  power  over  my  corruptions:  —  in 
these  hopes  I  wait,  and  am  not  without  expectation  of  a  gra- 
cious return.  Pray  for  me ;  truly  I  do  daily  for  thee  and  the 
d' -nr  Family;  and  Gal  Almighty  bless  you  all  with  His  spirit- 
ual blessings. 

{in  Cromwrlliana.p.  101).  *  Ibid,  pp.  100,  101. 


220  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  12  April. 

"Mind  poor  Betty  of  the  Lord's  great  mercy.  Oh,  I  desire 
her  not  only  to  seek  the  Lord  in  her  necessity,  but  in  deed 
and  in  truth  to  turn  to  the  Lord  ;  and  to  keep  close  to  Him ; 
and  to  take  heed  of  a  departing  heart,  and  of  being  cozened 
with  worldly  vanities  and  worldly  company,  which  I  doubt  she 
is  too  subject  to.  I  earnestly  and  frequently  pray  for  her  and 
for  him.  Truly  they  are  dear  to  me,  very  dear ;  and  I  am  in 
fear  lest  Satan  should  deceive  them,  —  knowing  how  weak  our 
hearts  are,  and  how  subtle  the  Adversary  is,  and  what  way  the 
deceitfulness  of  our  hearts  and  the  vain  world  make  for  his 
temptations.  The  Lord  give  them  truth  of  heart  to  Him. 
Let  them  seek  Him  in  truth,  and  they  shall  find  Him. 

"  My  love  to  the  dear  little  ones  ;  I  pray  for  grace  for  them. 
I  thank  them  for  their  Letters ;  let  me  have  them  often. 

"Beware  of  my  Lord  Herbert's  resort  to  your  house.  If 
he  do  so,  it  may  occasion  scandal,  as  if  I  were  bargaining 
with  him.  Indeed,  be  wise,  —  you  know  my  meaning.  Mind 
Sir  Henry  Vane  of  the  business  of  my  Estate.  Mr.  Floyd 
knows  my  whole  mind  in  that  matter. 

"  If  Dick  Cromwell  and  his  Wife  be  with  you,  my  dear  love 
to  them.  I  pray  for  them  :  they  shall,  God  willing,  hear 
from  me.  I  love  them  very  dearly.  —  Truly  I  am  not  able  as 
yet  to  write  much.  I  am  weary ;  and  rest, 

"  Thine, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

"  Betty  "  and  "  he "  are  Elizabeth  Claypole  and  her  Hus- 
band ;  of  whom,  for  the  curious,  there  is  a  long-winded  intri- 
cate account  by  Noble,2  but  very  little  discoverable  in  it. 
They  lived  at  Norborough,  which  is  near  Market  Deeping, 
but  in  Northamptonshire;  where,  as  already  intimated,  the 
Lady  Protectress,  Widow  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  after  the  Res- 
toration, found  a  retreat.  "They  had  at  least  three  sons 
and  daughters."  Claypole  became  "  Master  of  the  Horse  "  to 
Oliver ;  sat  in  Parliament ;  made  an  elegant  appearance  in 
the  world :  —  but  dwindled  sadly  after  his  widowership ;  his 

1  Cole  MSS.  xxxiii.  37  :  a  Copy ;  Copies  are  frequent. 
»  ii.  375,  &c. 


JG51.  LETTER  CLXX1I.    P;i)INBURGH.  221 

second  marriage  ending  in  "  separation,"  in  a  third  quasi- 
marriage,  and  other  confusions,  poor  man !  But  as  yet  the 
Lady  Claypole  lives ;  bright  and  brave.  "  Truly  they  are 
dear  to  me,  very  dear." 

"  Dick  Cromwell  and  his  Wife "  seem  to  be  up  in  Town 
on  a  visit ;  —  living  much  at  their  ease  in  the  Cockpit,  they. 
Brother  Henry,  in  these  same  days,  is  out  "in  the  King's 
County  "  in  Ireland ;  doing  hard  duty  at  "  Ballybawn  "  and 
elsewhere,1  —  the  distinguished  Colonel  Cromwell.  And  Dep- 
uty Ireton,  with  his  labors,  is  wearing  himself  to  death.  In 
the  same  house,  one  works,  another  goes  idle. 

"  The  Lord  Herbert "  is  Henry  Somerset,  eldest  son  of  the 
now  Marquis  of  Worcester,  —  of  the  Lord  Glamorgan  whom 
we  knew  slightly  at  llaglaud,  in  underhand  "  Irish  Treaties  " 
and  such  like ;  whose  Century  of  Inventions  is  still  slightly 
known  to  here  and  there  a  reader  of  Old  Books.  "  This  Lord 
Herbert,"  it  seems,  "  became  Duke  of  Beaufort  after  the  Res- 
toration." For  obvious  reasons,  you  are  to  "beware  of  his 
resort  to  your  house  at  present."  A  kind  of  professed  Protes- 
tant he,  but  come  of  rank  Papists  and  Malignants ;  which 
may  give  rise  to  commentaries.  One  stupid  Annotator  on  a 
certain  Copy  of  this  Letter  says,  "his  Lordship  had  an  in- 
trigue with  Mrs.  Claypole ; "  —  which  is  evidently  downright 
stupor  and  falsehood,  like  so  much  else. 


LETTER  CLXXH. 

UPON  the  Surrender  of  Edinburgh  Castle,  due  provision  had 
been  made  for  conveyance  of  the  Public  Writs  and  Registers 
to  what  quarter  the  Scotch  Authorities  might  direct ;  and 
"Passes,"  und*-r  tin;  Lord  General's  hand,  duly  granted  for 
that  end.  Archibald  Johnston,  Lord  Register,  we  conclude, 
had  nperintended  the  operation  ;  had,  after  much  labor, 
bundled  the  l*ublic  Writs  properly  together  into  masses, 
packages;  and  put  them  on  shipboard,  considering  this  the 

1  Newspapers  (in  (Jromwellmmi,  p.  102). 


222  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.          13  April, 

eligiblest  mode  of  transport  towards  Stirling  and  the  Scotch 
head-quarters  at  present.  But  now  it  has  fallen  out,  in  the 
middle  of  last  month,  that  the  said  ship  has  been  taken,  as 
many  ships  and  shallops  on  both  sides  now  are;  and  the 
Public  Writs  are  in  jeopardy :  whereupon  ensues  correspond- 
ence ;  and  this  fair  Answer  from  my  Lord  General :  — 

[2b  the  Honorable  Archibald  Johnston,  Lord  Register  of 
Scotland :  These]. 

"EDINBURGH,  12th  April,  1651. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  Upon  the  perusal  of  the  Passes  formerly 
given  for  the  safe  passing  of  the  Public  Writs  and  Registers 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  I  do  think  they1  ought  to  be 
restored :  and  they  shall  be  so,  to  such  persons  as  you  shall 
appoint  to  receive  them  ;  with  passes  for  persons  and  vessels, 
to  carry  them  to  such  place  as  shall  be  appointed  :  —  so  that 
it  be  done  within  one  mouth  next  following. 

"  I  herewith  send  you  a  Pass  for  your  Servant  to  go  into 
Fife,  and  to  return  with  the  other  Clerks ;  and  rest, 

"  Your  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  a 

Warriston's  answer,  written  on  Monday,  the  12th  being 
Saturday,  is  given  also  in  Thurloe.  The  Lord  General's 
phrase,  "  perusal  of  the  Passes,"  we  now  find  is  prospective, 
and  means  "  reperusal,"  new  sight  of  them  by  the  Lord  Gen- 
eral ;  which,  Archibald  earnestly  urges,  is  impossible ;  the 
original  Passes  being  now  far  off  in  the  hands  of  the  Authori- 
ties, and  the  Writs  in  a  state  of  imminent  danger,  lying  in  a 
ship  at  Leith,  as  Archibald  obscurely  intimates,  which  the 
English  Governor  has  got  his  claws  over,  and  keeps  shut  up  in 
dock  ;  with  a  considerable  leak  in  her,  too  :  very  bad  stowage 
for  such  goods.8  Which  obscure  intimation  of  Archibald's 
becomes  lucid  to  us,  as  to  the  Lord  General  it  already  was, 
when  we  read  this  sentence  of  Bulstrode's,  under  date  22d 
March,  1650-1  :  "  Letters  that  the  Books  and  Goods  belonging 

1  The  Writs  and  Registers. 

2  Tburloe,  i.  117.     Records  of  the  Laigh  Parliament  House.          3  Ibid. 


166L  LETTER  CLXXIL    EDINBURGH.  223 

to  the  "  Scotch  "  King  and  Register  were  taken  by  the  Parlia- 
ment's ships  ;  and  another  ship,  laden  with  oats,  meal,  and 
other  provisions,  going  to  Fife :  twenty-two  prisoners." *  For 
captures  and  small  sea-surprisals  abound  in  the  Frith  at 
present ;  the  Parliament-ships  busy  on  one  hand ;  and  the 
"  Captain  of  the  Bass,"  the  "  Shippers  of  Wemyss,"  and  the 
like  active  persons  doing  their  duty  on  the  other,  —  whereby 
infinite  "  biscuit,"  and  such  small  ware,  is  from  time  to  time 
realized.9 

Without  doubt  the  Public  Writs  were  all  redelivered,  ac- 
cording to  the  justice  of  the  case;  and  the  term  of  "one 
month,"  which  Archibald  pleads  hard  to  get  lengthened,  was 
made  into  two,  or  the  necessary  time.  Archibald's  tone 
towards  the  Lord  General  is  anxiously  respectful,  nay  sub- 
missive and  subject.  In  fact,  Archibald  belongs,  if  not  by 
profession,  yet  by  invincible  tendency,  to  the  Remonstrant 
Ker-and-Strahan  Party ;  and  looks  dimly  forward  to  a  near 
time  when  there  will  be  no  refuge  for  him,  and  the  like  of 
Jim,  but  Cromwell.  Strahan,  in  the  month  of  January  last, 
is  already  "excommunicated,  and  solemnly  delivered  to  the 
Devil,  in  the  Church  of  Perth." 8  This  is  what  you  have  to 
look  for,  from  a  Quasi-Malignant  set  of  men  ! 

This  Archibald,  as  is  well  known,  sat  afterwards  in  CronL- 
well's  Parliaments ;  became  "  one  of  Cromwell's  Lords  ;  "  and 
ultimately  lost  his  life  for  these  dangerous  services.  Archi- 
bald Johnston  of  Warriston ;  loose-flowing  Bishop  Burnet's 
uncle  by  the  Mother's  side  :  a  Lord  Register  of  whom  all  the 
world  has  heard.  Redactor  of  the  Covenanters'  protests,  in 
1637,  and  onwards ;  redactor  perhaps  of  the  Covenant  itself ; 
canny  lynx-eyed  Lawyer,  and  austere  Presbyterian  Zealot ; 
full  of  fire,  of  heavy  energy  and  gloom  :  in  fact,  a  very  nota- 
ble character ;  —  of  whom  our  Scotch  friends  might  do  well  to 
give  us  farther  elucidations.  Certain  of  his  Letters  edited  by 
Lord  Hailes,4  a  man  of  fine  intelligence,  though  at  that  time 
ignorant  of  this  subject,  have  proved  well  worth  their  paper 

1  Whitlocke.  p.  490.  «  Balfour,  iv.  204,  241,  251,  4c. 

•  Ibid.  iv.  240. 

•  Memorials  and  Letter!  in  the  Reiyn  of  Charles  I.  (Glasgow,  1766). 


224  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  12  April, 

and  ink.  Many  more,  it  appears,  still  lie  in  the  Edinburgh 
Archives.  A  good  selection  and  edition  of  them  were  desir- 
able. But,  alas,  will  any  human  soul  ever  again  love  poor 
Warriston,  and  take  pious  pains  with  him,  in  this  world  ? 
Properly  it  turns  all  upon  that ;  and  the  chance  seems  rather 
dubious !  — 


SECOND  VISIT  TO  GLASGOW. 

THAT  Note  to  Warriston,  and  the  Letter  to  Elizabeth  Crom- 
well, as  may  have  been  observed,  are  written  on  the  same  day, 
Saturday,  12th  April,  1651.  Directly  after  which,  on  Wednes- 
day, the  16th,  there  is  a  grand  Muster  of  the  Army  on  Mussel- 
burgh  Links ;  preparatory  to  new  operations.  Blackness  Fort 
has  surrendered ;  Inchgarvie  Island  is  beset  by  gunboats :  Colo- 
nel Monk,  we  perceive,  who  has  charge  of  these  services,  is  to 
be  made  Lieutenant-General  of  the  Ordnance  :  and  now  there 
is  to  be  an  attack  on  Burntisland  with  gunboats,  which  also, 
one  hopes,  may  succeed.  As  for  the  Army,  it  is  to  go  west- 
ward this  same  afternoon ;  try  whether  cautious  Lesley,  strait- 
ened or  assaulted  from  both  west  and  east,  will  not  come  out 
of  his  Stirling  fastness,  so  that  some  good  may  be  done  upon 
him.  The  Muster  is  held  on  Musselburgh  Links  ;  whereat 
the  Lord  General,  making  his  appearance,  is  received  "  with 
shouts  and  acclamations,"  the  sight  of  him  infinitely  comfort- 
able to  us.1  The  Lord  General's  health  is  somewhat  re-estab- 
lished, though  he  has  had  relapses,  and  still  tends  a  little 
towards  ague.  '•'  About  three  in  the  afternoon "  all  is  on 
march  towards  Hamilton ;  quarters  "  mostly  in  the  field  there." 
Where  the  Lord  General  himself  arrives,  on  Friday  night  late  ; 
and  on  the  morrow  afternoon  we  see  Glasgow  again. 

Concerning  which  here  are  two  notices  from  opposite  points 
of  the  compass,  curiously  corroborative  of  one  another  ;  which 
we  must  not  withhold.  Face-to-face  glimpses  into  the  old 
dead  actualities ;  worth  rescuing  with  a  Cromwell  in  the  centre 
of  them. 

1  Newspapers  (iu  Cromwelliana,  p.  102). 


1651.  SECOND  VISIT   TO  GLASGOW.  225 

The  first  is  from  Baillie ;  *  shows  us  a  glance  of  our  old  friend 
Carstairs  withal.  Read  this  fraction  of  a  Letter :  "  Reverend 
and  dear  Brother,  —  For  preventing  of  mistakes,"  lest  you 
should  think  us  loose-laced,  Remonstrant,  sectarian  individuals, 
"  we  have  thought  meet  to  advertise  you  that  Cromwell  having 
come  to  Hamilton  on  Friday  late,  and  to  Glasgow  on  Saturday 
with  a  body  of  his  Army,  sooner  than  we  could  well  with  safety 
have  retired  ourselves,"  —  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  stay 
and  abide  him  here!  "On  Sunday  forenoon  he  came  unex- 
pectedly to  the  High  Inner  Kirk ;  where  quietly  he  heard 
Mr.  Robert  Ramsay,"  unknown  to  common  readers,  "  preach 
a  very  honest  sermon,  pertinent  to  his"  Cromwell's  "case.  In 
the  afternoon  he  came,  as  unexpectedly,  to  the  High  Outer 
Kirk ;  where  he  heard  Mr.  John  Carstairs,"  our  old  friend, 
"  lecture,  and  "  a  "  Mr.  James  Durham  preach,  —  graciously, 
and  weel  to  the  times  as  could  have  been  desired."  So  that 
you  see  we  are  not  of  the  loose-laced  species,  we !  "  And  gen- 
erally all  who  preached  that  day  in  the  Town  gave  a  fair 
enough  testimony  against  the  Sectaries."  —  Whereupon,  next 
day,  Cromwell  sent  for  us  to  confer  with  him  in  a  friendly 
manner.  "All  of  us  did  meet  to  advise,"  for  the  case  was 
grave  :  however,  we  have  decided  to  go  ;  nay  are  just  going ;  — 
but,  most  unfortunately,  do  not  write  any  record  of  our  inter- 
view !  Nothing,  except  some  transient  assertion  elsewhere 
that"  we  had  no  disadvantage  in  the  thing."  a — So  that  now, 
from  the  opposite  point  of  the  compass,  the  old  London  News- 
paper must  come  in ;  curiously  confirmatory :  — 

"  Sir,  —  We  came  hither  "  to  Glasgow  "  on  Saturday  last, 
April  19th.  The  Ministers  and  Townsmen  generally  stayed 
at  home,  and  did  not  quit  their  habitations  as  formerly.  The 
Ministers  ht-re  have  mostly  deserted  from  the  proceedings 
•  ad  the  Water,"  at  Perth,  —  and  are  in  fact  given  to  Re- 
monstrant ways,  though  Mr.  Baillie  denies  it:  "yet  they  are 
••Dually  dissatisfied  with  us.  Hut  though  they  preach  against 
.is  in  the  pulpit  to  our  faces,  yet  we  permit  them  without  dis- 
turbance, as  willing  to  gain  them  by  love. 

1  (Glasgow,  22d  April,  1051)  iii.  161 
1  Baillie,  iii.  168. 

VOL.    XVIII.  16 


226  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  April, 

"  My  Lord  General  sent  to  them  to  give  us  a  friendly  Chris- 
tian meeting,  To  discourse  of  those  things  which  they  rail 
against  us  for;  that  so,  if  possible,  all  misunderstandings  be- 
tween us  might  be  taken  away.  Which  accordingly  they  gave 
us  on  Wednesday  last.  There  was  no  bitterness  nor  passion 
vented  on  either  side ;  all  was  with  moderation  and  tenderness. 
My  Lord  General  and  Major-General  Lambert,  for  the  most 
part,  maintained  the  discourse ;  and,  on  their  part,  Mr.  James 
Guthry  and  Mr.  Patrick  Gillespie.1  We  know  not  what  sat- 
isfaction they  have  received.  Sure  I  am,  there  was  no  such 
weight  in  their  arguments  as  might  in  the  least  discourage  us 
from  what  we  have  undertaken  ;  the  chief  thing  on  which  they 
insisted  being  our  Invasion  into  Scotland." 2 

The  Army  quitted  .Glasgow  after  some  ten  days ;  rather 
hastily,  on  Wednesday,  30th  April ;  pressing  news,  some  false 
alarm  of  movements  about  Stirling,  having  arrived  by  ex- 
press from  the  East.  They  marched  again  for  Edinburgh ;  — 
quenched  some  foolish  Town  Riot,  which  had  broken  out 
among  the  Glasgow  Baillies  themselves,  on  some  quarrel  of 
their  own;  and  was  now  tugging  and  wriggling,  in  a  most 
unseemly  manner,  on  the  open  streets,  and  likely  to  enlist  the 
population  generally,  had  not  Cromwell's  soldiers  charitably 
scattered  it  asunder  before  they  went.8  In  three  days  they 
were  in  Edinburgh  again. 

When  a  luminous  body,  such  as  Oliver  Cromwell,  happens 
to  be  crossing  a  dark  Country,  a  dark  Century,  who  knows 
what  he  will  not  disclose  to  us !  For  example  :  On  the  West- 
ern edge  of  Lanarkshire,  in  the  desolate  uplands  of  the  Kirk 
of  Shotts,  there  dwelt  at  that  time  a  worshipful  Family  of 
Scotch  Lairds,  of  the  name  of  Stewart,  at  a  House  called  Aller- 
toun,  — a  lean  turreted  angry-looking  old  Stone  House,  I  take 
it ;  standing  in  some  green  place,  in  the  alluvial  hollows  of  the 

"  Gelaspy  "  the  Sectarian  spells ;  in  all  particulars  of  facts  he  coincides 
with  Baillie.     Guthry  and  Gillespie,  noted  men  in  that  time,  published  a 
"  Sum  "  of  this  Interview  (Baillie,  iii.  168),  but  nobody  now  knows  it. 
2  Newspapers  (in  Crormoelliana,  p.  102). 

"  Ane  Information  concerning  the  late  Tumult  in  Glasgow,  Wednesday, 
April  30th,"  at  the  very  time  of  Cromwell's  Removal  (in  Baillie,  iii.  161). 


1651.  SECOND   VISIT   TO   GLASGOW.  227 

Auchter  Burn  or  its  tributaries :  most  obscure ;  standing  lean 
and  grim,  like  a  thousand  such ;  entirely  unnoticeable  by  His- 
tory, —  had  not  Oliver  chanced  to  pass  in  that  direction,  and 
make  a  call  there  !  Here  is  an  account  of  that  event :  unfortu- 
nately very  vague,  not  written  till  the  second  generation  after ; 
indeed,  palpably  incorrect  in  some  of  its  details ;  but  indubita- 
ble as  to  the  main  fact ;  and  too  curious  to  be  omitted  here. 
The  date,  not  given  or  hinted  at  in  the  original,  seems  to  fix 
itself  as  Thursday,  1st  May,  1651.  On  that  day  Auchter  Burn 
rushing  idly  on  as  usual,  the  grim  old  turreted  Stone  House, 
aud  rigorous  Presbyterian  inmates,  and  desolate  uplands  of 
the  Kirk  of  Shotts  in  general,  —  saw  Cromwell's  face,  and 
have  become  memorable  to  us.  Here  is  the  record  given  as 
we  find  it.1 

"  There  was  a  fifth  Son "  of  Sir  Walter  Stewart,  Laird  of 
Allertoun  :  "  James ;  who  in  his  younger  years  was  called  '  the 
Captain  of  Allertoun,'  —  from  this  incident :  Oliver  Cromwell, 
Captain-General  of  the  English  Sectarian  Army,  after  taking 
Edinburgh  Castle,  was  making  a  Progress  through  the  West 
of  Scotland ;  and  came  down  towards  the  River  Clyde  near 
Lanark,  aud  was  on  his  march  back,  against  King,  Charles  the. 
Second's  Army,  then  with  the  King  at  Stirling.  Being  in- 
formed of  a  la-ar  way  through  Auchtermuir,  he  came  with 
some  General  Officers  to  reconnoitre ;  and  had  a  Guide  along. 
•Sir  Walter,  being  a  Royalist  and  Covenanter,  had  absconded. 
As  he "  Cromwell  "  passed,  he  called  in  at  Allertouu  for  a 
farther  Guide ;  but  no  men  were  to  be  found,  save  one  valetu- 
dinary Gentleman,  Sir  Walter's  Son"  —  properly  a  poor  vale- 
tudinary Boy,  as  appears,  who  of  course  could  do  nothing  for 
him. 

•  He  found  the  road  not  practicable  for  carriages;  and  upon 
his  return  he  called  in  at  Sir  Walter's  House.  There  was  none 
to  entertain  him  but  the  Lady  and  Sir  Walter's  sickly  Son. 
The  good  Woman  was  as  much  for  the  King  and  K<>yal  Family 
as  her  Husband :  but  she  offered  the  General  the  civilities 
of  IHT  House ;  and  a  glass  of  canary  was  presented.  The  Gen- 
eral observed  the  forms  of  these  times  (I  have  it  from  good 

Collection!,  published  i\>  the  MaiOaad{Clul>  (Glasgow,  184:?),  p.  9. 


228  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  3Maj. 

authority),  and  he  asked  a  blessing  in  a  long  pathetic  grace 
before  the  cup  went  round ;  —  he  drank  his  good  wishes 1  for 
the  family,  and  asked  for  Sir  Walter ;  and  was  pleased  to  say, 
His  Mother  was  a  Stewart's  Daughter,  and  he  had  a  relation 
to  the  name.  All  passed  easy  ;  and  our  James,  being  a  lad  of 
ten  years,  came  so  near  as  to  handle  the  hilt  of  one  of  the 
swords  :  upon  which  Oliver  stroked  his  head,  saying,  '  You  are 
my  little  Captain ; '  and  this  was  all  the  Commission  our  Cap- 
tain of  Allertoun  ever  had. 

"  The  General  called  for  some  of  his  own  wines  for  himself 
and  other  Officers,2  and  would  have  the  Lady  try  his  wine ; 
and  was  so  humane,  When  he  saw  the  young  Gentleman  so 
maigre  and  indisposed,  he  said,  Changing  the  climate  might  do 
good,  and  the  South  of  France,  Montpellier,  was  the  place. 

"  Amidst  all  this  humanity  and  politeness  he  omitted  not,  in 
person,  to  return  thanks  to  God  in  a  pointed  grace  after  his 
repast ;  and  after  this  hasted  on  his  return  to  join  the  Army. 
The  Lady  had  been  a  strenuous  Royalist,  and  her  Son  a  Cap- 
tain in  command  at  Dunbar ;  yet  upon  this  interview  with  the 
General  she  abated  much  of  her  zeal.  She  said  she  was  sure 
Cromwell  was  one  who  feared  God,  and  had  that  fear  in  him, 
and  the  true  interest  of  Religion  at  heart.  A  story  of  this 
kind  is  no  idle  digression  ;  it  has  some  small  connection  with 
the  Family  concerns,  and  shows  some  little  of  the  genius  of 
these  distracted  times."  —  And  so  we  leave  it ;  vague,  but  in- 
dubitable ;  standing  on  such  basis  as  it  has. 


LETTER  CLXXm. 

[For  my  beloved  Wife  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  at  the  Cockpit  : 
These.] 

"EDINBURGH,  3d  May,  1651. 

"My  DEAREST, — I  could  not  satisfy  myself  to  omit  this 
jvost,  although  I  have  not  much  to  write ;  yet  indeed  I  love  to 
write  to  my  Dear,  who  is  very  much  in  my  heart.  It  joys  me 

1  Certainly  incorrect.  2  Imaginary. 


1651.  LETTER  CLXXIII.    EDINBURGH.  229 

to  hear  thy  soul  prospereth :  the  Lord  increase  His  favors  to 
thee  more  and  more.  The  great  good  thy  soul  can  wish  is, 
That  the  Lord  lift  upon  thee  the  light  of  His  countenance, 
which  is  better  than  life.  The  Lord  bless  all  thy  good  counsel 
and  example  to  all  those  about  thee,  and  hear  all  thy  prayers, 
and  accept  thee  always. 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  thy  Son  and  Daughter  are  with  thee.  I 
hope  thou  wilt  have  some  good  opportunity  of  good  advice 
to  him.  Present  my  duty  to  my  Mother,  my  love  to  all  the 
Family.  Still  pray  for 

"Thine, 

"OLIVER  CKOMWELL."  l 

"Written  the  day  after  his  return  to  Edinburgh.  "  Thy  Son 
and  Daughter  "  are,  to  all  appearance,  Eichard  and  his  Wife, 
who  prolong  their  visit  at  the  Cockpit.  The  good  old  "Mother" 
is  still  spared  with  us,  to  have  "  my  duty  "  presented  to  her. 
A  pale  venerable  Figure ;  who  has  lived  to  see  strange  things 
in  this  world ;  —  can  piously,  in  her  good  old  tremulous  heart, 
rejoice  in  such  a  Son. 

Precisely  in  these  days,  a  small  ship  driven  by  stress  of 
weather  into  Ayr  Harbor,  and  seized  and  searched  by  Crom- 
well's Garrison  there,  discloses  a  matter  highly  interesting  to 
the  Commonwealth.  A  Plot,  namely,  on  the  part  of  the  Eng- 
lish Presbyterian-Royalists,  English  Royalists  Proper,  and  all 
manner  of  Malignant  Interests  in  England,  to  unite  with  the 
Scots  and  their  King :  in  which  certain  of  the  London  Pres- 
byterian Clergy,  Christopher  Love  among  others,  are  deeply 
iriv<  lived.  The  little  ship  was  bound  for  the  Isle  of  Man,  with 
tidings  to  the  Earl  of  Derby  concerning  the  affair;  and  now 
we  have  caught  her  within  the  Bars  of  Ayr ;  and  the  whole 
matter  is  made  manifest !  *  Reverend  Christopher  Love  ia 
l.ii<l  hold  of,  7th  May ;  he  and  others :  and  the  Council  of  State 
ia  busy.  It  is  the  same  Christopher  who  preached  at  Uxbridge 
Treaty  long  since,  That  "  Heaven  might  as  well  think  of  uniting 

1  Harrifl,  p.  517. 

*  Bates,  Hittory  of  the  late  Trouble*  in  England  (Translation  of  the  Elenchu* 
London,  1086 J,  Part  ii.  115. 


230  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  3  June, 

with  Hell."     Were  a  new  High  Court  of  Justice  once  consti- 
tuted, it  will  go  hard  with  Christopher. 

As  for  the  Lord  General,  this  march  to  Glasgow  has  thrown 
him  into  a  new  relapse,  which  his  Doctor  counts  as  the  third 
since  March  last.  The  disease  is  now  ague ;  comes  and  goes, 
till,  in  the  end  of  this  month,  the  Council  of  State,  as  ordered 
by  Parliament,  requests  him  to  return,  in  the  mean  while,  to 
England  for  milder  air ;  *  and  despatches  two  London  Doctors 
to  him ;  whom  the  Lord  Fairfax  is  kind  enough  to  "  send  in 
his  own  coach ; "  who  arrive  in  Edinburgh  on  the  30th  of  May, 
"  and  are  affectionately  entertained  by  my  Lord."  a  The  two 
Doctors  are  Bates  and  Wright.  Bates,  in  his  loose-tongued 
History  of  the  Troubles,  redacted  in  after-times,  observes  strict 
silence  as  to  this  Visit.  Here  is  the  Lord  General's  Answer ; 
indicating,  with  much  thankfulness,  that  he  will  not  now  need 
to  return. 


LETTER  CLXXIV. 

[To  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  of  State :  These."] 

"EDINBURGH,  3d  June,  1651. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  I  have  received  yours  of  the  27th  of  May ; 
with  an  Order  from  the  Parliament  for  my  Liberty  to  return 
into  England  for  change  of  air,  that  thereby  I  might  the  bet- 
ter recover  my  health.  All  which  came  unto  me  whilst  Dr. 
Wright  and  Dr.  Bates,  whom  your  Lordship  sent  down,  were 
with  me. 

"  I  shall  not  need  to  recite  the  extremity  of  my  last  sick- 
ness ;  it  was  so  violent  that  indeed  my  nature  was  not  able  to 
bear  the  weight  thereof.  But  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  deliver 
me,  beyond  expectation ;  and  to  give  me  cause  to  say  once 
more,  '  He  hath  plucked  me  out  of  the  grave  ! ' 8  —  My  Lord, 
the  indulgence  of  the  Parliament  expressed  by  their  Order  is 

1  Whitlocke,  p.  476  ;   Commons  Journals  (vi.  579),  27th  May,  1651. 

2  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  103). 

3  Psalm  xxx.  3,  "  has  brought  up  my  soul  from  the  grave  ; "  or,  Ixxxvi.  S, 
"  delivered  my  soul  from ; "  but  "  plucked  "  is  not  in  any  of  the  texts. 


1851,  LETTER  CLXXIV.    EDINBURGH.  231 

a  very  high  and  undeserved  favor :  of  which  although  it  be  fit 
I  keep  a  thankful  remembrance,  yet  I  judge  it  would  be  too 
much  presumption  in  me  to  *  return  a  particular  acknowledg- 
ment. I  beseech  you  give  me  the  boldness  to  return  my  hum- 
ble thankfulness  to  the  Council  for  sending  two  such  worthy 
Persons,  so  great  a  journey,  to  visit  me.  From  whom  I  have 
received  much  encouragement,  and  good  directions  for  recovery 
of  health  and  strength,  —  which  I  find  [now],  by  the  goodness 
of  God,  growing  to  such  a  state  as  may  yet,  if  it  be  His  good 
will,  render  me  useful  according  to  my  poor  ability,  in  the 
station  wherein  He  hath  set  me. 

"  I  wish  more  steadiness  in  your  Affairs  here  than  to  de- 
pend, in  the  least  degree,  upon  so  frail  a  thing  as  I  am.  In- 
deed they  do  not,  —  nor  own  any  instrument.  This  Cause  is 
of  God,  and  it  must  prosper.  Oh,  that  all  that  have  any  hand 
therein,  being  so  persuaded,  would  gird  up  the  loins  of  their 
mind,  and  endeavor  in  all  things  to  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord  ! 
So  prays,  my  Lord, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."' 

The  Lord  General's  case  was  somewhat  grave ;  at  one 
time,  it  seemed  hopeless  for  this  summer.  "  My  Lord  is  not 
sensible  that  he  is  grown  an  old  man."  The  Officers  were 
to  proceed  without  him ;  directed  by  him  from  the  distance. 
Here,  however,  is  an  improvement ;  and  two  days  after,  on  the 
6th  of  June,  the  Lord  General  is  seen  abroad  in  his  coach 
again ;  shakes  his  ailments  and  infirmities  of  age  away, 
and  takes  the  field  in  person  once  more.  The  Campaign  is 
now  vigorously  begun ;  though  as  yet  no  great  result  follows 
from  it. 

( >u  the  25th  of  June,  the  Army  from  all  quarters  reassem* 
t)l<-'l  "in  its  old  Camp  on  the  Pentland  Hills;"  marched  west- 
ward ;  left  Linlithgow  July  2d,  ever  westward,  with  a  view  to 
force  the  Enemy  from  his  strong  ground  about  Stirling.  Much 

1  "  not  to  "  in  orig. ;  —  dele  "  not." 

1  Kimber's  (anonymous)  Life  qf  Oliver  CrotnwtU  (London,  1724),  p.  201 ;  — 
doee  not  say  whence  derived. 


232  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  2Uuly, 

pickeering,  vaporing,  and  transient  skirmishing  ensues ;  but  the 
Enemy,  strongly  entrenched  at  Torwood,  secured  by  bogs  and 
brooks,  cannot  be  forced  out.  We  take  Calendar  House,  and 
do  other  insults,  before  their  eyes ;  they  will  not  come  out. 
Cannonadings  there  are  "  from  opposite  Hills ;  "  but  not  till  it 
please  the  Enemy  can  there  be  any  battle.  David  Lesley,  sec- 
ond in  rank,  but  real  leader  of  the  operations,  is  at  his  old 
trade  again.  The  Problem  is  becoming  difficult.  We  decide 
to  get  across  into  Fife ;  to  take  them  in  flank,  and  at  least  cut 
off  an  important  part  of  their  supplies. 

Here  is  the  Lord  General's  Letter  on  the  result  of  that 
enterprise.  Farther  details  of  the  Battle,  which  is  briefly 
spoken  of  here,  —  still  remembered  in  those  parts  as  the  Bat- 
tle of  Inverkeithing,  —  may  be  found  in  Lambert's  own  Letter 
concerning  it.1  "  Sir  John  Browne,  their  Major-General,"  was 
once  a  zealous  Parliamenteer  ;  "  Governor  of  Abingdon "  and 
much  else  ;  but  the  King  gained  him,  growls  Ludlow,  "  by  the 
gift  of  a  pair  of  silk  stockings,"  —  poor  wretch !  Besides 
Browne,  there  are  Massey,  and  various  Englishmen  of  mark 
with  this  Malignant  Army.  Massey's  Brother,  a  subaltern 
person  in  London,  is  one  of  the  conspirators  with  Christopher 
Love.  —  The  Lord  General  has  in  the  interim  made  his  Third 
Visit  to  Glasgow  ;  concerning  which  there  are  no  details  worth 
giving  here.2  Eev.  Christopher  Love,  on  the  5th  of  this  month, 
was  condemned  to  die.8 


LETTER  CLXXV. 

"  for  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"  LINLITHGOW,  21st  July,  1651. 

"  SIR,  —  After  our  waiting  upon  the  Lord,  and  not  knowing 
what  course  to  take,  for  indeed  we  know  nothing  but  what  God 

1  North  Ferry,  22d  July,  1651  (Whitlocke,  p.  472) :  the  Battle  was  on  Sun- 
day, the  20th.     See  also  Balfour,  iv.  313. 

2  Whitlocke,  p.  471 ;  MiUon  State-Papers,  p.  84  (llth  July,  1651), 
8  Wood,  iii.  278,  &c. 


1651.  LETTER  CLXXV.    LINLITHGOW.  233 

pleaseth  to  teach  us  of  His  great  mercy,  —  we  were  directed 
to  send  a  Party  to  get  us  a  landing  [on  the  Fife  coast]  by  our 
boats,  whilst  we  marched  towards  Glasgow. 

"  On  Thursday  morning  last,  Colonel  Overton,  with  about 
one  thousand  four  hundred  foot  and  some  horse  and  dragoons, 
landed  at  the  North  Ferry  in  Fife ;  we  with  the  Army  lying 
iiciir  the  Enemy  (a  small  river  parted  us  and  them),  and  having 
< -I'M saltations  to  attempt  the  Enemy  within  his  fortifications: 
but  the  Lord  was  not  pleased  to  give  way  to  that  counsel,  pro- 
posing a  better  way  for  us.  The  Major-General  [Lambert] 
marched,  on  Thursday  night,  with  two  regiments  of  horse  and 
two  regiments  of  foot,  for  better  securing  the  place ;  and  to 
attempt  upon  the  Enemy  as  occasion  should  serve.  He  get- 
ting over,  and  finding  a  considerable  body  of  the  Enemy  there 
(who  would  probably  have  beaten  our  men  from  the  place  if 
He  had  not  come),  drew  out  and  fought  them  ;  he  being  about 
two  regiments  of  horse,  with  about  four  hundred  of  horse  and 
dragoons  more,  and  three  regiments  of  foot ;  the  Enemy  five 
regiments  of  foot,  and  about  four  or  five  of  horse.  They  came 
to  a  close  charge,  and  in  the  end  totally  routed  the  Enemy ; 
having  taken  about  forty  or  fifty  colors,1  killed  near  two  thou- 
sand, some  say  more ;  have  taken  Sir  John  Browne  their 
Major-General,  who  commanded  in  chief,  — and  other  Colonels 
and  considerable  Officers  killed  and  taken,  and  about  five  or 
six  hundred  prisoners.  The  Enemy  is  removed  from  their 
ground  with  their  whole  Army ;  but  whither  we  do  not  cer- 
tainly know. 

"  This  is  an  unspeakable  mercy.  I  trust  the  Lord  will  fol- 
low it  until  He  hath  perfected  peace  and  truth.  We  can  truly 
say,  we  were  gone  as  far  as  we  could  in  our  counsel  and  action ; 
and  we  did  say  one  to  another,  we  knew  not  what  to  do.  Where- 
fore it 's  sealed  upon  our  hearts,  that  this,  as  all  the  rest,  is  from 
the  Lord's  goodness,  and  not  from  man.  I  hope  it  becometh 
me  to  pray,  That  we  may  walk  humbly  and  self-denyingly 
before  the  Lord,  and  believingly  also.  That  you  whom  we 
serve,  as  the  Authority  over  us,  may  do  the  work  committed 
to  you,  with  uprightness  and  faithfulness, — and  thoroughly, 

*  Farther  account  uf  thoae  in  Appendix,  No.  22. 


234  FAliT  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  24  July, 

as  to  the  Lord.  That  you  may  not  suffer  anything  to  remain 
that  offends  the  eyes  of  His  jealousy.  That  common  weal 
may  more  and  more  be  sought,  and  justice  done  impartially. 
For  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  run  to  and  fro ;  and  as  He  finds  out 
His  enemies  here,  to  be  avenged  on  them,  so  will  He  not  spare 
them  for  whom  He  doth  good,  if  by  His  loving-kindness  they 
become  not  good.  I  shall  take  the  humble  boldness  to  represent 
this  Engagement  of  David's,  in  the  Hundred-and-nineteenth 
Psalm,  verse  Hundred-and-thirty-fourth,  Deliver  me  from  the 
oppression  of  man,  so  will  I  keep  Thy  precepts. 
"  I  take  leave,  and  rest, 

"  Sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"P.S.  The  carriage  of  the  Major-General,  as  in  all  other 
things  so  in  this,  is  worthy  of  your  taking  notice  of ;  as  also 
the  Colonels  Okey,  Overtoil,  Daniel,  West,  Lydcot,  Syler,  and 
the  rest  of  the  Officers."  1 

Matters  now  speedily  take  another  turn.  At  the  Castle  of 
"  Dundas  "  we  are  still  on  the  South  side  of  the  Frith ;  in 
front  of  the  Scotch  lines,  though  distant :  but  Inchgarvie,  often 
tried  with  gunboats,  now  surrenders  ;  Burntisland,  by  force  of 
gunboats  and  dispirituient,  surrenders :  the  Lord  General  him- 
self goes  across  into  Fife.  The  following  Letters  speak  for 
themselves. 


LETTER  CLXXVI. 

[To  the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  of 
State:  These.'] 

"DCNDAS,  24th  July,  1651. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  It  hath  pleased  God  to  put  your  affairs  here 
in  some  hopeful  way,  since  the  last  Defeat  given  to  the 
Enemy. 

1  Newspapers  (in  ParL  Hist.  xix.  494  ;  and  Cromtvelliana,  p.  105). 


1651.  LETTER  CLXXVII.    LINLITHGOW.  235 

"  I  marched  with  the  Army  very  near  to  Stirling,  hoping 
thereby  to  get  the  Pass  ;  and  went  myself  with  General  Dean, 
and  some  others,  up  to  Bannockburn  ;  hearing  that  the  Enemy 
were  marched  on  the  other  side  towards  our  forces  in  Fife. 
Indeed  they  went  four  or  five  miles  on  towards  them ;  but 
hearing  of  my  advance,  in  all  haste  they  retreated  back,  and 
possessed  the  Park,  and  their  other  works.  Which  we  viewed  ; 
and  finding  them  not  advisable  to  attempt,  resolved  to  march 
to  Queen's  Ferry,  and  there  to  ship  over  so  much  of  the  Army  as 
might  hopefully  be  master  of  the  field  in  Fife.  Which  accord 
ingly  we  have  almost  perfected ;  and  have  left,  on  this  side, 
somewhat  better  than  four  regiments  of  horse,  and  as  many 
of  foot. 

"  I  hear  now  the  Enemy's  great  expectation  is  to  supply 
themselves  in  the  West  with  recruits  of  men,  and  what  victual 
they  can  get :  for  they  may  expect  none  out  of  the  North, 
\vht-n  once  our  Army  shall  interpose  between  them  and  St. 
Fohnston.  To  prevent  their  prevalency  in  the  West,  and 
making  incursions  into  the  Borders  of  England,  .  .  . 1 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  a 


LETTER  CLXXVII. 

OF  this  Letter  Sir  Harry  Vane  and  the  Council  of  State 
judge  it  improper  to  publish  anything  in  the  Newspapers, 
except  a  rough  abstract,  in  words  of  their  own,  of  theirs?  ///••> 
jxiru  graphs  and  the  concluding  one.  In  which  state  it  presents 
itself  in  the  Old  Pamphlets.8  The  Letter  copied  in  full  lies 
among  the  Tanner  Manuscripts;  —  gives  us  a  glimpse  into 
tin-  private  wants,  and  old  furnitures,  of  the  Cromwell  Army. 
"Pots"  are  cavalry  helmets;  " backs-and- breasts "  are  still 
seen  on  cuirassier  regiments;  "snaphances"  (German  schnapp- 
Ji'i/,n,  snapcock)  are  a  new  wonderful  invention,  giving  fire 

1  Sir  Harry  Vane,  who  reads  the  letter  ill  Parliament,  judges  it  prudent 
to  Btop  here  (Commont  JounuiU,  vi.  614). 

*  Newnpapers  (in  OromtPafUtata,  p.  107). 

•  In  Pttrliamrntary  I/irtory,  xix.  498. 


236  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  26  July, 

by  flint-and-steel ; — promising,  were  they  not  so  terribly  ex- 
pensive, to  supersede  the  old  slow  matchlock  in.  field-service ! 
But,  I  believe,  they  wind  up  like  a  watch  before  the  trigger 
acts  ; l  and  corne  very  high !  — 

"  To  the  Eight  Honorable  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council 
of  State:  These. 

"LiNLiTHGOW,  26th  July,  1651. 

"  MY  LORD,  —  I  am  able  to  give  you  no  more  account  than 
what  you  have  by  my  last ;  only  we  have  now  in  Fife  about 
thirteen  or  fourteen  thousand  horse  and  foot.  The  Enemy 
is  at  his  old  lock,  and  lieth  in  and  near  Stirling ;  where  we 
cannot  come  to  fight  him,  except  he  please,  or  we  go  upon  too- 
too  manifest  hazards;  he  having  very  strongly  laid  himself, 
and  having  a  very  great  advantage  there.  Whither  we  hear 
he  hath  lately  gotten  great  provisions  of  meal,  and  reinforce- 
ment of  his  strength  out  of  the  North  under  Marquis  Huntly. 
It  is  our  business  still  to  wait  upon  God,  to  show  us  our  way 
how  to  deal  with  this  subtle  Enemy ;  which  I  hope  He  will. 

"  Our  forces  on  this  side  the  River 2  are  not  very  many : 
wherefore  I  have  sent  for  Colonel  Rich's ;  and  shall  appoint 
them,  with  the  forces  under  Colonel  Saunders,  to  embody 
close  upon  the  Borders,  —  and  to  be  in  readiness  to  join 
with  those  left  on  this  side  the  Frith,  or  to  be  for  the  se- 
curity of  England,  as  occasion  shall  offer ;  there  being  little 
use  of  them  where  they  lie,  as  we  know. 

"  Your  Soldiers  begin  to  fall  sick,  through  the  wet  weath- 
er which  has  lately  been.  It  is  desired,  therefore,  that  the 
recruits  of  foot  determined  [on]  may  rather  come  sooner  in 
time  than  usually;  and  may  be  sure  to  be  full  in  numbers, 
according  to  your  appointment,  whereof  great  failing  has 
lately  been.  For  the  way  of  raising  them,  it  is  wholly  sub- 
mitted to  your  pleasure ;  and  we  hearing  you  rather  choose 
to  send  us  Volunteers  than  Pressed-men,  shall  be  very  glad 
you  go  that  way. 

"  Our  Spades  are  spent  to  a  very  small  number :  we  de- 
sire, therefore,  that  of  the  five  thousand  tools  we  lately  sent 

1  Grose's  Military  Antiquities.  2  Means  "  Frith  "  always. 


1651.  LETTER  CLXXVIII.    BtJHNTISLAND.  237 

for,  at  the  least  three  thousand  of  them  may  be  spades,— 
they  wearing  most  away  in  our  works,  and  being  most  useful. 
Our  Horse-arms,  especially  our  pots,  are  come  to  a  very  small 
number:  it  is  desired  we  may  have  a  thousand  backs-aud- 
breasts  and  fifteen  hundred  pots.  We  have  left  us  in  store 
but  four  hundred  pair  of  pistols ;  two  hundred  saddles ;  six 
hundred  pikes ;  two  thousand  and  thirty  muskets,  whereof 
thirty  snaphances.  These  are  our  present  stores :  and  not 
knowing  what  you  have  sent  us  by  this  Fleet  that  is  coming, 
we  desire  we  may  be  considered  therein.  —  Our  cheese  and 
butter  is  our  lowest  store  of  Victual 

"  We  were  necessitated  to  pay  the  Soldiery  moneys  now  at 
their  going  over  into  Fife;  whereby  the  Treasury  is  much 
exhausted,  although  we  desire  to  husband  it  what  we  can. 
This  being  the  principal  time  of  action,  we  desire  your  Lord- 
ship to  take  a  principal  care  that  money  may  be  supplied  us 
with  all  possible  speed,  and  these  other  things  herewith 
mentioned ;  your  affairs  so  necessarily  requiring  the  same. 

"  The  Castle  of  Inchgarvie,  which  lieth  in  the  Kiver,  almost 
in  the  midway  between  the  North  and  South  Ferry,  com- 
monly called  Queen's  Ferry,  —  was  delivered  to  us  on  Thurs- 
day last.  They  marched  away  with  their  swords  and  baggage 
only;  leaving  us  sixteen  cannon,  and  all  their  other  arms 
and  ammunition.  I  remain,  my  Lord, 

"  Your  lordship's  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVES  CROMWELL."* 


LETTER  CLXXVIII. 

[To  my  very  loving  Brother  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at 
Hursley:  These}. 

"  [BCRWTISLAND,]  2fith  July,  1651. 

"DEAR  BROTHER,  —  I  was  glad  to  receive  a  Letter  from 
you;  for  indeed  anything  that  comes  from  you  is  very  wel- 

i  Tanner  MSS.,  in  Cary,  ii.  288-290. 


238  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  28  July, 

come  to  me.  I  believe  your  expectation  of  my  Son's  coming 
is  deferred.  I  wish  he  may  see  a  happy  delivery  of  his  Wife 
first,1  for  whom  I  frequently  pray. 

"I  hear  my  Son  hath  exceeded  his  allowance,  and  is  in 
debt.  Truly  I  cannot  commend  him  therein ;  wisdom  re- 
quiring his  living  within  compass,  and  calling  for  it  at  his 
hands.  And  in  my  judgment,  the  reputation  arising  from 
thence  would  have  been  more  real  honor  than  what  is  attained 
the  other  way.  I  believe  vain  men  will  speak  well  of  him 
that  does  ill. 

"I  desire  to  be  understood  that  I  grudge  him  not  laud- 
able recreations,  nor  an  honorable  carriage  of  himself  in 
them ;  nor  is  any  matter  of  charge,  like  to  fall  to  my  share, 
a  stick2  with  me.  Truly  I  can  find  in  my  heart  to  allow 
him  not  only  a  sufficiency  but  more,  for  his  good.  But  if 
pleasure  and  self-satisfaction  be  made  the  business  of  a  man's 
life,  [and]  so  much  cost  laid  out  upon  it,  so  much  time  spent 
in  it,  as  rather  answers  appetite  than  the  will  of  God,  or  is 
comely  before  His  Saints,  —  I  scruple  to  feed  this  humor ; 
and  God  forbid  that  his  being  my  Son  should  be  his  allowance 
to  live  not  pleasingly  to  our  Heavenly  Father,  who  hath  raised 
me  out  of  the  dust  to  be  what  I  am ! 

"I  desire  your  faithfulness  (he  being  also  your  concern- 
ment as  well  as  mine)  to  advise  him  to  approve  himself  to 
the  Lord  in  his  course  of  life  ;  and  to  search  His  Statutes  for 
a  rule  of  conscience,  and  to  seek  grace  from  Christ  to  enable 
him  to  walk  therein.  This  hath  life  in  it,  and  will  come  to 
somewhat :  what  is  a  poor  creature  without  this  ?  This  will 
not  abridge  of  lawful  pleasures ;  but  teach  such  a  use  of  them 
as  will  have  the  peace  of  a  good  conscience  going  along  with 
it.  Sir,  I  write  what  is  in  my  heart ;  I  pray  you  communi- 
cate my  mind  herein  to  my  Son,  and  be  his  remembrancer  in 
these  things.  Truly  I  love  him,  he  is  dear  to  me ;  so  is  his 
Wife ;  and  for  their  sakes  do  I  thus  write.  They  shall  not 
want  comfort  nor  encouragement  from  me,  so  far  as  I  may 

1  Noble's  registers  are  very  defective  !     These  Letters,  too,  were  before  the 
poor  mail's  eyes. 

2  stop. 


1351.  LETTER  CLXXVIII.    BURNTISLAND.  239 

afford  it.  But  indeed  I  cannot  think  I  do  well  to  feed  a  volup- 
tuous humor  in  my  Son,  if  he  should  make  pleasures  the  • 
business  of  his  life,  —  in  a  time  when  some  precious  Saints 
are  bleeding,  and  breathing  out  their  last,  for  the  safety  of 
the  rest.  Memorable  is  the  speech  of  Uriah  to  David  (Second 
Samuel,  xi.  II).1 

"  Sir,  I  beseech  you  believe  I  here  say  not  this  to  save  my 
purse ;  for  I  shall  willingly  do  what  is  convenient  to  satisfy 
his  occasions,  as  I  have  opportunity.  But  as  I  pray  he  may 
not  walk  in  a  course  not  pleasing  to  the  Lord,  so  [I]  think  it 
lieth  upon  me  to  give  him,  in  love,  the  best  counsel  I  may ; 
and  know  not  how  better  to  convey  it  to  him  than  by  so  good 
a  hand  as  yours.  Sir,  I  pray  you  acquaint  him  with  these 
thoughts  of  mine.  And  remember  my  love  to  my  Daughter ; 
for  whose  sake  I  shall  be  induced  to  do  any  reasonable 
thing.  I  pray  for  her  happy  deliverance,  frequently  and 
earnestly. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  my  Bailiff 2  in  Hantshire  should 
do  to  my  Son  as  is  intimated  by  your  Letter.  I  assure  you  I 
shall  not  allow  any  such  thing.  If  there  be  any  suspicion  of 
his  abuse  of  the  Wood,  I  desire  it  may  be  looked  after,  and 
inquired  into ;  that  so,  if  things  appear  true,  he  may  be  re- 
moved, —  although  indeed  I  must  needs  say  he  had  the  repute 
of  a  godly  man,  by  divers  that  knew  him,  when  I  placed  him 
there. 

"  Sir,  I  desire  my  hearty  affection  may  be  presented  to  my 
Sister ;  to  my  Cousin  Ann,  and  her  Husband  though  unknown. 
—  I  praise  the  Lord  I  have  obtained  much  mercy  in  respect 
of  my  health ;  the  Lord  give  me  a  truly  thankful  heart.  I 
desire  your  prayers ;  and  rest, 

"  Your  very  affectionate  brother  and  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

1  "And  Uriah  mid  unto  David,  The  Ark,  and  Tsmril,  and  Jndah  abide  in 
tenta;  and  my  lord  Joah,  and  the  son-ants  of  my  lord,  are  encamped  in  th«» 
open  fiekta ;  (thaD  I,  then,  go  into  mine  house,  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  tn 
li<-  with  my  wife  I  A*  thou  liveet,  and  as  thy  soul  lireth,  I  will  not  do  this 
thine." 

Uayl/e."  •  ilarrin,  p.  513. 


240  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  29  July, 

My  Cousin  Ann,  then,  is  wedded !  "  Her  Husband  though 
unknown  "  is  John  Dunch ;  who,  on  his  Father's  decease,  be- 
came John  Dunch  of  Pusey ;  —  to  whom  we  owe  this  Letter, 
among  the  others. 


LETTER  CLXXIX. 

a  To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :   These. 

"  BURNTISLAND,  29th  July,  1651. 

a  SIR,  —  The  greatest  part  of  the  Army  is  in  Fife ;  waiting 
what  way  God  will  farther  lead  us.  It  hath  pleased  God  to  give 
us  in  Burntisland ; *  which  is  indeed  very  conducing  to  the  carry- 
ing on  of  our  affairs.  The  Town  is  well  seated ;  pretty  strong ; 
but  marvellous  capable  of  farther  improvement  in  that  respect, 
without  great  charge.  The  Harbor,  at  a  high  spring,  is  near 
a  fathom  deeper  than  at  Leith ;  and  doth  not  lie  commanded 
by  any  ground  without  the  Town.  We  took  three  or  four 
small  men-of-war  in  it,  and  I  believe  thirty  or  forty  guns. 

"  Commissary-General  Whalley  marched  along  the  seaside 
in  Fife,  having  some  ships  to  go  along  the  coast ;  and  hath 
taken  great  store  of  great  artillery,  and  divers  ships.  The 
Enemy's  affairs  are  in  some  discomposure,  as  we  hear.  Surely 
the  Lord  will  blow  upon  them.  I  rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." 


LETTER  CLXXX. 

IN  effect,  the  crisis  has  now  arrived.  The  Scotch  King  and 
Army,  finding  their  supplies  cut  off,  and  their  defences  ren- 
dered unavailing,  by  this  flank-movement,  —  break  up  sud- 
denly from  Stirling;8  march  direct  towards  England, — for  a 

1  "  Brunt  Island  "  in  orig.  2  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  107). 

8  "  Last  day  of  July"  (Bates,  ii.  120). 


1651. 


LETTER  CLXXX.    LEITH.  241 


stroke  at  the  heart  of  the  Commonwealth  itself.  Their  game 
now  is,  All  or  nothing.  A  desperate  kind  of  play.  Royalists, 
Presbyterian-Royalists  and  the  large  *  miscellany  of  Discon- 
tented Interests  may  perhaps  join  them  there ;  —  perhaps 
also  not !  They  march  by  Biggar  ;  enter  England  by  Carlisle,1 
on  Wednesday,  6th  of  August,  1651.  "At  Girthead,  in  the 
Parish  of  Wamphray,  in  Annandale,"  human  Tradition,  very 
faintly  indeed,  indicates  some  Roman  Stones  or  Mile-stones, 
by  the  wayside,  as  the  place  where  his  sacred  Majesty  passed 
the  Tuesday  night;  —  which  are  not  quite  so  venerable  now 
as  formerly.* 

"  To  the  Honorable  William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :    These. 

"  LEITH,  4th  August,  1651. 

"  SIR,  —  In  pursuance  of  the  Providence  of  God,  and  that 
blessing  lately  given  to  your  forces  in  Fife  ;  and  finding  that 
the  Enemy,  being  masters  of  the  Pass  at  Stirling,  could  not 
be  gotten  out  there  except  by  hindering  his  provisions  at  St. 
Johnston,  —  we,  by  general  advice,  thought  fit  to  attempt 
St.  Johnston;  knowing  that  that  would  necessitate  him  to 
quit  his  Pass.  Wherefore,  leaving  with  Major-General  Harri- 
son about  three  thousand  horse  and  dragoons,  besides  those 
which  are  with  Colonel  Rich,  Colonel  Saunders,  and  Colonel 
>n,  upon  the  Borders,  we  marched  to  St.  Johnston ;  *  and 
lying  one  day  before  it,  we  had  it  surrendered  to  us. 

"  During  which  time  we  had  some  intelligence  of  the  Ene- 
my's marching  southward ;  though  with  some  contradictions, 
as  if  it  had  not  been  so.  But  doubting  it  might  be  true,  we 
(leaving  a  Garrison  in  St.  Johnston,  and  sending  Lieutenant- 
(ifiifral  Monk  with  about  five  or  six  thousand  to  Stirling  to 
n-il uoe  that  place,  and  by  it  to  put  your  affairs  into  a  good 
I  ><>st  ure  in  Scotland)  marched,  with  all  possible  exj)edition, 
back  again  ;  and  have  passed  our  foot  ami  many  of  our  horse 

1  WhitWke.p.  474. 

2  Nirln. l.-i-*  Carlisle's  To/xMfrnpliical  Diet,  of  Scotland,  §  Wamphray. 

*  2d  AiimM.  H..M  i  i;.ili..ur.  iv  .'H;i);  "St.  Jolmstou,"  aa  we  know,  >• 
fVM 

*  "i     xvin  10 


242  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  4  Aug. 

over  the  Frith  this  day ;  resolving  to  make  what  speed  we  can 
tip  to  the  Enemy,  —  who,  in  his  desperation  and  fear,  and 
out  of  inevitable  necessity,  is  run  to  try  what  he  can  do  this 
way. 

"  I  do  apprehend,  that  if  he  goes  for  England,  being  some 
few  days'  march  before  us,  it  will  trouble  some  men's  thoughts ; 
and  may  occasion  some  inconveniences  ;  —  which  I  hope  we 
are  as  deeply  sensible  of,  and  have  been,  and  I  trust  shall  be, 
as  diligent  to  prevent,  as  any.  And  indeed  this  is  our  com- 
fort, That  in  simplicity  of  heart  as  towards  God,  we  have 
done  to  the  best  of  our  judgments  ;  knowing  that  if  some 
issue  were  not  put  to  this  Business,  it  would  occasion  another 
Winter's  war :  to  the  ruin  of  your  soldiery,  for  whom  the 
Scots  are  too  hard  in  respect  of  enduring  the  Winter  diffi- 
culties of  this  country;  and  to  the  endless  expense  of  the 
treasure  of  England  in  prosecuting  this  War.  It  may  be  sup- 
posed we  might  have  kept  the  Enemy  from  this,  by  interpos- 
ing between  him  and  England.  Which  truly  I  believe  we 
might :  but  how  to  remove  him  out  of  this  place,  without 
doing  what  we  have  done,  unless  we  had  had  a  commanding 
Army  on  both  sides  of  the  River  of  Forth,  is  not  clear  to  us  ; 
or  how  to  answer  the  inconveniences  aforementioned,  we  un- 
derstand not. 

"  We  pray,  therefore,  that  (seeing  there  is  a  possibility  for 
the  Enemy  to  put  you  to  some  trouble)  you  would,  with  the 
same  courage,  grounded  upon  a  confidence  in  God,  wherein 
you  have  been  supported  to  the  great  things  God  hath  used 
you  in  hitherto,  —  improve,  the  best  you  can,  such  forces 
as  you  have  in  readiness,  or  [as]  may  on  the  sudden  be  gath- 
ered together,  To  give  the  Enemy  some  check,  until  we  shall 
be  able  to  reach  up  to  him  ;  which  we  trust  in  the  Lord  we 
shall  do  our  utmost  endeavor  in.  And  indeed  we  have  this 
comfortable  experience  from  the  Lord,  That  this  Enemy  is 
heart-smitten  by  God ;  and  whenever  the  Lord  shall  bring  us 
up  to  them,  we  believe  the  Lord  will  make  the  desperateness 
of  this  counsel  of  theirs  to  appear,  and  the  folly  of  it  also. 
When  England  was  much  more  unsteady  than  now  ;  and  when 
o  much  more  considerable  Army  of  theirs,  unfoiled,  invaded 


1651.  LETTER  CLXXX.    LEITH.  243 

you ;  and  we  had  but  a  weak  force  to  make  resistance  at 
Preston, — upon  deliberate  advice,  we  chose  rather  to  put 
ourselves  between  their  Army  and  Scotland :  and  how  God 
succeeded  that,  is  not  well  to  be  forgotten !  This  [present 
movement]  is  not  out  of  choice  on  our  part,  but  by  some  kind 
of  necessity ;  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  have  the  like  issue. 
Together  with  a  hopeful  end  of  your  work ;  —  in  which  it  'a 
:  to  wait  upon  the  Lord,  upon  the  earnest  of  former  ex- 
periences, and  hope  of  His  presence,  which  only  is  the  life  of 
your  Cause. 

•  Major-General  Harrison,  with  the  horse  and  dragoons  un- 
der him,  and  Colonel  Rich  and  the  rest  in  those  parts,  shall 
attend  the  motions  of  the  Enemy ;  and  endeavor  the  keeping 
of  them  together,  as  also  to  impede  his  march.  And  will  be 
ready  to  be  in  conjunction  with  what  forces  shall  gather  to- 
gether for  this  service: — to  whom  orders  have  been  speeded 
to  that  purpose ;  as  this  enclosed  to  Major-General  Harrison 
will  show.  Major-General  Lambert,  this  day,  marched  with 
a  very  considerable  body  of  horse,  up  towards  the  Enemy's 
n-ar.  With  the  rest  of  the  horse,  and  nine  regiments  of  foot, 
most  of  them  of  your  old  foot  and  horse,  I  am  hasting  up ;  and 
shall,  by  the  Lord's  help,  use  utmost  diligence.  I  hope  I  have 
left  a  commanding  force  under  Lieutenant-General  Monk  in 
and 

"  This  account  I  thought  my  duty  to  speed  to  you ;  and 
rest, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

The  Scots  found  no  Presbyterian-Royalists,  no  Royalists 
Proper  to  speak  of,  nor  any  Discontented  Interest  in  England 
disposed  to  join  them  in  present  circumstances.  They  marched, 
under  rigorous  discipline,  weary  and  uncheered,  south  through 
Lancashire ;  had  to  dispute  their  old  friend  the  Bridge  of 
Warrington  with  Lambert  and  Harrison,  who  attended  them 
with  horse-troops  on  the  left;  Cromwell  with  the  main  Army 
steadily  advancing  behind.  They  carried  the  Bridge  at  \\  •>'.<:- 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwdliana,  pp.  107,  108). 


244  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  4Ang. 

rington ;  they  summoned  various  Towns,  but  none  yielded ; 
proclaimed  their  King  with  all  force  of  lungs  and  heraldry, 
but  none  cried,  God  bless  him.  Summoning  Shrewsbury,  with 
the  usual  negative  response,  they  quitted  the  London  road ; 
bent  southward  towards  Worcester,  a  City  of  slight  Garrison 
and  loyal  Mayor ;  there  to  entrench  themselves,  and  repose 
a  little. 

Poor  Earl  Derby,  a  distinguished  Koyalist  Proper,  had  hast- 
ened over  from  the  Isle  of  Man,  to  kiss  his  Majesty's  hand  in 
passing.  He  then  raised  some  force  in  Lancashire,  and  was 
in  hopes  to  kindle  that  country  again,  and  go  to  Worcester  in 
triumph  :  — but  Lilburn,  Colonel  Robert,  whom  we  have  known 
here  before,  fell  upon  him  at  Wigan  ;  cut  his  force  in  pieces : 1 
the  poor  Earl  had  to  go  to  Worcester  in  a  wounded  and  wrecked 
condition.  To  Worcester,  —  and,  alas,  to  the  scaffold  by  and 
by,  for  that  business.  The  Scots  at  Worcester  have  a  loyal 
Mayor,  some  very  few  adventurous  loyal  Gentry  in  the  neigh- 
borhood ;  and  excitable  Wales,  perhaps  again  excitable,  lying 
in  the  rear:  but  for  the  present,  except  in  their  own  poor 
fourteen  thousand  right-hands,  no  outlook.  And  Cromwell  is 
advancing  steadily  ;  by  York,8  by  Nottingham,  by  Coventry 
and  Stratford ;  "  raising  all  the  County  Militias,"  who  muster 
with  singular  alacrity  ;  —  flowing  towards  Worcester  like  the 
Ocean-tide;  begirdling  it  with  "upwards  of  thirty  thousand 
men."  His  Majesty's  royal  summons  to  the  Corporation  of 
London  is  burnt  there  by  the  hands  of  the  common  hangman ; 
Speaker  Lenthall  and  the  Mayor  have  a  copy  of  it  burnt  by 
that  functionary  at  the  head  of  every  regiment,  at  a  review  of 
the  Trainbands  in  Moorfields.8  London,  England  generally, 
seems  to  have  made  up  its  mind. 

At  London  on  the  22d  of  August,  a  rigorous  thing  was  done  : 
Reverend  Christopher  Love,  eloquent  zealous  Minister  of  St. 
Lawrence  in  the  Jewry,  was,  after  repeated  respites  and  nego- 
tiations, beheaded  on  Tower  Hill.  To  the  unspeakable  emotion 

1  Lilburn's  two  Letters,  in  Gary,  ii.  338-345. 
8  See  Appendix,  No.  21. 

8  Bates,  ii.  122;  Whitlocke,  p.  492;  see  also  Commons  Journals,  vii.  6  (23d 
August,  1651). 


1651.  LETTER  CLXXX.    LEITH.  245 

of  men.  Nay  the  very  Heavens  seemed  to  testify  a  feeling  of 
it,  —  by  a  thunder-clap,  by  two  thunder-claps.  When  the  Par- 
liament passed  their  vote  on  the  4th  of  July,  That  he  should 
die  according  to  the  sentence  of  the  Court,  there  was  then  a 
terrible  thunder-clap,  and  darkening  of  daylight.  And  now 
when  he  actually  dies,  "  directly  after  his  beheading,"  arises 
thunder-storm  that  threatens  the  dissolution  of  Nature !  Na- 
ture, as  we  see,  survived  it. 

The  old  Newspaper  says,  It  was  on  the  22d  August,  1642, 
that  Charles  late  King  erected  his  Standard  at  Nottingham : 
and  now  on  this  same  day,  22d  August,  1651,  Charles  Pre- 
tender erects  his  at  Worcester  ;  and  the  Reverend  Christopher 
dies.  Men  may  make  their  reflections.  —  There  goes  a  story, 
due  to  Carrion  Heath  or  some  such  party,  That  Cromwell  be- 
ing earnestly  solicited  for  mercy  to  this  poor  Christopher,  did, 
while  yet  in  Scotland,  send  a  Letter  to  the  Parliament,  recom- 
mending it ;  which  Letter,  however,  was  seized  by  some  roving 
outriders  of  the  Scottish  Worcester  Army ;  who  reading  it,  and 
remembering  Uxbridge  Sermon,  tore  it,  saying,  "  No,  let  the 
villain  die!" — after  the  manner  of  Heath.  Which  could  be 
proved,  if  time  and  paper  were  of  no  value,  to  be,  like  a  hun- 
dred other  very  wooden  mytJis  of  the  same  Period,  without 
truth.  Guarda  e  passa.  Glance  at  it  here  for  the  last  time, 
and  never  repeat  it  more !  — 

Charles's  Standard,  it  would  seem  then,  was  erected  at 
Worcester  on  Friday,  the  22d,  the  day  of  poor  Christopher's 
death.  On  which  same  Friday,  about  sunrise,  "our  Mes- 
senger [the  Parliament's]  left  the  Lord  General  at  Mr. 
Pierpoint's  House,"  —  William  Pierpoint,  of  the  Kingston 
Family,  much  his  friend,  —  the  House  called  Thoresby,  "near 
Mansfield  ; "  just  starting  for  Nottingham,  to  arrive  there  that 
night.  From  Nottingham,  by  Coventry,  by  Stratford  and 
;i;un,  to  "  the  southeast  side  of  Worcester,"  rallying 
Country  forces  as  we  go,  will  take  till  Thursday  next.  Here 
at  Stratford  on  the  Wednesday,  eve  of  that,  is  a  Letter  acci- 
dentally preserved. 


246  PAKT  VI.    WAR    WITH    SCOTLAND.  August 


LETTER   CLXXXI. 

DUBITATING  Wharton,  he  also  might  help  to  rally  forces ; 
liis  name,  from  "  Upper  Wiuchiugton  in  Bucks,"  or  wherever 
he  may  be,  might  do  something.  Give  him,  at  any  rate,  a  last 
chance.  —  "  Tom  Westrow,"  here  accidentally  named ;  once  a 
well-known  man,  familiar  to  the  Lord  General  and  to  men  of 
worth  and  quality  ;  now,  as  near  as  may  be,  swallowed  forever 
in  the  Night-Empires  ;  —  is  still  visible,  strangely  enough, 
through  one  small  chink,  and  recoverable  into  daylight  as  far 
as  needful.  A  Kentish  man,  a  Parliament  Soldier  once,  named 
in  military  Kent  Committees ;  sat  in  Parliament  too,  [recruiter] 
for  Hythe,  though  at  present  in  abeyance  owing  to  scruples. 
Above  all,  he  was  the  Friend  of  poor  George  Wither,  stepson 
of  the  Muses  ;  to  whom  in  his  undeserved  distresses  he  lent 
beneficent  princely  sums ;  and  who,  in  poor  splay-footed  dog- 
gerel, —  very  poor,  but  very  grateful,  pious,  true,  and  on  the 
whole  noble,  —  preserves  some  adequate  memory  of  him  for 
the  curious.1  By  this  chink  Tom  Westrow  and  the  ancient 
figure  of  his  Life,  is  still  recoverable  if  needed. 

Westrow,  we  find  by  good  evidence,  did  return  to  his  place 
in  Parliament ;  2  —  quitted  it  too,  as  Wither  informs  us,  fore- 
seeing the  great  Catastrophe  ;  and  retired  to  country  quiet,  up 
the  River  at  Teddington.  Westrow  and  the  others  returned : 
Wharton  continued  to  dubitate ;  —  and  we  shall  here  take  leave 
of  him.  "  Poor  foolish  Mall,"  young  Mary  Cromwell,  one  of 
"  my  two  little  Wenches,"  has  been  on  a  visit  at  Winchington, 
I  think ;  —  "  thanks  to  you  and  the  dear  Lady  "  for  her. 

1  Westrow  Revived:  a  Funeral  Poem  without  Fiction,  composed  by  George 
Wither,  Esq.  ;  that  God  may  be  glorified  in   His  Saints,  and  that  —  &c.  &c. 
(King's  Pamphlets,  12mo,  no.  390:  London,  1653-4,  dated  with  the  pen,  "3d 
January ")  :    unadulterated   doggerel ;  but  really  says  something,  and  even 
something  just ;  —  by  no  means  your  insupportablest  "  poetic  "  reading,  as 
times  go ! 

2  "  Admitted  to  sit ; "  means,  readmitted  after  Pride's  Purge :  Commons 
Journals  (vii.  27,  29),  10th  October,  L65I. 


1661.          LETTER  CLXXXI.    STRATFORD-ON-AVON.       247 


"  For  my  Honored  Lord  Wharton :  These. 

"  STBATFORD-ON-AVOK,  27th  August,  1651. 

"Mr  LORD,  —  I  know  I  write  to  my  Friend, — therefore 
give  me  leave  to  say  one  bold  word. 

"In  my  very  heart:  Your  Lordship,  Dick  Norton,  Tom 
Westrow,  Kobert  Hammond  have,  though  not  intentionally, 
helped  one  another  to  stumble  at  the  dispensations  of  God,  and 
to  reason  yourselves  out  of  His  service  !  — 

"  Now  [again]  you  have  opportunity  to  associate  with  His 
people  in  His  work  ;  and  to  manifest  your  willingness  and 
desire  to  serve  the  Lord  against  His  and  His  people's  enemies. 
Would  you  be  blessed  out  of  Zion,  and  see  the  good  of  His 
people,  and  rejoice  with  His  inheritance,  —  I  advise  you  all  in 
the  bowels  of  love,  Let  it  appear  you  offer  yourselves  willingly 
to  His  work  !  Wherein  to  be  accepted,  is  more  honor  from 
the  Lord  than  the  world  can  give  or  hath.  I  am  persuaded  it 
needs  you  not,  —  save  as  your  Lord  and  Master  needed  the 
Ass's  Colt,  to  show  His  humility,  meekness  and  condescension : 
but  you  need  it,  to  declare  your  submission  to,  and  owning 
yourself  the  Lord's  and  His  people's  ! l — ' 

"  If  you  can  break  through  old  disputes,  —  I  shall  rejoice  if 
you  help  others  to  do  so  also.  Do  not  say,  You  are  now  satis- 
fied because  it  is  the  old  Quarrel ;  —  as  if  it  had  not  been  so  all 
this  while ! 

"  I  have  no  leisure ;  but  a  great  deal  of  entire  affection  to 
you  and  yours,  and  those  named  [here],  —  which  I  thus  plainly 
express.  Thanks  to  you  and  the  dear  Lady,  for  all  loves,  — 
and  for  poor  foolish  Mall.  I  am  in  good  earnest  [thankful]  ; 
and  so  also  your  Lordship's 

"  Faithful  friend  and  most  humble  servant, 

"  OLIVKR  CROMWELL."  * 

1  Grammar,  in  this  last  clause,  lost  in  the  haste  "  Ass's  Colt  "  in  "  Beast  " 
in  ..rijf. 

*  Gentleman'*  Mnyarinf  (London,  1814),  Ixxxiv.  p.  419. —  In  Appendix, 
No.  26,  there  i*  now  (1H57)  another  Letter  to  liin 


248  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  3  Sept. 

Charles's  standard  has  been  floating  over  Worcester  some 
six  days ;  and  now  on  Thursday,  28th  of  August,  conies  in  sight 
Cromwell's  also ;  from  the  Evesham  side ;  with  upwards  of 
thirty  thousand  men  now  near  him ;  and  some  say,  upwards 
of  eighty  thousand  rising  in  the  distance  to  join  him  if  need 
were. 


LETTERS  CLXXXIL-CLXXXIII. 

BATTLE   OF    WORCESTER. 

THE  Battle  of  Worcester  was  fought  on  the  evening  of 
Wednesday,  3d  September,  1651 ;  anniversary  of  that  at  Dun- 
bar  last  year.  It  could  well  have  but  one  issue ;  defeat  for  the 
Scots  and  their  Cause ;  —  either  swift  and  complete ;  or  else 
incomplete,  ending  in  slow  sieges,  partial  revolts,  and  much 
new  misery  and  blood.  The  swift  issue  was  the  one  appointed ; 
and  complete  enough ;  severing  the  neck  of  the  Controversy 
now  at  last,  as  with  one  effectual  stroke,  no  need  to  strike  a 
second  time. 

The  Battle  was  fought  on  both  sides  of  the  Severn ;  part 
of  Cromwell's  forces  having  crossed  to  the  Western  bank,  by 
Upton  Bridge,  some  miles  below  Worcester,  the  night  before. 
About  a  week  ago,  Massey  understood  himself  to  have  ruined 
this  Bridge  at  Upton ;  but  Lambert's  men  "  straddled'  across 
by  the  parapet,"  — a  dangerous  kind  of  saddle  for  such  riding, 
I  think  !  —  and  hastily  repaired  it ;  hastily  got  hold  of  Upton 
Church,  and  maintained  themselves  there ;  driving  Massey 
back  with  a  bad  wound  in  the  hand.  This  was  on  Thursday 
night  last,  the  very  night  of  the  Lord  General's  arrival  in 
those  parts ;  and  they  have  held  this  post  ever  since.  Fleet- 
wood  crosses  here  with  a  good  part  of  Cromwell's  Army,  on 
the  evening  of  Tuesday,  September  2d ;  shall,  on  the  morrow, 
attack  the  Scotch  posts  on  the  Southwest,  about  the  Suburb  of 
St.  John's,  across  the  River ;  while  Cromwell,  in  person,  on 
this  side,  plies  them  from  the  Southeast.  St.  John's  Suburb 
lies  at  some  distance  from  Worcester ;  west,  or  southwest  as 


1661.  BATTLE  OF  WORCESTER.  249 

we  say,  on  the  Herefordshire  Road ;  and  connects  itself  with 
the  City  by  Severn  Bridge.  Southeast  of  the  City,  again,  near 
the  then  and  present  London  Road,  is  "  Fort  Royal "  an  en- 
trenchment of  the  Scots  :  on  this  side  Cromwell  is  to  attempt 
the  Enemy,  and  second  Fleetwood,  as  occasion  may  serve. 
Worcester  City  itself  is  on  Cromwell's  side  of  the  River; 
stands  high,  surmounted  by  its  high  Cathedral ;  close  on  the 
left  or  eastern  margin  of  the  Severn  ;  surrounded  by  fruitful 
fields,  and  hedges  unfit  for  cavalry-fighting.  This  is  the  pos- 
ture of  affairs  on  the  eve  of  Wednesday,  3d  September,  1651. 

But  now,  for  Wednesday  itself,  we  are  to  remark  that  be- 
tween Fleetwood  at  Upton,  and  the  Enemy's  outposts  at 
St.  John's  on  the  west  side  of  Severn,  there  runs  still  a  River 
Teme ;  a  western  tributary  of  the  Severn,  into  which  it  falls 
about  a  mile  below  the  City.  This  River  Teme  Fleetwood 
hopes  to  cross,  if  not  by  the  Bridge  at  Powick  which  the 
Enemy  possesses,  then  by  a  Bridge  of  Boats  which  he  is  him- 
self to  prepare  lower  down,  close  by  the  mouth  of  Teme.  At 
this  point  also,  or  "  within  pistol-shot  of  it,"  there  is  to  be  a 
Bridge  of  Boats  laid  across  the  Severn  itself,  that  so  both  ends 
of  the  Army  may  communicate.  Boats,  boatmen,  carpenters, 
aquatic  and  terrestrial  artificers  and  implements,  in  great 
abundance,  contributed  by  the  neighboring  Towns,  lie  ready 
i MI  the  River,  about  Upton,  for  this  service.  Does  the  reader 
n<>\v  understand  the  ground  a  little  ? 

Fleetwood,  at  Upton,  was  astir  with  the  dawn,  September  3d. 
But  it  was  towards  "  three  in  the  afternoon  "  before  the  boat- 
men were  got  up ;  must  have  been  towards  five  before  those 
Bridges  were  got  built,  and  Fleetwood  set  fairly  across  the 
Teme  to  begin  business.  The  King  of  Scots  and  his  Council 
of  War,  "on  the  top  of  the  Cathedral,"  have  been  anxiously 
viewing  him  all  afternoon ;  have  seen  him  build  his  Bridges 
oats ;  see  him  now  in  great  force  got  across  Teme  River, 
king  the  Scotch  on  the  South,  fighting  them  from  hedge 
to  hedge  towards  the  Suburb  of  St.  John's.  In  great  force : 
for  new  regiments,  horse  and  foot,  now  stream  across  the 
Severn  Bridge  of  Boats  to  assist  Fleetwood :  nay,  if  the  Scots 
knew  it,  my  Lord  (J  ncral  himself  is  come  across,  "did  lead 


2oO  PART  VI.    WAK   WITH  SCOTLAND.  3  Sept. 

the  van  in  person,  and  was  the  first  that  set  foot  on  the  Enemy's 
ground."  —  The  Scots,  obstinately  struggling,  are  gradually 
beaten  there ;  driven  from  hedge  to  hedge.  But  the  King  of 
Scots  and  his  War-Council  decide  that  most  part  of  Cromwell's 
Army  must  now  be  over  in  that  quarter,  on  the  West  side  of 
the  River,  engaged  among  the  hedges ;  —  decide  that  they,  for 
their  part,  will  storm  out,  and  offer  him  battle  on  their  own 
East  side,  now  while  he  is  weak  there.  The  Council  of  Wai- 
comes  down  from  the  top  of  the  Cathedral ;  their  trumpets 
sound  :  Cromwell  also  is  soon  back,  across  the  Severn  Bridge 
of  Boats  again ;  and  the  deadliest  tug  of  war  begins. 

Fort  Royal  is  still  known  at  Worcester,  and  Sudbury  Gate 
at  the  southeast  end  of  the  City  is  known,  and  those  other 
localities  here  specified ;  after  much  study  of  which  and  of  the 
old  dead  Pamphlets,  this  Battle  will  at  last  become  conceivable. 
Besides  Cromwell's  Two  Letters,  there  are  plentiful  details, 
questionable  and  unquestionable,  in  Bates  and  elsewhere,  as 
indicated  below.1  The  fighting  of  the  Scots  was  fierce  and 
desperate.  "  My  Lord  General  did  exceedingly  hazard  him- 
self, riding  up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  the  fire ;  riding, 
himself  in  person,  to  the  Enemy's  foot  to  offer  them  quarter, 
whereto  they  returned  no  answer  but  shot."  The  small  Scotch 
Army,  begirdled  with  overpowering  force,  and  cut  off  from 
help  or  reasonable  hope,  storms  forth  in  fiery  pulses,  horse 
and  foot ;  charges  now  on  this  side  of  the  River,  now  on  that ; 
—  can  on  no  side  prevail.  Cromwell  recoils  a  little  ;  but  only 
to  rally,  and  return  irresistible.  The  small  Scotch  Army  is, 
on  every  side,  driven  in  again.  Its  fiery  pulsings  are  but  the 
struggles  of  death :  agonies  as  of  a  lion  coiled  in  the  folds  of 
a  boa ! 

"  As  stiff  a  contest,  for  four  or  five  hours,  as  ever  I  have 
•seen."  But  it  avails  not.  Through  Sudbury  Gate,  on  Crom- 
well's side,  through  St.  John's  Suburb,  and  over  Severn  Bridge 
on  Fleetwood's,  the  Scots  are  driven  in  again  to  Worcester 
Streets ;  desperately  struggling  and  recoiling,  are  driven 

1  Bates,  Part  ii.  124-127.  King's  Pamphlets  ;  small  4to,  no.  507,  §  12  (given 
mostly  in  Cromwelliana,  pp.  114,  115)  ;  large  4to,  no.  54,  §§  15,  18  Letter 
from  Stapyltun  the  Chaplain,  in  Cromwelliana,  p.  11?. 


J851.  LETTER  CLXXXII.    WORCESTER.  251 

through  Worcester  Streets,  to  the  North  end  of  the  City,  — 
and  terminate  there.  A  distracted  mass  of  ruin :  the  foot  all 
killed  or  taken ;  the  horse  all  scattered  on  flight,  and  their 
place  of  refuge  very  far !  His  Sacred  Majesty  escaped,  by 
royal  oaks  and  other  miraculous  appliances  well  known  to 
mankind :  but  fourteen  thousand  other  men,  sacred  too  after 
a  sort  though  not  majesties,  did  not  escape.  One  could  weep 
at  such  a  death  for  brave  men  in  such  a  Cause !  But  let  us 
now  read  Cromwell's  Letters. 


LETTER  CLXXXIL 

'  For  the  Honorable   William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England;  These. 

"  NEAR  WORCESTER,  3d  Sept.  1651  (10  at  night). 

"SiK,  —  Being  so  weary,  and  scarce  able  to  write,  yet  I 
thought  it  my  duty  to  let  you  know  thus  much.  That  upon 
this  day,  being  the  3d  of  September  (remarkable  for  a  mercy 
vouchsafed  to  your  Forces  on  this  day  twelvemonth  in  Scot- 
!  i! ul),  we  built  a  Bridge  of  Boats  over  Severn,  between  it  and 
Teme,  about  half  a  mile  from  Worcester;  and  another  over 
Teme,  within  pistol-shot  of  our  other  Bridge.  Lieutenant- 
General  Fleetwood  and  Major-General  Dean  marched  from 
Upton  on  the  southwest  side  of  Severn  up  to  Powick,  a  Town 
ivhich  was  a  Pass  the  Enemy  kept.  We  [from  our  side  of 
Severn]  passed  over  some  horse  and  foot,  and  were  in  con- 
junction with  the  Lieutenant-General's  Forces.  We  beat  the 
Enemy  from  hedge  to  hedge  till  we  beat  him  into  Worcester. 

"The  Enemy  then  drew  all  his  Forces  on  the  other  side  the 
Town,  all  but  what  he  had  lost ;  and  made  a  very  considerable 
fight  with  us,  for  three  hours'  space:  but  in  the  end  we  lir:it 
him  totally,  and  jjursimd  him  to  his  Royal  Fort,  which  we 
took,  —  and  imlred  have  beaten  his  whole  Army.  When  we 
took  this  Fort,  we  turned  his  own  guns  upon  him.  The  Enemy 
hath  had  great  loss :  and  certainly  is  scattered,  and  run 
sfvrral  ways.  We  are  in  pursuit  of  him,  and  have  laid  forces 
in  several  places,  that  we  hope  will  gather  him  up. 


252  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

"  Indeed  this  hath  been  a  very  glorious  'mercy  ;  —  and  as 
stiff  a  contest,  for  four  or  five  hours,  as  ever  I  have  seen. 
Both  your  old  Forces  and  those  new  raised  have  behaved 
themselves  with  very  great  courage ;  and  He  that  made  them 
come  out,  made  them  willing  to  tight  for  you.  The  Lord  God 
Almighty  frame  our  hearts  to  real  thankfulness  for  this,  which 
is  alone  His  doing.  I  hope  I  shall  within  a  day  or  two  give 
you  a  more  perfect  account. 

"  In  the  mean  time  I  hope  you  will  pardon,  Sir, 

"  Your  most  humble  servant, 

"OLIVEK  CROMWELL."  1 


On  Saturday  the  6th  comes  a  farther  Letter  from  my  Lord 
General  ;  "  the  effect  whereof  speaketh  thus  :  "  — 

LETTER  CLXXXIII. 

"  For  the  Honorable   William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  England :  These. 

"WORCESTER,  4th  September,  1651. 

"  SIR,  —  I  am  not  able  yet  to  give  you  an  exact  account  of 
the  great  things  the  Lord  hath  wrought  for  this  Common- 
wealth and  for  His  People:  and  yet  I  am  unwilling  to  be 
silent ;  but,  according  to  my  duty,  shall  represent  it  to  you  as 
it  comes  to  hand. 

"  This  Battle  was  fought  with  various  success  for  some 
hours,  but  still  hopeful  on  your  part ;  and  in  the  end  became 
an  absolute  victory,  —  and  so  full  an  one  as  proved  a  total 
defeat  and  ruin  of  the  Enemy's  Army  ;  and  a  possession  of  the 
Town,  our  men  entering  at  the  Enemy's  heels,  and  fighting 
with  them  in  the  streets  with  very  great  courage.  We  took 
all  their  baggage  and  artillery.  What  the  slain  are,  I  can  give 
you  no  account,  because  we  have  not  taken  an  exact  view ;  but 
they  are  very  many :  —  and  must  needs  be  so ;  because  the 

1  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  113) ;  Tanner  MSS.  (Gary,  Hi.  355). 


165L  LETTER  CLXXXHI.    WORCESTER. 

dispute  was  long  and  very  near  at  hand ;  and  often  at  push  of 
pike,  and  from  one  defence  to  another.  There  are  about  six 
or  seven  thousand  prisoners  taken  here ;  and  many  Officers 
and  Noblemen  of  very  great  quality :  Duke  Hamilton,  the  Earl 
of  Rothes,  and  divers  other  Noblemen, — I  hear,  the  Earl  of 
Lauderdale ;  many  Officers  o£  great  quality ;  and  some  that 
will  be  fit  subjects  for  your  justice. 

"  We  have  sent  very  considerable  parties  after  the  flying 
Enemy ;  I  hear  they  have  taken  considerable  numbers  of  pris- 
oners, and  are  very  close  in  the  pursuit.  Indeed,  I  hear  the 
Country  riseth  upon  them  everywhere  ;  and  I  believe  the  forces 
that  lay,  through  Providence,  at  Bewdley,  and  in  Shropshire 
and  Staffordshire,  and  those  with  Colonel  Lilburn,  were  in  a 
condition,  as  if  this  had  been  foreseen,  to  intercept  what  should 
return. 

"  A  more  particular  account  than  this  will  be  prepared  for 
you  as  we  are  able.  I  hear  they  had  not  many  more  than  a 
thousand  horse  in  their  body  that  fled :  and  I  believe  you  have 
near  four  thousand  forces  following,  and  interposing  between 
them  and  home ;  —  what  fish  they  will  catch,  Time  will  de- 
clare.1 Their  Army  was  about  sixteen  thousand  strong ;  and 
fought  ours  on  the  Worcester  side  of  Severn  almost  with  their 
whole,  whilst  we  had  engaged  about  half  our  Army  on  the 
other  side  but  with  parties  of  theirs.  Indeed  it  was  a  stiff 
business ;  yet  I  do  not  think  we  have  lost  two  hundred  men. 
Your  new-raised  forces  did  perform  singular  good  service ;  for 
which  they  deserve  a  very  high  estimation  and  acknowledg- 
ment ;  as  also  for  their  willingness  thereunto,  —  forasmuch  as 
the  same  hath  added  so  much  to  the  reputation  of  your  affairs. 
They  are  all  despatched  home  again ;  which  I  hope  will  be 
much  for  the  ease  and  satisfaction  of  the  Country;  which  is  a 
great  fruit  of  these  successes. 

"  The  dimensions  of  this  mercy  are  above  my  thoughts.  It 
is,  for  aught  I  know,  a  crowning  mercy.  Surely,  if  it  be  not, 
such  a  one  we  shall  have,  if  this  provoke  those  that  are  con- 
cerned in  it  to  thankfulness ;  and  the  Parliament  to  do  the 

1  Phra«A  omitted  in  the  Newspaper.  In  orig.,  aii  utiicuU  Laud  bus  written 
on  the  niargiu  "  omitt  thu»." 


254  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

will  of  Him  who  hath  done  His  will  for  it,  and  for  the  Nation ; 
—  whose  good  pleasure  it  is  to  establish  the  Nation  and  the 
Change  of  the  Government,  by  making  the  People  so  willing 
to  the  defence  thereof,  and  so  signally  blessing  the  endeavors 
of  your  servants  in  this  late  great  work.  I  am  bold  humbly 
to  beg,  That  all  thoughts  may  tend  to  the  promoting  of  His 
honor  who  hath  wrought  so  great  salvation  ;  and  that  the  fat- 
ness of  these  continued  mercies  may  not  occasion  pride  and 
wantonness,  as  formerly  the  like  hath  done  to  a  chosen  Na- 
tion ; l  but  that  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  even  for  His  mercies, 
may  keep  an  Authority  and  a  People  so  prospered,  and  blessed, 
and  witnessed  unto,  humble  and  faithful ;  and  that  justice 
and  righteousness,  mercy  and  truth  may  flow  from  you,  as  a 
thankful  return  to  our  gracious  God.  This  shall  be  the  prayer 
of,  —  Sir, 

"  Your  most  humble  and  obedient  servant, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  Your  Officers  behaved  themselves  with  much  honor  in  this 
service  ;  and  the  Person  2  who  is  the  Bearer  hereof  was  equal, 
in  the  performance  of  his  duty,  to  most  that  served  you  that 
day."8 

"  On  Lord's-day  next,  by  order  of  Parliament,"  these  Letters 
are  read  from  all  London  Pulpits,  amid  the  general  thanks- 
giving of  men.  At  Worcester,  the  while,  thousands  of  Pris- 
oners are  getting  ranked,  "  penned  up  in  the  Cathedral,"  with 
sad  outlooks  :  carcasses  of  horses,  corpses  of  men,  frightful  to 
sense  and  mind,  encumber  the  streets  of  Worcester  j  "  we  are 
plucking  Lords,  Knights,  and  Gentlemen  from  their  lurking. 

1  "  But  Jeshurun  waxed  fat,  and  kicked  :  —  (and  them  art  waxen  fat,  thon 
art  grown  thick,  thou  art  covered  with  fatness:)  then  he  forsook  God  which 
made  him,  and  lightly  esteemed  the  rock  of  his  salvation"  (Deuteronomy, 
xxxii.  15). 

2  Major    Cobbet,  "who    makes   a   relation,"  and   gets   £100   (Commons 
Journals,  vii.  12,  13). 

8  Newspapers  (in  Crotmvelluina,  pp.  113,  114);  Tanner  MSS.  (in  Gary, 
ii.  359-362). 


1851. 


AFTER  WORCESTER.  255 


holes,"  into  the  unwelcome  light.1  Lords  very  numerous ;  a 
Peerage  sore  slashed.  The  Duke  of  Hamilton  has  got  his 
thigh  broken ;  dies  on  the  fourth  day.  The  Earl  of  Derby, 
also  wounded,  is  caught,  and  tried  for  Treason  against  the 
State ;  lays  down  his  head  at  Bolton,  where  he  had  once  carried 
it  too  high.  Lauderdale  and  others  are  put  in  the  Tower ;  have 
to  lie  there,  in  heavy  dormancy,  for  long  years.  The  Earls 
of  Cleveland  and  Lauderdale  came  to  Town  together,  about  a 
fortnight  hence.  "  As  they  passed  along  Cornhill  in  their 
coaches  with  a  guard  of  horse,  the  Earl  of  Laudordale's  coach 
made  a  stand  near  the  Conduit :  where  a  Carman  gave  his 
Lordship  a  visit,  saying,  '  Oh,  my  Lord,  you  are  welcome  to 
London  !  I  protest,  off  goes  your  head,  as  round  as  a  hoop  ! ' 
But  his  Lordship  passed  off  the  fatal  compliment  only  with  a 
laughter,  and  so  fared  along  to  the  Tower."  2  His  Lordship's 
big  red  head  has  yet  other  work  to  do  in  this  world.  Having, 
at  the  Ever-blessed  Restoration,  managed,  not  without  diffi- 
culty, "to  get  a  new  suit  of  clothes,"  8  he  knelt  before  his  now 
triumphant  Sacred  Majesty  on  that  glorious  Thirtieth  of  May  ; 
learned  from  his  Majesty,  that  "  Presbytery  was  no  religion 
for  a  gentleman ; "  gave  it  up,  not  without  pangs ;  and  reso- 
lutely set  himself  to  introduce  the  exploded  Tulchan  Apparatus 
into  Scotland  again,  by  thumbikins,  by  bootikins,  by  any  and 
every  method,  since  it  was  the  will  of  his  Sacred  Majesty ;  — 
failed  in  the  Tulchan  Apparatus,  as  is  well  known ;  earned 
for  himself  new  plentiful  clothes-suits,  Dukedoms  and  pro- 
motions, from  the  Sacred  Majesty ;  and  from  the  Scotch  People 
<li-f>l»-txMio<l  universal  sound  of  curses,  not  yet  become  inaudible ; 
:unl  shall,  in  this  place,  and  we  hope  elsewhere,  concern  us  no 
more. 

On  Friday,  the  12th  of  September,  the  Lord  General  arrived 
in  Town.  Four  dignified  Members,  of  whom  Bulstrode  was 
one,  specially  missioned  by  vote  of  Parliament,4  had  met  him 

1  Original  Commission,  signed  "  O.  Cromwell,"  and  dated  8th  September, 
1651,  appointing  "Collonol  John  James"  Governor  of  Wort-eater,  in  uo« 
anionir  the  MSS.  of  Trin.  Coll.  Cambridge  (copy  pent*  me). 

3  King'?  Pamphlet*,  nmall  4ti.,  im.  507,  §  18. 

'  Roger  Coke's  Detection  of  the  Court  and  State  of  England. 

*  Common*  Journait,  vii.  13  (9th  Sept.  K.r.l). 


256  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

the  day  before  with  congratulations,  on  the  other  side  Ayles- 
bury ;  "  whom  he  received  with  all  kindness  and  respect ;  and 
after  ceremonies  and  salutations  passed,  he  rode  with  them 
across  the  fields ;  —  where  Mr.  Win  wood  the  Member  for  Wind- 
sor's hawks  met  them  ;  and  the  Lord  General,  with  the  other 
Gentlemen,  went  a  little  out  of  the  way  a-hawking.  They 
came  that  night  to  Aylesbury ;  where  they  had  much  dis- 
course ;  especially  my  Lord  Chief  Justice  St.  John,"  the  dark 
Ship-money  Lawyer,  now  Chief  Justice,  "  as  they  supped  to- 
gether." To  me  Bulstrode,  and  to  each  of  the  others,  he  gave 
a  horse  and  two  Scotch  prisoners  :  the  horse  I  kept  for  carry- 
ing me ;  the  two  Scots,  unlucky  gentlemen  of  that  country,  I 
handsomely  sent  home  again  without  any  ransom  whatever.1 
And  so  on  Friday  we  arrive  in  Town,  in  very  great  solemnity 
and  triumph  :  Speaker  and  Parliament,  Lord  President  and 
Council  of  State,  Sheriffs,  Mayors,  and  an  innumerable  multi- 
tude, of  quality  and  not  of  quality,  eagerly  attending  us ;  once 
more  splitting  the  welkin  with  their  human  shoutings,  and 
volleys  of  great  shot  and  small :  in  the  midst  of  which  my 
Lord  General  "  carried  himself  with  much  affability ;  and  now 
and  afterwards,  in  all  his  discourses  about  "Worcester,  would 
seldom  mention  anything  of  himself ;  mentioned  others  only  j 
and  gave,  as  was  due,  the  glory  of  the  Action  unto  God."  2  — 
Hugh  Peters,  however,  being  of  loose-spoken,  somewhat  sibyl- 
line turn  of  mind,  discerns  a  certain  inward  exultation  and 
irrepressible  irradiation  in  my  Lord  General,  and  whispers  to 
himself,  "  This  man  will  be  King  of  England  yet."  Which, 
unless  Kings  are  entirely  superfluous  in  England,  I  should 
think  very  possible,  O  Peters  !  To  wooden  Ludlow  Mr.  Peters 
confessed  so  much,  long  afterwards ;  and  the  wooden  head 
drew  its  inferences  therefrom.3 

This,  then,  is  the  last  of  my  Lord  General's  Battles  and 
Victories  technically  so  called.  Of  course  his  Life,  to  the 
very  end  of  it,  continues,  as  from  the  beginning  it  had  always 
been,  a  battle,  and  a  dangerous  and  strenuous  one,  with  due 
modicum  of  victory  assigned  now  and  then;  but  it  will  be 

1  Whitlocke,  p.  484  ;  see  also  2d  edit.  p.  509. 

2  Ibid.  p.  485.  s  Ludlow. 


1651.  AFTER  WORCESTER.  257 

with  other  than  the  steel  weapons  henceforth.  He  here 
sheathes  his  war-sword ;  with  that,  it  is  not  his  Order  from  the 
Great  Captain  that  he  fight  any  more. 

The  distracted  Scheme  of  the  Scotch  Governors  to  accom- 
plish their  Covenant  by  this  Charles-Stuart  method  has  here 
ended.  By  and  by  they  shall  have  their  Charles  Stuart  back, 
as  a  general  Xell-Gwynn  Defender  of  the  Faith  to  us  all ;  — 
and  shall  see  how  they  will  like  him !  But  as  Covenanted 
King  he  is  off  upon  his  travels,  and  will  never  return  more. 
Worcester  Battle  has  cut  the  heart  of  that  affair  in  two  :  and 
Monk,  an  assiduous  Lieutenant  to  the  Lord  General  in  his 
Scotch  affairs,  is  busy  suppressing  the  details. 

On  Monday,  the  1st  of  September,  two  days  before  the  Bat- 
tle of  Worcester,  Lieutenant-General  Monk  had  stormed  Dun- 
dee, the  last  stronghold  of  Scotland ;  where  much  wealth,  as 
in  a  place  of  safety,  had  been  laid  up.  Governor  Lumsden 
would  not  yield  on  summons:  Lieutenant-General  Monk 
stormed  him;  the  Town  took  fire  in  the  business;  there  was 
once  more  a  grim  scene,  of  flame  and  blood,  and  rage  and 
despair,  transacted  in  this  Earth :  and  taciturn  General  Monk, 
his  choler  all  up,  was  become  surly  as  the  Russian  bearj 
nothing  but  negatory  growls  to  be  got  out  of  him :  nay,  to 
one  clerical  dignitary  of  the  place  he  not  only  gave  his  "No !  " 
but  audibly  threatened  a  slap  with  the  fist  to  back  it, — 
"ordered  him,  Not  to  speak  one  word,  or  he  would  scobe  his 
mouth  for  him!"1 

Ten  days  before,  some  Shadow  of  a  new  Committee  of 
Estates  attempting  to  sit  at  Alyth  on  the  border  of  Angus, 
with  intent  to  concert  some  measures  for  the  relief  of  this 
same  Dundee,  had  been,  by  a  swift  Colonel  of  Monk's,  laid 
hold  of;  ;uid  the  members  were  now  all  shipped  to  the  Tower. 
Jt  was  a  snuffing  out  of  the  Government-light  in  Scotland. 
Except  some  triumph  come  from  Worcester  to  rekindle  it :  — 
and,  alas,  no  triumph  came  from  Worcester,  as  we  see;  noth- 
ing but  ruin  and  defeat  from  Worcester!  Tho  Government- 
light  of  Scotland  remains  snuffed  out.— Active  Colonel 

1  Balfour,  iv.  316. 
TOL.  XVITI.  17 


258  PART  VI.    WAR  WITH   SCOTLAND.  4  Sept. 

Alured,  a  swift  devout  man,  somewhat  given  to  Anabaptist 
notions,  of  whom  Ave  shall  hear  again,  was  he  that  did  this 
feat  at  Alyth ;  a  kind  of  feather  in  his  cap.  Among  the 
Captured  in  that  poor  Committee  or  .Shadow  of  Committee 
was  poor  old  General  Leven,  time-honored  Lesley,  who  went 
to  the  Tower  with  the  others  ;  his  last  appearance  in  Public 
History.  He  got  out  again,  on  intercession  from  Queen  Chris- 
tina of  Sweden ;  retired  to  his  native  fields  of  Fife ;  and 
slept  soon  and  still  sleeps  in  Balgony  Kirk  under  his  stone  of 
honor,  —  the  excellent  "  crooked  little  Feldtmarshal  "  that  he 
was.  Excellent,  though  unfortunate.  He  bearded  the  grim 
Wallenstein  at  Stralsund  once,  and  rolled  Mm  back  from  the 
bulwarks  there,  after  long  tough  wrestle  ;  —  and,  in  fact,  did 
a  thing  or  two  in  his  time.  Farewell  to  him.1 

But  with  the  light  of  Government  snuffed  out  in  Scotland, 
and  no  rekindling  of  it  from  the  Worcester  side,  resistance 
in  Scotland  has  ended.  Lambert,  next  summer,  marched 
through  the  Highlands,  pacificating  them.2  There  rose  after- 
wards rebellion  in  the  Highlands,  rebellion  of  Glencairn, 
of  Middleton,  with  much  moss-troopery  and  horse-stealing ; 
but  Monk,  who  had  now  again  the  command  there,  by  energy 
and  vigilance,  by  patience,  punctuality,  and  slow  methodic 
strength,  put  it  down,  and  kept  it  down.  A  taciturn  man  ; 
speaks  little ;  thinks  more  or  less ;  —  does  whatever  is  doable 
here  and  elsewhere. 

Scotland  therefore,  like  Ireland,  has  fallen  to  Cromwell  to 
be  administered.  He  had  to  do  it  under  great  difficulties ; 
the  Governing  Classes,  especially  the  Clergy  or  Teaching 
Class,  continuing  for  most  part  obstinately  indisposed  to  him, 
so  baleful  to  their  formulas  had  he  been.  With  Monk  for  an 
assiduous  Lieutenant  in  secular  matters,  he  kept  the  country 
in  peace ;  —  it  appears  on  all  sides,  he  did  otherwise  what  was 
possible  for  him.  He  sent  new  Judges  to  Scotland ;  "  a  pack 

1  Scotch  Peerages ;  Forster's  Wallenstein  als  Feldkerr  (Potsdam,  1834), 
p.  124.  Granger  (Biographic  History  of  England)  has  some  nonsense  about 
Leven,  —  in  his  usual  neat  style. 

3  Whitlocke,  p.  514. 


1551.  AFTER  WORCESTER.  259 

of  kinless  loons,"  who  minded  no  claim  but  that  of  fair  play. 
He  favored,  as  was  natural,  the  Remonstrant  Ker-and-Strahan 
Party  in  the  Church  ;  —  favored,  above  all  things,  the  Christian- 
Gospel  Party,  who  had  some  good  message  in  them  for  the 
soul  of  man.  Within  wide  limits  he  tolerated  the  Resolutioner 
Party;  and  beyond  these  limits  would  not  tolerate  them;  — 
would  not  suffer  their  General  Assembly  to  sit ;  marched  the 
Assembly  out  bodily  to  Burntisfield  Links,  and  sent  it  home 
again,  when  it  tried  such  a  thing.1  He  united  Scotland  to 
England  by  act  of  Parliament;  tried  in  all  ways  to  unite  it 
by  still  deeper  methods.  He  kept  peace  and  order  in  the 
country  ;  was  a  little  heavy  with  taxes  :  —  on  the  whole,  did 
what  he  could;  and  proved,  as  there  is  good  evidence,  a 
highly  beneficial  though  unwelcome  phenomenon  there. 

Alas,  may  we  not  say,  In  circuitous  ways  he  proved  the 
Doer  of  what  this  poor  Scotch  Nation  really  wished  and 
willed,  could  it  have  known  so  much  at  sight  of  him !  The 
true  Governor  of  this  poor  Scotch  Nation ;  accomplishing 
their  Covenant  witliout  the  Charles  Stuart,  since  with  the 
Charles  Stuart  it  was  a  flat  impossibility.  But  they  knew 
him  not ;  and  with  their  stiff-necked  ways  obstructed  him  as 
they  could.  How  seldom  can  a  Nation,  can  even,  an  individ- 
ual man,  understand  what  at  heart  his  own  real  will  is :  such 
masses  of  superficial  bewilderment,  of  respectable  hearsay,  of 
fantasy  and  pedantry,  and  old  and  new  cobwebbery,  overlie 
our  poor  will ;  much  hiding  it  from  us,  for  most  part !  So 
that  if  we  can  once  get  eye  on  it,  and  walk  resolutely  towards 
fulfilment  of  it,  the  battle  is  as  good  as  gained  !  — 

For  example,  who,  of  all  Scotch  or  other  men,  is  he  that 
v  rily  understands  the  "real  ends  of  the  Covenant,"  and  dis- 
cri initiates  them  well  from  the  superficial  forms  thereof;  and 
with  pious  valor  does  them, — and  continually  struggles  to 
see  them  done  ?  I  should  say,  this  Cromwell,  whom  we  call 
Sectary  and  Blasphemer!  The  Scotch  Clergy,  persisting  in 
their  own  most  hide-bound  formula  of  a  Covenanted  Charles 
Stuart,  bear  clear  testimony,  that  at  no  time  did  Christ's  Gospel 

1  Whitlocke,  25th  July,  1653;  Life  of  Robert  Blair  (Edinburgh,  1754), 
pp.  118,  119;  Bleucowe'a  Sidn- y  /'.//«r«,  pp.  153-155. 


260  PART  VI.    WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.     4  Sept  1651. 

so  flourish  in  Scotland  as  now  under  Cromwell  the  Usurper. 
"  These  bitter  waters,"  say  they,  "  were  sweetened  by  the 
Lord's  remarkably  blessing  the  labors  of  His  faithful  ser- 
vants. A  great  door  and  an  effectual  was  opened  to  many." 1 
Xot  otherwise  in  matters  civil.  "Scotland,"  thus  testifies 
a  competent  eye-witness,  "was  kept  in  great  order.  Some 
Castles  in  the  Highlands  had  Garrisons  put  into  them,  which 
were  so  careful  of  their  discipline,  and  so  exact  to  their 
rules,"  the  wild  Highlanders  were  wonderfully  tamed  thereby. 
Cromwell  built  three  Citadels,  Leith,  Ayr  and  Inverness, 
besides  many  little  Forts,  over  Scotland.  Seven  or  eight 
thousand  men,  well  paid,  and  paying  well;  of  the  strictest 
habits,  military,  spiritual  and  moral  :  these  it  was  everywhere 
a  kind  of  Practical  Sermon  to  take  note  of!  "There  was 
good  justice  done ;  and  vice  was  suppressed  and  punished. 
So  that  we  always  reckon  those  eight  years  of  Usurpation 
a  time  of  great  peace  and  prosperity,"  2  —  though  we  needed 
to  be  twice  beaten,  and  to  have  our  foolish  Governors  flung 
into  the  Tower,  before  we  would  accept  the  same.  We,  and 
mankind  generally,  are  an  extremely  wise  set  of  creatures. 

1  Life  of  Robert  Blair,  p.  120  ;  Livingston's  Life  of  Himself  (Glasgow,  1754), 
pp.  54,  55 ;  &c.  &c. 

8  Bishop  Burnet's  History  of  his  own  Time,  book  L 


PART   VH. 

THE  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT. 
1651-1653. 

LETTERS  CLXXXIV.-CLXXXVLTL 

THE  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT. 

BETWEEN  Worcester  Battle  on  the  3d  of  September,  1651, 
and  the  Dismissal  of  the  Long  Parliament  on  the  20th  of 
April,  1653,  are  nineteen  very  important  months  in  the  His- 
tory of  Oliver,  which,  in  all  our  Books  and  Historical  rubbish- 
records,  lie  as  nearly  as  possible  dark  and  vacant  for  us. 
Poor  Dryasdust  has  emitted,  and  still  emits,  volumes  of  con- 
fused noise  on  the  subject;  but  in  the  way  of  information 
or  illumination,  of  light  in  regard  to  any  fact,  physiognomic 
feature,  event  or  fraction  of  an  event,  as  good  as  nothing 
whatever.  Indeed,  onwards  from  this  point  where  Oliver's  own 
Letters  begin  to  fail  us,  the  whole  History  of  Oliver,  and  of 
England  under  him,  becomes  very  dim;  —  swimming  most  in- 
distinct in  the  huge  Tomes  of  Thurloe  and  the  like,  as  in  shore- 
less lakes  of  ditchwater  and  bilgewater ;  a  stagnancy,  a  torpor, 
and  confused  horror  to  the  human  soul !  No  historical  genius, 
not  even  a  Rushworth's,  now  presides  over  the  matter :  noth- 
ing but  bilgewater  Correspondences  ;  vague  jottings  of  a  dull 
fat  Bulstrode;  vague  printed  babblements  of  this  and  the 
other  Carrion  Heath,  or  Flunky  Pamphleteer  of  the  Blessed- 
Restoration  Period,  writing  from  ignorant  rumor,  and  for 
ignorant  rumor,  from  the  winds  and  to  the  winds.  After 
long  reading  in  very  many  Books,  of  very  unspeakable  quality, 
<•; in i ing  for  yourself  only  incredibility,  inconceivability,  and 


262  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.  1651. 

darkness  visible,  you  begin  to  perceive  that  in  the  Speeches 
of  Oliver  himself  once  well  read,  such  as  they  are,  some 
shadowy  outlines,  authentic  prefigureineiits  of  what  the  real 
History  of  the  Time  may  have  been,  do  first,  in  the  huge 
inane  night,  begin  to  loom  forth  for  you,  —  credible,  con- 
ceivable in  some  measure,  there  for  the  first  time.  My 
reader's  patience  is  henceforth  to  be  still  more  severely  tried : 
there  is  unluckily  no  help  for  it,  as  matters  stand. 

Great  lakes  of  watery  Correspondence  relating  to  the  History 
of  this  Period,  as  we  intimate,  survive  in  print ;  and  new  are 
occasionally  issued  upon  mankind ; 1  but  the  essence  of  them 
has  never  yet  iu  the  smallest  been  elaborated  by  any  man ;  — 
will  require  a  succession  and  assiduous  series  of  many  men 
to  elaborate  it.  To  pluck  up  the  great  History  of  Oliver  from 
it,  like  drowned  Honor  by  the  locks ;  and  show  it  to  much- 
wondering  and,  in  the  end,  right  thankful  England!  The 
richest  and  noblest  thing  England  hitherto  has.  The  basis 
England  will  have  to  start  from  again,  if  England  is  ever  to 
struggle  Godward  again,  instead  of  struggling  Devilward,  and 
Mammonward  merely.  Serene  element  of  Cant  has  been 
tried  now  for  two  Centuries;  and  fails.  Serene  element, 
general  completed  life-atmosphere,  of  Cant  religious,  Cant 
moral,  Cant  political,  Cant  universal,  where  England  vainly 
hoped  to  live  in  a  serene  soft-spoken  manner,  —  England  now 
finds  herself  on  the  point  of  choking  there ;  large  masses  of 
her  People  no  longer  able  to  get  even  potatoes  in  that  serene 
element.  England  will  have  to  come  out  of  that;  England, 
too  terribly  awakened  at  last,  is  everywhere  preparing  to 
come  out  of  that.  England,  her  Amazon-eyes  once  more 
flashing  strange  Heaven's-light,  like  Phoebus  Apollo's  fatal 
to  the  Pythian  mud-serpents,  will  lift  her  hand,  I  think,  and 
her  heart,  and  swear  "By  the  Eternal,  I  will  not  die  in  that ! 
I  had  once  men  who  knew  better  than  that ! "  — 

But  with  regard  to  the  History  of  Oliver,  as  we  were 
saying,  for  those  Nineteen  months  there  is  almost  no  light 

1  Thnrloe's  State-papers,  Milton's,  Clarendon's,  Ormond's,  Sidney's,  &c.  &c. 
are  old  and  very  watery ;  new  and  still  waterier  are  Vaughan's  Protectorate, 
and  others  not  even  worth  naming  hero. 


1651.  THE  RUMP.  263 

to  be  communicated  at  present.  Of  Oliver's  own  uttering, 
1  have  found  only  Five  Letters,  short,  insignificant,  connected 
with  no  phasis  of  Public  Transactions :  there  are  Two  Dia- 
logues recorded  by  Whitlocke,  of  dubious  authenticity ;  certain 
small  splinters  of  Occurrences  not  pointing  very  decisively 
auy-whither,  Crinkling  like  dust  of  stars  the  dark  vacancy : 
tht-se,  and  Dryasdust's  vociferous  commentaries  new  and  old ; 
—  and  of  discovered  or  discoverable,  nothing  more.  Oliver's 
own  Speech,  which  the  reader  is  by  and  by  to  hear,  casts 
backwards  some  straggling  gleams;  well  accordant,  as  is 
usual,  with  whatever  else  we  know ;  and  worthy  to  be  well 
believed  and  meditated  by  Historical  readers,  among  others. 
Out  of  these  poor  elements  the  candid  imagination  must  eu- 
dravor  to  shape  some  not  inconceivable  scheme  and  genesis 
of  this  very  indubitable  Fact,  the  Dismissal  of  the  Long 
Parliament,  as  best  it  may.  Perhaps  if  Dryasdust  were 
once  well  gagged,  and  his  vociferous  commentaries  all  well 
forgotten,  such  a  feat  might  not  be  very  impossible  for 
mankind !  — 

Concerning  this  Residue,  Fag-end,  or  "Rump"  as  it  had 
now  got  nicknamed,  of  the  Long  Parliament,  into  whose  hands 
the  Government  of  England  had  been  put,  we  have  hitherto, 
<  \(  r  since  the  King's  Death- Warrant,  said  almost  nothing: 
and  in  fact  there  was  not  much  to  be  said.  "Statesmen  of 
the  Commonwealth"  so  called:  there  wanted  not  among  them 
moil  of  real  mark;  brave  men,  of  much  talent,  of  true  reso- 
lution, and  nobleness  of  aim:  but  though  their  title  was 
clii.-f  in  this  Commonwealth,  all  men  may  see  their  real 
function  in  it  has  been  subaltern  all  along.  Not  in  St. 
Stephen's  and  its  votings  and  debatings,  but  in  the  battle-tirM 
in  olivrr  Cromwell's  fightings,  has  the  destiny  of  this  Coin 
UK  in  wealth  decided  itself.  One  unsuccessful  Battle,  at  Preston 
or  at  uny  time  since,  had  probably  wrecked  it;  —  one  stray 
Imllrt  hitting  the  life  of  a  certain  man  had  soon  ended  this 
Commonwealth.  Parliament,  Council  o*  State,  they  sat  like 
diligent  Committees  of  Ways  and  Means,  in  a  very  wise  and 
provident  manner;  but  the  soul  of  the  Commonwealth  was 
at  Dunbar,  at  Worcester,  at  Tredah  :  Destiny,  there  questioned, 


264  PART  VII.    THE  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.          1651. 

"  Life  or  Death  for  this  Commonwealth  ? "  has  answered, 
"Life  yet  for  a  time!"  —  That  is  a  fact  which  the  candid 
imagination  will  have  to  keep  steadily  in  view. 

And  now,  if  we  practically  ask  ourselves,  What  is  to 
become  of  this  small  junto  of  men,  somewhat  above  a  hundred 
in  all,1  hardly  above  half  a  hundred  the  active  part  of  them, 
who  now  sit  in  the  chair  of  authority  ?  the  shaping  out  of 
any  answer  will  give  rise  to  considerations.  These  men  have 
been  raised  thither  by  miraculous  interpositions  of  Providence ; 
they  may  be  said  to  sit  there  only  by  a  continuance  of  the 
like.  They  cannot  sit  there  forever.  They  are  not  Kings  by 
birth,  these  men ;  nor  in  any  of  them  have  I  discovered  quali- 
ties as  of  a  very  indisputable  King  by  attainment.  Of  dull 
Bulstrode,  with  his  lumbering  law-pedantries,  and  stagnant 
official  self-satisfactions,  I  do  not  speak ;  nor  of  dusky  tough 
St.  John,  whose  abstruse  fanaticisms,  crabbed  logics,  and  dark 
ambitions,  issue  all,  as  was  very  natural,  in  "  decided  avarice  " 
at  last :  —  not  of  these.  Harry  Marten  is  a  tight  little  fellow, 
though  of  somewhat  loose  life :  his  witty  words  pierce  yet, 
as  light-arrows,  through  the  thick  oblivious  torpor  of  the 
generations ;  testifying  to  us  very  clearly,  Here  was  a  right 
hard-headed,  stout-hearted  little  man,  full  of  sharp  fire  and 
cheerful  light ;  sworn  foe  of  Cant  in  all  its  figures ;  an  in- 
domitable little  Roman  Pagan  if  no  better :  —  but  Harry  is 
not  quite  one's  King  either;  it  would  have  been  difficult  to 
be  altogether  loyal  to  Harry !  Doubtful  too,  I  think,  whether 
without  great  effort  you  could  have  worshipped  even  the 
Younger  Vane.  A  man  of  endless  virtues,  says  Dryasdust, 
who  is  much  taken  with  him,  and  of  endless  intellect ;  —  but 
you  must  not  very  specially  ask,  How  or  Where  ?  Vane  was 
the  Friend  of  Milton:  that  is  almost  the  only  answer  that 
can  now  be  given.  A  man,  one  rather  finds,  of  light  fibre, 
this  Sir  Harry  Vane.  Grant  all  manner  of  purity  and 
elevation ;  subtle  high  discourse ;  much  intellectual  and  prac- 

1  One  notices  division-numbers  as  high  as  121,  and  occasionally  lower  than 
even  40.  Godwin  (iii.  121),  "by  careful  scrutiny  of  the  Journals,"  has  found 
that  the  utmost  number  of  all  that  had  still  the  right  to  come  "  could  not  be 
less  than  150." 


1651.  THE  RUMP.  265 

tical  dexterity:  there  is  an  amiable,  devoutly  zealous,  very 
pretty  man ;  — but  not  a  royal  man  ;  alas,  no !  On  the  whole, 
rather  a  thin  man.  Whom  it  is  even  important  to  keep 
strictly  subaltern.  Whose  tendency  towards  the  Abstract,  or 
Temporary-Theoretic,  is  irresistible ;  whose  hold  of  the  Con- 
crete, in  which  lies  always  the  Perennial,  is  by  no  means  that 
of  a  giant,  or  born  Practical  King;  —  whose  "astonishing 
subtlety  of  intellect "  conducts  him  not  to  new  clearness,  but 
to  ever  new  abstruseness,  wheel  within  wheel,  depth  under 
depth;  marvellous  temporary  empire  of  the  air,  —  wholly 
vanished  now,  and  without  meaning  to  any  mortal.  My 
erudite  friend,  the  astonishing  intellect  that  occupies  itself 
in  splitting  hairs,  and  not  in  twisting  some  kind  of  cordage 
and  effectual  draught-tackle  to  take  the  road  with,  is  not  to 
UK-  the  most  astonishing  of  intellects !  And  if,  as  is  probable, 
it  get  into  narrow  fanaticisms;  become  irrecognizant  of  the 
Perennial  because  not  dressed  in  the  fashionable  Temporary ; 
become  self -secluded,  atrabiliar,  and  perhaps  shrill-voiced  and 
spasmodic,  —  what  can  you  do  but  get  away  from  it,  with 
a  prayer,  "The  Lord  deliver  me  from  thee!"  I  cannot  do 
with  thee.  I  want  twisted  cordage,  steady  pulling,  and  a 
peaceable  bass  tone  of  voice :  not  split  hairs,  hysterical  spas- 
modics,  and  treble  !  Thou  amiable,  subtle,  elevated  individual, 
the  Lord  deliver  me  from  thee ! 

These  men  cannot  continue  Kings  forever ;  nor  in  fact  did 
they  in  the  least  design  such  a  thing;  only  they  find  a  terrible 
difliculty  in  getting  abdicated.  Difficulty  very  conceivable  to 
us.  Some  weeks  after  Pride's  Purge,  which  may  be  called  the 
constituting  of  this  remnant  of  members  into  a  Parliament 
and  Authority,  there  had  been  presented  to  it,  by  Fairfax  and 
the  Army,  what  we  should  now  call  a  Bentham-Sieyes  Consti- 
tution, what  was  then  called  an  "  Agreement  of  the  People,"  * 
which  might  well  be  imperative  on  honorable  members  sitting 
there ;  whereby  it  was  stipulated  for  one  thing,  That  this  pres- 
ent Parliament  should  dissolve  itself,  and  give  place  to  another 
"  equal  Representative  of  the  People,"  —  in  some  three  months 

1  Common*  Journal*,  20th  January,  1648-9:  some  six    weeks  after  the 
•••,  ten  days  before  the  King'*  Death. 


206  PART  VII.   THE  LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.          1651. 

hence ;  on  the  30th  of  April,  namely.  The  last  day  of  April, 
1649 :  this  Parliament  was  then  to  have  its  work  finished,  and 
go  its  ways,  giving  place  to  another.  Such  was  our  hope. 

They  did  accordingly  pass  a  vote  to  that  effect;  fully  intend- 
ing to  fulfil  the  same :  but,  alas,  it  was  found  impossible.  How 
summon  a  new  Parliament,  while  the  Commonwealth  is  still 
fighting  for  its  existence  ?  All  we  can  do  is  to  resolve  our- 
selves into  Grand  Committee,  and  consider  about  it.  After 
much  consideration,  all  we  can  decide  is,  That  we  shall  go 
weekly  into  Grand  Committee,  and  consider  farther.  Duly 
every  Wednesday  we  consider,  for  the  space  of  eleven  months 
and  odd ;  find,  more  and  more,  that  it  is  a  thing  of  some  con- 
siderableness  !  In  brief,  when  my  Lord  General  returns  to  us 
from  Worcester,  on  the  16th  of  September,  1651,  no  advance 
whatever  towards  a  dissolution  of  ourselves  has  yet  been  made. 
The  Wednesday  Grand  Committees  had  become  a  thing  like 
the  meeting  of  Tloman  augurs,  difficult  to  go  through  with  com- 
plete gravity ;  and  so,  after  the  eleventh  month,  have  silently 
fallen  into  desuetude.  We  sit  here  very  immovable.  We  are 
scornfully  called  the  Rump  of  a  Parliament  by  certain  people ; 
but  we  have  an  invincible  Oliver  to  fight  for  us :  we  can  afford 
to  wait  here,  and  consider  to  all  lengths  ;  and  by  one  name  we 
shall  smell  as  sweet  as  by  another. 

I  have  only  to  add  at  present,  that  on  the  morrow  of  my 
Lord  General's  reappearance  in  Parliament,  this  sleeping  ques- 
tion was  resuscitated ; l  new  activity  infused  into  it ;  some 
show  of  progress  made ;  nay,  at  the  end  of  three  months,  after 
much  labor  and  struggle,  it  was  got  decided,  by  a  neck-and-neck 
division,2  That  the  present  is  a  fit  time  for  fixing  a  limit  be- 
yond which  this  Parliament  shall  not  sit.  Fix  a  limit  there- 
fore ;  give  us  the  non-pltts-ultra  of  you.  Next  Parliament-day 
we  do  fix  a  limit,  three  years  hence,  3d  November,  1654 ;  three 
years  of  rope  still  left  us :  a  somewhat  wide  limit ;  which, 
under  conceivable  contingencies,  may  perhaps  be  tightened  a 
little.  My  honorable  friends,  you  ought  really  to  get  on  with 

1  Commons  Journals,  17th  September,  1651. 

2  49  to  47;   Commons  Journals,  14th  November,  1651 :  "Lord  General  and 
Lord  Chief  Justice,"  Cromwell  and  St.  John,  are  Tellers  for  the  Yea. 


1651.  LETTER  CLXXXIV.    LONDON.  267 

despatch  of  this  business;  and  know  of  a  surety  that  not 
being,  any  of  you,  Kings  by  birth,  nor  very  indubitably  by 
attainment,  you  will  actually  have  to  go,  and  even  in  case  of 
extremity  to  be  shoved  and  sent  1 


LETTER  CLXXXIV. 

AT  this  point  the  law  of  dates  requires  that  we  introduce 
Letter  Hundred-and-eighty-fourth ;  though  it  is  as  a  mere 
mathematical  point,  marking  its  own  whereabouts  in  Oliver's 
History ;  and  imparts  little  or  nothing  that  is  new  to  us. 

Reverend  John  Cotton  is  a  man  still  held  in  some  remem- 
brance among  our  New-England  friends.  He  had  been  Minis- 
ter of  Boston  in  Lincolnshire;  carried  the  name  across  the 
<  >' •« -an  with  him  ;  fixed  it  upon  a  new  small  Home  he  had  found 
there,  —  which  has  become  a  large  one  since ;  the  big  busy 
Capital  of  Massachusetts,  Boston,  so  called.  John  Cotton  his 
.W»rk,  very  curiously  stamped  on  the  face  of  this  Planet ;  likely 
r<>  '  ontinue  for  some  time  !  —  For  the  rest,  a  painful  Preacher, 
i.rii-ular  of  high  Gospels  to  Now  England;  who  in  his  day  was 
well  seen  to  be  connected  with  the  Supreme  Powers  of  this 
Universe,  the  word  of  him  being  as  a  live-coal  to  the  hearts 
of  many.  He  died  some  years  afterwards;  —  was  thought, 
•ially  on  his  death-bed,  to  have  manifested  gifts  even  of 
Prophecy,1 —  a  thing  not  inconceivable  to  the  human  mind 
that  well  considers  Prophecy  and  John  Cotton. 

We  should  say  farther,  that  the  Parliament,  that  Oliver 
among  and  before  them,  had  taken  solemn  anxious  thought 
(•••warning  Propagating  of  the  Gospel  in  New  England;  and, 
ainon^  other  measures,  passed  an  Act  to  that  end;8  not  un- 
worthy of  attention,  were  our  hurry  less.  In  fact,  there  are 
traceable  various  small  threads  of  relation,  interesting  recipro- 
cities and  mutualities,  connecting  the  poor  young  Infant,  New 
ii. d.  with  its  old  Puritan  .Mother  and  her  affairs,  in  those 
years.  Which  ought  to  !*•  disentangled,  to  be  made  conspicu- 
ous and  beautiful,  by  the  Infant  herself  now  that  she  has 

1  Thurl«>e,  \.  565 ;  —  in  1<  •  Scobell  (27th  July,  1649),  ii.  66. 


268  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.     October, 

jrown  big ;  the  busy  old  Mother  having  had  to  shove  them, 
v/Hi  so  much  else  of  the  like,  hastily  out  of  her  way  for  the 
present !  --*-  However,  it  is  not  in  reference  to  this  of  Propa- 
gating the  Gospel  in  New  England  ;  it  is  in  congratulation  on 
the  late  higA  Actings,  and  glorious  Appearances  of  Providence 
in  Old  England,  that  Cotton  has  been  addressing  Oliver :  intro- 
duced to  him,  as  appears,  by  some  small  mediate  or  direct 
acquaintanceship,  old  or  new ;  —  founding  too  on  their  general 
relationship  as  Soldier  of  the  Gospel  and  Priest  of  the  Gospel, 
high  brother  and  humble  one;  appointed,  both  of  them,  to 
fight  for  it  to  the  death,  each  with  such  weapons  as  were  given 
him.  The  Letter  of  Cotton,  with  due  details,  is  to  be  seen  in 
Hutchinson's  Collection.1  The  date  is  "  Boston  in  New  Eng- 
land, 28th  of  Fifth  [Fifth  Month,  or  July],  1651 : "  the  sub- 
stance, full  of  piety  and  loyalty,  like  that  of  hundreds  of 
others,  must  not  concern  us  here,  —  except  these  few  inter- 
esting words,  upon  certain  of  our  poor  old  Dunbar  friends : 
"  The  Scots  whom  God  delivered  into  your  hands  at  Dunbar," 
says  Cotton,  "  and  whereof  sundry  were  sent  hither,  —  we  have 
been  desirous,  as  we  could  to  make  their  yoke  easy.  Such  as 
were  sick  of  the  scurvy,  or  other  diseases,  have  not  wanted 
physic  and  chirurgery.  They  have  not  been  sold  for  Slaves, 
to  perpetual  servitude ;  but  for  six,  or  seven,  or  eight  years,  as 
we  do  our  own.  And  he  that  bought  the  most  of  them,  I  hear, 
buildeth  Houses  for  them,  for  every  Four  a  House ;  and  layetli 
some  acres  of  ground  thereto,  which  he  giveth  them  as  their 
own,  requiring  them  three  days  in  the  week  to  work  for  him 
by  turns,  and  four  days  for  themselves;  and  promiseth,  as 
soon  as  they  can  repay  him  the  money  he  laid  out  for  them, 
he  will  set  them  at  liberty."  Which  really  is  a  mild  arrange- 
ment, much  preferable  to  Durham  Cathedral  and  the  raw  cab- 
bages at  Morpeth ;  and  may  turn  to  good  for  the  poor  fellows, 
if  they  can  behave  themselves !  — 

1  Papers  relative  to  the  History  of  Massachusetts  (Boston,  1769),  p.  236. 


2651.  LETTER  CLXXXIV.    LONDON.  269 

"  For  my  Esteemed  Friend,  Mr.  Cotton,  Pastor  of  the  Church  at 
Boston  in  New  England :  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  2d  October,  1651. 

"WORTHY  SIR,  AND  MY  CHRISTIAN  FRIEND,  —  I  received 
yours  a  few  days  since.  It  was  welcome  to  ine  because  signed 
by  you,  whom  I  love  and  honor  in  the  Lord :  but  more  [so]  to 
see  some  of  the  same  grounds  of  our  Actings  stirring  in  you 
that  are  in  us,  to  quiet  us  to  our  work,  and  support  us  therein. 
Which  hath  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  our  engagement  in 
Scotland ;  by  reason  we  have  had  to  do  with  some  who  were,  I 
verily  think,  Godly,  but,  through  weakness  and  the  subtlety 
of  Satan,  [were]  involved  in  Interests  against  the  Lord  and 
His  People. 

"  With  what  tenderness  we  have  proceeded  with  such,  and 
that  in  sincerity,  our  Papers  (which  I  suppose  you  have  seen) 
will  in  part  manifest ;  and  I  give  you  some  comfortable  assur- 
ance of  [the  same].  The  Lord  hath  marvellously  appeared 
even  against  them.1  And  now  again  when  all  the  power  was 
devolved  into  the  Scottish  King  and  the  Malignant  Party,  — 
they  invading  England,  the  Lord  rained  upon  them  such 
snares  as  the  Enclosed2  will  show.  Only  the  Narrative  in 
short  is  this,  That  of  their  whole  Army,  when  the  Narrative 
was  framed,  not  five  men  were  returned. 

"  Surely,  Sir,  the  Lord  is  greatly  to  be  feared  and  to  be 
praised !  We  need  your  prayers  in  this  as  much  as  ever. 
How  shall  we  behave  ourselves  after  such  mercies  ?  What 
is  the  Lord  a-doing  ?  What  Prophecies  are  now  fulfilling  ?  * 
Who  is  a  God  like  ours  ?  To  know  His  will,  to  do  His  will, 
are  both  of  Him. 

"  I  took  this  liberty  from  business,  to  salute  you  thus  in 
a  word.  Truly  I  am  ready  to  serve  you  and  the  rest  of  our 
Brethren  and  the  Churches  with  you.  I  am  a  poor  weak 

'  Frnm  Preston  downward. 

1  IXuihtless  the  Official  Narrative  of  Worcester  Battle;  published  about  a 
week  ago,  aa  Preamble  to  the  Act  appointing  a  Day  of  Thanksgiving ;  26th 
September,  1651  ;  reprinted  in  Parliamentary  History,  xx.  59-65. 

*  See  Psalm  Hundred  aud  tenth. 


270  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.      October, 

creature,  and  not  worthy  the  name  of  a  worm  ;  yet  accepted 
to  serve  the  Lord  and  His  People.  Indeed,  my  dear  Friend, 
between  you  and  me,  you  know  not  me,  —  my  weaknesses, 
my  inordinate  passions,  my  unskilfulness,  and  every  way  un- 
fitness  to  my  work.  Yet,  yet  the  Lord,  who  will  have  mercy 
on  whom  He  will,  does  as  you  see !  Pray  for  me.  Salute 
all  Christian  friends  though  unknown.  I  rest, 
"  Your  affectionate  friend  to  serve  you, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

About  this  time,  for  there  is  no  date  to  it  but  an  evidently 
vague  and  erroneous  one,  was  held  the  famous  Conference  of 
Grandees,  called  by  request  of  Cromwell ;  of  which  Bulstrode 
has  given  record.  Conference  held  "  one  day  "  at  Speaker 
Lenthall's  house  in  Chancery  Lane,  to  decide  among  the 
leading  Grandees  of  the  Parliament  and  Army,  How  this 
Nation  is  to  be  settled,  —  the  Long  Parliament  having  now 
resolved  on  actually  dismissing  itself  by  and  by.  The  ques- 
tion is  really  complex :  one  would  gladly  know  what  the 
leading  Grandees  did  think  of  it ;  even  what  they  found  good 
to  say  upon  it !  Unhappily  our  learned  Bulstrode's  report  of 
this  Conference  is  very  dim,  very  languid :  nay  Bulstrode,  as 
we  have  found  elsewhere,  has  a  kind  of  dramaturgic  turn  in 
him,  indeed  an  occasional  poetic  friskiness  ;  most  unexpected, 
as  if  the  hippopotamus  should  show  a  tendency  to  dance ;  — 
which  painfully  deducts  from  one's  confidence  in  Bulstrode's 
entire  accuracy  on  such  occasions !  Here  and  there  the  multi- 
tudinous Paper  Masses  of  learned  Bulstrode  do  seem  to  smack 
a  little  of  the  date  when  he  redacted  them,  —  posterior  to  the 
Ever-blessed  Restoration,  not  prior  to  it.  We  shall,  never- 
theless, excerpt  this  dramaturgic  Report  of  Conference :  the 
reader  will  be  willing  to  examine  with  his  own  eyes,  even  as 
in  a  glass  darkly,  any  feature  of  that  time ;  and  he  can  remem- 
ber always  that  a  learned  Bulstrode's  fat  terrene  mind  im- 
aging a  heroic  Cromwell  and  his  affairs  is  a  very  dark  gTass 
indeed ! 

1  Harris,  p.  518;  Birch's  Original,  —  copied  in  Additional  Ayscough  MSS. 
no.  415G,  §  70. 


1651.  CONFERENCE   AT  LENTHALL'S.  271 

The  Speakers  in  this  Conference,  —  Desborow,  Oliver's 
Brother- in-iaw ;  Whalley,  Oliver's  Cousin  ;  fanatical  Harrison, 
tough  St.  John,  my  learned  Lord  Keeper  or  Commissioner 
Whitlocke  himself,  — are  mostly  known  to  us.  Learned  Wid- 
drington,  the  mellifluous  orator,  once  Lord  Commissioner  too, 
and  like  to  be  again,  though  at  present  "excused  from  it 
owing  to  scruples,"  will  by  and  by  become  better  known  to  us. 
A  mellifluous,  unhealthy,  seemingly  somewhat  scrupulous  and 
timorous  man.1  He  is  of  the  race,  of  that  Widdrington  whom 
we  still  lament  in  doleful  dumps,  — but  does  not  fight  upon 
the  stumps  like  him.  There  were  "  many  other  Gentlemen," 
who  merely  listened. 

"  Upon  the  defeat  at  Worcester,"  says  Bulstrode  vaguely,* 
"  Cromwell  desired  a  Meeting  with  divers  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  some  chief  Officers  of  the  Army,  at  the  Speaker's 
house.  And  a  great  many  being  there,  he  proposed  to  them, 
That  now  the  old  King  being  dead,  and  his  Son  being  defeated, 
he  held  it  necessary  to  come  to  a  Settlement  of  the  Nation. 
And  in  order  thereunto,  had  requested  this  Meeting;  that 
they  together  might  consider  and  advise,  What  was  fit  to  be 
done,  and  to  be  presented  to  the  Parliament. 

"SPEAKER.  My  Lord,  this  Company  were  very  ready  to 
attend  your  Excellence,  and  the  business  you  are  pleased  to 
propound  to  us  is  very  necessary  to  be  considered.  God  hath 
given  marvellous  success  to  our  Forces  under  your  command  ; 
and  if  we  do  not  improve  these  mercies  to  some  Settlement, 
such  as  may  be  to  God's  honor,  and  the  good  of  this  Common, 
wealth,  we  shall  be  very  much  blameworthy. 

"  HARRISON.  I  think  that  which  my  Lord  General  hath 
!>i-(>i«nui(led,  is,  To  advise  as  to  a  Settlement  both  of  our  Civil 
;md  Spiritual  Liberties;  and  so,  that  the  mercies  which  the 
Lord  hath  given  in  to  us  may  not  be  cast  away.  How  this 
may  be  done  is  the  great  question. 

"  WHITLOCKE.  It  is  a  great  question  indeed,  and  not  sud- 
denly to  be  resolved  I  Yet  it  were  pity  that  a  meeting  of  so 

1  Wood,  in  voce. 

3  Whitlocke,  p.  491  ;  the  date,  10th  December.  1651,  ia  that  of  the  Paper 
merely ,  and  a.*  applied  to  the  <  'onfrrfiicu  itself  caiiuut  b«-  o>rrect 


272          PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.  1651. 

many  able  and  worthy  persons  as  I  see  here,  should  be  fruit- 
less.—  I  should  humbly  offer,  in  the  first  place,  Whether  it 
be  not  requisite  to  be  understood  in  what  way  this  Settlement 
is  desired  ?  Whether  of  an  absolute  Republic,  or  with  any 
mixture  of  Monarchy. 

"CROMWELL.  My  Lord  Commissioner  Whitlocke  hath  put 
us  upon  the  right  point :  and  indeed  it  is  my  meaning,  that  we 
should  consider,  Whether  a  Republic  or  a  mixed  Monarchical 
Government  will  be  best  tp  be  settled  ?  And  if  anything 
Monarchical,  then,  In  whom  that  power  shall  be  placed  ? 

"  SIB  THOMAS  WIDDRINGTON.  I  think  a  mixed  Monarchical 
Government  will  be  most  suitable  to  the  Laws  and  People  of 
this  Nation.  And  if  any  Monarchical,  I  suppose  we  shall 
hold  it  most  just  to  place  that  power  in  one  of  the  Sons  of  the 
late  King. 

"  COLONEL  FLEETWOOD.  I  think  that  the  question,  Whether 
an  absolute  Republic,  or  a  mixed  Monarchy,  be  best  to  be  set- 
tled in  this  Nation,  will  not  be  very  easy  to  be  determined ! 

"  LORD  CHIEF-JUSTICE  ST.  JOHN.  It  will  be  found,  that  the 
Government  of  this  Nation,  without  something  of  Monarchical 
power,  will  be  very  difficult  to  be  so  settled  as  not  to  shake 
the  foundation  of  our  Laws,  and  the  Liberties  of  the  People. 

"SPEAKER.  It  will  breed  a  strange  confusion  to  settle  a 
Government  of  this  Nation  without  something  of  Monarchy. 

"COLONEL  DESBOROW.  I  beseech  you,  my  Lord,  why  may 
not  this,  as  well  as  other  Nations,  be  governed  in  the  way  of  a 
.Republic  ? 

"WHITLOCKE.  The  Laws  of  England  are  so  interwoven 
with  the  power  and  practice  of  Monarchy,  that  to  settle  a 
Government  without  something  of  Monarchy  in  it,  would  make 
so  great  an  alteration  in  the  Proceedings  of  our  Law  that  you 
will  scarce  have  time l  to  rectify  it,  nor  can  we  well  foresee  the 
inconveniences  which  will  arise  thereby. 

"  COLONEL  WHALLEY.  I  do  not  well  understand  matters  of 
Law  :  but  it  seems  to  me  the  best  way,  Not  to  have  anything 
of  Monarchical  power  in  the  Settlement  of  our  Government. 
And  if  we  should  resolve  upon  any,  whom  have  we  to  pitch 

1  Between  t.his  and  November,  1654. 


165L  CONFERENCE   AT  LENTHALL'S.  273 

upon  ?  The  King's  Eldest  Son  hath  been  in  arms  against  us, 
and  his  Second  Son l  likewise  is  our  enemy. 

"SiB  THOMAS  WIDDKINGTON.  But  the  late  King's  Third 
Son,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  is  still  among  us  ;  and  too  young 
to  have  been  in  arms  against  us,  or  infected  with  the  principles 
of  our  enemies. 

"WIIITLOCKE.  There  may  be  a  day  given  for  the  King's 
Eldest  Son,3  or  for  the  Duke  of  York  his  Brother,  to  come  in 
to  the  Parliament.  And  upon  such  terms  as  shall  be  thought 
fit,  and  agreeable  both  to  our  Civil  and  Spiritual  liberties,  a 
Settlement  may  be  made  with  them. 

"  CROMWELL.  That  will  be  a  business  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary difficulty !  But  really  I  think,  if  it  may  be  done  with 
safety,  and  preservation  of  our  Rights,  both  as  Englishmen 
aud  as  Christians,  That  a  Settlement  with  somewhat  of  Mo- 
narchical power  in  it  would  be  very  effectual." 

Much  other  discourse  there  was,  says  my  learned  friend ;  — 
but  amounting  to  little.  The  Lawyers  all  for  a  mixed  Govern- 
ment, with  something  of  Monarchy  in  it;  tending  to  call  IK 
one  of  the  King's  Sons,  —  I  especially  tending  that  way ; 
secretly  loyal  in  the  worst  of  times.  The  Soldiers,  again, 
were  all  for  a  Republic ;  thinking  they  had  had  enough  of  the 
King  and  his  Sons.  My  Lord  General  always  checked  that 
secret-loyalty  of  mine,  and  put  off  the  discussion  of  the  King's 
Son ;  yet  did  not  declare  himself  for  a  Republic  either ;  —  was 
indeed,  as  my  terrene  fat  mind  came  at  length  to  image  him, 
merely  "fishing  for  men's  opinions,"  and  for  provender  to 
himself  and  his  appetites,  as  I  in  the  like  case  should  have 
been  doing!  —  The  Conference  broke  up,  with  what  of  "fish" 
in  this  kind  my  Lord  General  had  taken,  and  no  other  result 
arrived  at. 

1  James ;  who  has  fled  to  the  Continent  some  time  ago,  "  in  women's 
clothes,"  with  one  Colonel  Bamfield,  and  is  getting  fast  into  Papistry  and 
other  contagions. 

*  Charles  Stuart :  "  a  day  "  for  him,  npon  whose  hrad  there  was,  not  many 
weeks  ago,  a  Reward  of  .£1000?  Did  you  actually  *<iy  this,  my  learned 
frifrxl  »  « »r  nif-rely  strive  to  think,  and  redact,  ajt  an  after-period,  that  \»u 
had  said  it,  —  that  you  had  thought  it,  meant  to  say  it,  which  wan  virtual!/ 
all  the  name,  in  a  case  of  difficulty  J 

VOL.    XVIII.  18 


274  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.  1651. 

Many  Conferences  held  \>y  my  Lord  General  have  broken 
up  so.  Four  years  ago,  he  ended  one  in  King  Street  by  playfully 
"  flinging  a  cushion  "  at  a  certain  solid  head  of  our  acquaintance, 
and  running  down-stairs.1  Here  too  it  became  ultimately  clear 
to  the  solid  head  that  he  had  been  "  fishing."  Alas,  a  Lord 
General  has  many  Conferences  to  hold ;  and  in  terrene  minds, 
ligneous,  oleaginous,  and  other,  images  himself  in  a  very 
strange  manner  !  —  The  candid  imagination,  busy  to  shape 
out  some  conceivable  Oliver  in  these  nineteen  months,  will 
accept  thankfully  the  following  small  indubitabilities,  or 
glimpses  of  definite  events. 

December  Sth,  1651.  In  the  beginning  of  December  (Whit- 
locke  dates  it  8th  December)  came  heavy  tidings  over  from 
Ireland,  dark  and  heavy  in  the  house  of  Oliver  especially  : 
that  Deputy  Ireton,  worn  out  with  sleepless  Irish  services, 
had  caught  an  inflammatory  fever,  and  suddenly  died.  Fell 
sick  on  the  16th  of  November,  1651 ;  died,  at  Limerick,  on  the 
26th.2  The  reader  remembers  Bridget  Ireton,  the  young  wife 
at  Cornbury : 3  she  is  now  Widow  Ireton ;  a  sorrowful  bereaved 
woman.  One  brave  heart  and  subtle-working  brain  has  ended : 
to  the  regret  of  all  the  brave.  A  man  able  with  his  pen  and 
his  sword  ;  "  very  stiff  in  his  ways." 

Dryasdust,  who  much  loves  the  brave  Ireton  in  a  rather 
blind  way,  intimates  that  Ireton's  "  stern  virtue  "  would  prob- 
ably have  held  Cromwell  in  awe ;  that  had  Ireton  lived,  there 
had  probably  been  no  sacrilege  against  the  Constitution  on 
Oliver's  part.  A  probability  of  almost  no  weight,  my  erudite 
friend.  The  "  stern  virtue  "  of  Ireton  was  not  sterner  on  occa- 
sion than  that  of  Oliver ;  the  probabilities  of  Ireton's  disap- 
proving what  Oliver  did,  in  the  case  alluded  to,  are  very  small, 
resting  on  solid  Ludlow  mainly ;  and  as  to  those  of  Ireton's 
holding  Cromwell  "  in  awe,"  in  this  or  in  any  matter  he  had 
himself  decided  to  do,  I  think  we  may  safely  reckon  them  at 
zero,  my  erudite  friend ! 

1  Lndlow,  i.  240. 

3  Wood,  iii.  300;  Whitlocke,  p.  491.  — Letter  (Oliver  to  his  Sister)  in  Ap- 
pendix, No.  23. 
8  Letter  XLI.  vol  xvii.  247  ;  and  antea,  p.  149. 


1*552. 


LAW-REFORMS.  275 


Lambert,  now  in  Scotland,  was  appointed  Deputy  in  Ireton's 
room ;  and  meant  to  go ;  but  did  not.  Some  say  the  Widow 
Ireton,  irritated  that  the  beautiful  and  showy  Lady  Lambert 
should  already  "  take  precedence  of  her  in  St.  James's  Park," 
frustrated  the  scheme  :  what  we  find  certain  is,  That  Lambert 
did  not  go,  that  Fleet  wood  went ;  and  farther,  that  the  Widow 
Ireton  in  due  time  became  Wife  of  the  Widower  Fleetwood : 
the  rest  hangs  vague  in  the  head  of  zealous  Mrs.  Hutchiuson, 
solid  Ludlow,  and  empty  Rumor.1  Ludlow,  already  on  the 
si>ot,  does  the  Irish  duties  in  the  interim.  Ireton  has  solemn 
Public  Funeral  in  England ;  copious  moneys  settled  on  his 
Widow  and  Family ;  all  honors  paid  to  him,  for  his  own  sake 
and  his  Father-in-law's. 

March  25th,  1652.  Above  two  years  ago,  when  this  Rump 
Parliament  was  in  the  flush  of  youthful  vigor,  it  decided  on 
reforming  the  Laws  of  England,  and  appointed  a  working 
Committee  for  that  object,  our  learned  friend  Bulstrode  one 
of  them.  Which  working  Committee  finding  the  job  heavy, 
gradually  languished ;  and  after  some  Acts  for  having  Law- 
proceedings  transacted  in  the  English  tongue,  and  for  other 
improvements  of  the  like  magnitude,  died  into  comfortable 
sleep.  On  my  Lord  General's  return  from  Worcester,  it  had 
been  poked  up  again ;  and,  now  rubbing  its  eyes,  set  to  work 
in  good  earnest;  got  a  subsidiary  Committee  appointed,  of 
twenty-one  persons  not  members  of  this  House  at  all,  To  say 
and  suggest  what  improvements  were  really  wanted  :  such  im- 
provements they  the  working  Committee  would  then,  with 
all  the  n-adiness  in  life,  effectuate  and  introduce  in  the  shape 
of  specific  Acts.  Accordingly,  on  March  25th,  first  day  of  the 
new  year  1652,  learned  Bulstrode,  in  the  name  of  this  working 
Committee,  reports  that  the  subsidiary  Committee  has  sug- 
gested a  variety  of  things  :  among  others,  some  improvement 
in  our  method  of  Transferring  Property, — of  enabling  poor 
John  Doe,  who  finds  at  present  a  terrible  difficulty  in  doing  it, 
to  inform  Richard  Roe,  "I  John  Doe  do,  in  very  fact,  sell  to 
thre  Richard  Roe,  such  and  such  a  Property,  —  according  to 

1  Hutchimon'B  Memoir*   (Loudon,  1806),  p.   195;  Ludlow.  pp.    414,   449, 
4c. 


276  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.  1652. 

the  usual  human  meaning  of  the  word  sell ;  and  it  is  hereby, 
let  me  again  assure  thee,  indisputably  SOLD  to  thee  Richard, 
by  me  John  : "  which,  my  learned  friend  thinks,  might  really 
be  an  improvement.  To  which  end  he  will  introduce  an  Act : 
nay  there  shall  farther  be  an  Act  for  the  "  Kegistry  of  Deeds 
in  each  County,"  —  if  it  please  Heaven.  "  Neglect  to  register 
your  Sale  of  Land  in  this  promised  County-Register  within  a 
given  time,"  enacts  the  learned  Bulstrode,  "  such  Sale  shall  be 
void.  Be  exact  in  registering  it,  the  Land  shall  not  be  subject 
to  any  incumbrance."  Incurubrance :  yes,  but  what  is  "  incum- 
brance  "  ?  asks  all  the  working  Committee,  with  wide  eyes, 
when  they  come  actually  to  sit  upon  this  Bill  of  Registry,  and 
to  hatch  it  into  some  kind  of  perfection :  What  is  "  incum- 
brance "  ?  No  mortal  can  tell.  They  sit  debating  it,  painfully 
sifting  it,  "  for  three  months ; " *  three  months  by  Booker's 
Almanac,  and  the  Zodiac  Horologe :  March  violets  have  become 
June  roses  ;  and  still  they  debate  what  "  incumbrance  "  is  ;  — 
and  indeed,  I  think  could  never  fix  it  at  all ;  and  are  perhaps 
debating  it,  if  so  doomed,  in  some  twilight  foggy  section  of 
Dante's  Nether  World,  to  all  Eternity,  at  this  hour !  —  Are  not 
these  a  set  of  men  likely  to  reform  English  Law  ?  Likely 
these  to  strip  the  accumulated  owl-droppings  and  foul  guano- 
mountains  from  your  rock-island,  and  lay  the  reality  bare,  — 
in  the  course  of  Eternities  !  The  wish  waxes  livelier  in  Colo- 
nel Pride  that  he  could  see  a  certain  addition  made  to  the 
Scots  Colors  hung  in  Westminster  Hall  yonder. 

I  add  only,  for  the  sake  of  Chronology,  that  on  the  fourth 
day  after  this  appearance  of  Bulstrode  as  a  Law-reformer, 
occurred  the  famous  Black  Monday  ;  fearfulest  eclipse  of  the 
Sun  ever  seen  by  mankind.  Came  on  about  nine  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  darker  and  darker :  ploughmen  unyoked  their  teams,  stars 
came  out,  birds  sorrowfully  chirping  took  to  roost,  men  in 
amazement  to  prayers  :  a  day  of  much  obscurity ;  Black  Mon- 
day, or  Mirk  Monday,  29th  March,  1652.2  Much  noised  of  by 
Lilly,  Booker,  and  the  buzzard  Astrologer  tribe.  Betokening 

1  Ludlow,  i.  430;  Parliamentary  History,  xx.  84;   Commons  Journals,  vii.  67, 
110,  &c. 

2  Balfour,  iv.  349  ;  Law's  Memorials,  p.  6. 


1652.  DUTCH  WAR.  277 

somewhat  ?  Belike  that  Bulstrode  and  this  Parliament  will, 
in  the  way  of  Law-reform  and  otherwise,  make  a  Practical 
Gospel,  or  real  Reign  of  God,  in  this  England  ?  — 

July  9th,  1652.  A  great  external  fact,  which,  no  doubt,  has 
its  effect  on  all  internal  movements,  is  the  War  with  the 
Dutch.  The  Dutch,  ever  since  our  Death-Warrant  to  Charles 
First,  have  looked  askance  at  this  New  Commonwealth,  which 
wished  to  stand  well  with  them ;  and  have  accumulated  offence 
on  offence  against  it.  Ambassador  Dorislaus  was  assassinated 
in  their  country ;  Charles  Second  was  entertained  there ;  eva- 
sive slow  answers  were  given  to  tough  St.  John,  who  went 
over  as  new  Ambassador :  to  which  St.  John  responding  with 
great  directness,  in  a  proud,  brief  and  very  emphatic  manner, 
took  his  leave,  and  came  home  again.  Came  home  again ;  and 
passed  the  celebrated  Navigation  Act,1  forbidding  that  any 
goods  should  be  imported  into  England  except  either  in  Eng- 
lish ships  or  in  ships  of  the  country  where  the  goods  were 
produced.  Thereby  terribly  maiming  the  "  Carrying  Trade  of 
the  Dutch ; "  and  indeed,  as  the  issue  proved,  depressing  the 
Dutch  Maritime  Interest  not  a  little,  and  proportionally  elevat- 
ing that  of  England.  Embassies  in  consequence,  from  their 
irritated  High  Mightinesses;  sea-fightings  in  consequence; 
and  much  negotiating,  apologizing,  and  bickering  mounting 
ever  higher ;  —  which  at  length,  at  the  date  above  given,  issues 
in  declared  War.  Dutch  War:  cannonadings  and  fierce  sea- 
fights  in  the  narrow  seas ;  land-soldiers  drafted  to  fight  on 
shipboard ;  and  land-officers,  Blake,  Dean,  Monk,  who  became 
very  famous  sea-officers ;  Blake  a  thrice-famous  one  ;  —  poor 
Dean  lost  his  life  in  this  business.  They  doggedly  beat  the 
Dutch,  and  again  beat  them  :  their  best  Van  Tromps  and  De 
Ruyters  could  not  stand  these  terrible  Puritan  Sailors  and 
Gunners.  The  Dutch  gradually  grew  tame.  The  public  mind, 
occupied  with  sea-fights  and  sea-victories,  finds  again  that  the 
New  Representative  must  be  patiently  waited  for ;  chat  this 
is  not  a  time  for  turning  out  the  old  Representative,  which 
has  so  many  affairs  on  its  hands. 

1  Introduced  5th  Auguut,  1651 ;  paased  9th  October,  1651 .  given  in  Scobell, 
ii.  176. 


278  PAKT  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.  1652. 

But  the  Dutch  War  brings  another  consequence  in  the  train 
of  it :  renewed  severity  against  Delinquents.  The  necessities 
of  cash  for  this  War  are  great :  indeed,  the  grand  business  of 
Parliament  at  present  seems  to  be  that  of  Finance,  —  finding 
of  sinews  for  such  a  War.  Any  remnants  of  Royal  lands,  of 
Dean-and-Chapter  lands,  —  sell  them  by  rigorous  auction ;  the 
very  lead  of  the  Cathedrals  one  is  tempted  to  sell ;  nay  almost 
the  Cathedrals  themselves,1  if  any  one  would  buy  them.  The 
necessities  of  the  Finance  Department  are  extreme.  Money, 
money:  our  Blakes  and  Monks,  in  deadly  wrestle  with  the 
Dutch,  must  have  money  ! 

Estates  of  Delinquents,  one  of  the  readiest  resources  from 
of  old,  cannot,  in  these  circumstances,  be  forgotten.  Search 
out  Delinquents :  in  every  County  make  stringent  inquest 
after  them  !  Many,  in  past  years,  have  made  light  settlements 
with  lax  Committee-men;  neighbors,  not  without  pity  for 
them.  Many  of  minor  sort  have  been  overlooked  altogether. 
Bring  them  up,  every  Delinquent  of  them ;  up  hither  to  the 
Rhadamanthus-bar  of  Goldsmiths'  Hall  and  Haberdashers' 
Hall ;  sift  them,  search  them ;  riddle  the  last  due  sixpence  out 
of  them.  The  Commons  Journals  of  these  months  have  for- 
midable ell-long  Lists  of  Delinquents ;  List  after  List ;  who 
shall,  on  rigorous  terms,  be  ordered  to  compound.  Poor  un- 
known Eoyalist  Squires,  from  various  quarters  of  England ; 
whose  names  and  surnames  excite  now  no  notion  in  us  except 
that  of  No.  1  and  No.  2:  my  Lord  General  has  seen  them 
"crowding  by  thirties  and  forties  in  a  morning"2  about  these 
Haberdasher-Grocer  Halls  of  Doom,  with  haggard  expression 
of  countenance ;  soliciting,  from  what  austere  official  person 
they  can  get  a  word  of,  if  not  mercy,  yet  at  least  swift  judg- 
ment. In  a  way  which  affected  my  Lord  General's  feelings. 
We  have  now  the  third  year  of  Peace  in  our  borders :  is  this 
what  you  call  Settlement  of  the  Nation  ? 

1  Parliamentary  History,  xx.  90.  2  Speech,  postea. 


1652.  LETTER  CLXXXV.    LONDON.  279 


LETTER  CLXXXV. 

THE  following  Letter  "  to  my  honored  Friend  Mr.  Hunger- 
ford  the  Elder,"  which  at  any  rate  by  order  of  time  introduces 
itself  here,  has  probably  some  reference  to  these  Committee 
businesses :  —  at  all  events,  there  hangs  by  it  a  little  tale. 

8ome  six  miles  from  Bath,  in  the  direction  towards  Salisbury, 
are  to  be  seen,  "on  the  northeast  slope  of  a  rocky  height 
called  Farley  Hill,"  the  ruins  of  an  old  Castle,  once  well  known 
by  the  name  of  Farley  Montfort  or  Farley  Hun.gerford :  Man- 
sion once  of  the  honorable  Family  of  Hungerfords,  while  there 
was  such  a  Family.  The  Hungerfords  are  extinct  above  a 
century  ago ;  and  their  Mansion  stands  there  as  a  Ruin,  know- 
ing little  of  them  any  more.  But  it  chanced,  long  since,  be- 
fore the  Ruiu  became  quite  roofless,  some  Land-Steward  or 
Agent  of  a  new  Family,  tapping  and  poking  among  the  melan- 
choly lumber  there,  —  found  "  an  old  loose  Chest "  shoved 
loosely  "  under  the  old  Chapel-altar ; "  and  bethought  him  ot 
opening  the  same.  Masses  of  damp  dust ;  unclean  accumular 
tion  of  beetle-and-spider  exuviae,  to  the  conceivable  amount, 
under  these,  certain  bundles  of  rubbish-papers,  extinct  lease- 
records,  marriage-contracts,  all  extinct  now, — among  which, 
however,  were  Two  Letters  bearing  Oliver  Cromwell's  signature. 
These  Two  the  Land-Steward  carefully  copied, — thanks  to 
him;  —  and  here,  out  of  Collinsoii's  History  of  Somer.-«is]tlrr, 
the  first  of  them  now  is.  Very  dark  to  the  Land-Steward,  to 
Collinson,  and  to  us.  For  the  Hungerfords  are  extinct ;  their 
Name  and  Family,  like  their  old  Mansion,  a  mouldering  ruin, — 
almost  our  chief  light  in  regard  to  it,  the  two  little  bits  of 
Paper,  rescued  from  the  old  Chest  under  the  Chapel-altar,  in 
that  romantic  manner !  — 

There  were  three  Hungerfords  in  Parliament ;  all  for  Wilt- 
shire constituencies.  Sir  Edward,  "Knight  of  the  Bath," 
Puritan  original  Member  for  Chippenham  ;  Lord  of  this  Man- 
sion of  Farley,  as  we  find:1  thru  Henry,  Esq.,  "recruiter"  for 

1  Colliiwon  (ifi.  357  n.)  gives  his  Kpiuph  copied  from  the  old  Chapel;  but 
is  very  dark  atid  even  uvU  contradictory  in  what  he  aaya  farther 


280  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.  1652. 

Bedwin  since  1646 ;  probably  a  cadet  of  the  House,  perhaps 
heir  to  it :  both  these  are  now  "  secluded  Members  ;  "  purged 
away  by  Pride ;  nay  it  seems  Sir  Edward  was  already  dead, 
about  the  time  of  Pride's  Purge.  The  third,  Anthony  Hunger- 
ford,  original  Member  for  Malmesbury,  declared  for  the  King 
in  1642;  was  of  course  disabled,  cast  into  the  Tower  when 
caught ;  —  made  his  composition,  by  repentance  and  due  fine, 
"fine  of  £2,532,"  in  1646,1  when  the  First  Civil  War  ended; 
and  has  lived  ever  since  a  quiet  repentant  man.  He  is  of 
"Blackbourton  in  Oxfordshire/''  this  Anthony;  but  I  judge  by 
his  Parliamentary  connection  and  other  circumstances,  like- 
wise a  cadet  of  the  House  of  Farley.  Of  him  by  and  by,  when 
we  arrive  at  the  next  Letter. 

For  the  present,  with  regard  to  Sir  Edward,  lord  of  the 
Farley  Mansion,  we  have  to  report,  by  tremulous  but  authentic 
lights,  that  he  stood  true  for  the  Parliament ;  had  controversies, 
almost  duels,  in  behalf  of  it ;  among  other  services,  lent  it 
£500.  Furthermore,  that  he  is  now  dead,  "died  in  1648;" 
and  that  his  Widow  cannot  yet  get  payment  of  that  £500; 
that  she  is  yet  only  struggling  to  get  a  Committee  to  sit  upon 
it.2  One  might  guess,  but  nobody  can  know,  that  this  Note 
was  addressed  to  Henry  Hungerford,  in  reference  to  that 
business  of  Sir  Edward's  Widow.  Or  possibly  it  may  be 
Anthony  Hungerford,  the  repentant  Royalist,  that  is  now  the 
"  Elder  Hungerford  ;  "  a  man  with  whom  the  Lord  General  is 
not  without  relations  !  Unimportant  to  us,  either  way.  A 
hasty  Note,  on  some  "  business  "  now  unknown,  about  which 
an  unknown  "gentleman"  has  been  making  inquiry  and 
negotiation  ;  for  the  answer  to  which  an  unknown  "  servant " 
of  some  "  Mr.  Hungerford  the  Elder  "  is  waiting  in  the  hall  of 
Oliver's  House,  —  the  Cockpit,  I  believe,  at  this  date :  —  in 
such  faintly  luminous  state,  revealing  little  save  its  own  exist- 
ence, must  this  small  Document  be  left. 

1  Commons  Journals,  iv.  565  (5th  June,  1646);  ib.  iii.  526,  &c. 

*  Committee  got,  18th  February,  1652-3,  "The  Lord  General"  Crcm>«rell 
in  it  (Commons  Journals,  vii.  260) :  Danger  of  Duel  (ib.  ii.  928,  981 ; 
January -June,  1643).    See  ib.  iv.  161,  v.  618,  &c. 


1552.  LETTER  CLXXXV.    LONDON.  281 

"  For  my  Honored  Friend  Mr.  Hungerford  the  Elder,  at  his 
House:  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  30th  July,  1652. 

"  SIR,  —  I  am  very  sorry  my  occasions  will  not  permit  me  to 
return J  to  you  as  I  would.  I  have  not  yet  fully  spoken  with 
the  Gentleman  I  sent  to  wait  upon  you ;  when  I  shall  do  it, 
I  shall  be  enabled  to  be  more  particular.  Being  unwilling  to 
detain  your  servant  any  longer,  —  with  my  service  to  your 
Lady  and  Family,  I  take  my  leave,  and  rest, 

"  Your  affectionate  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL."* 

It  is  a  sad  reflection  with  my  Lord  General,  in  this  Hunger- 
ford  and  other  businesses,  that  the  mere  justice  of  any  matter 
will  so  little  avail  a  man  in  Parliament :  you  can  make  no  way 
till  you  have  got  up  some  party  on  the  subject  there ! '  In 
fact,  red-tape  has,  to  a  lamentable  extent,  tied  up  the  souls 
of  men  in  this  Parliament  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England. 
They  are  becoming  hacks  of  office ;  a  savor  of  Godliness  still 
on  their  lips,  but  seemingly  not  much  deeper  with  some  of 
them.  I  begin  to  have  a  suspicion  they  are  no  Parliament ! 
If  the  Commonwealth  of  England  had  not  still  her  Army  Par- 
liament, rigorous  devout  Council  of  Officers,  men  in  right  life- 
and-death  earnest,  who  have  spent  their  blood  in  this  Cause, 
who  in  case  of  need  can  assemble  and  act  again,  —  what 
would  become  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England?  Earnest 
persons,  from  this  quarter  and  that,  make  petition  to  the 
Lord  General  and  Officers,  That  they  would  be  pleased  to 
take  the  matter  in  hand,  and  see  right  done.  To  which  the 
Lord  General  and  Officers  answer  always :  Wait,  be  patient ; 
the  Parliament  itself  will  yet  do  it. 

What  the  "  state  of  the  Gospel  in  Wales "  is,  in  Wales  or 
elsewhere,  I  cannot  with  any  accuracy  ascertain ;  but  see  well 

»  reply. 

*  Collinaon's  Hittory  of  SvmertetMre  (Bath,  1791),  iii.  957    note. —  Sou 
Appendix,  No.  25. 

*  Speech, 


282  PAET  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.     30  July, 

that  this  Parliament  has  shown  no  zeal  that  way ;  has  snackled 
rather,  and  tied  up  with  its  sorrowful  red-tape  the  movements 
of  men  that  had  any  zeal.1  Lamentable  enough.  The  light 
of  the  Everlasting  Truth  was  kindled;  and  you  do  not  fan 
the  sacred  flame,  you  consider  it  a  thing  which  may  be  left 
to  itself !  Unhappy :  and  for  what  did  we  fight,  then,  and 
wrestle  with  our  souls  and  our  bodies  as  in  strong  agony  ; 
besieging  Heaven  with  our  prayers  and  Earth  and  its  Strengths, 
from  Naseby  on  to  Worcester,  with  our  pikes  and  cannon  ? 
Was  it  to  put  an  Official  Junto  of  some  Threescore  Persons 
into  the  high  saddle  in  England ;  and  say,  Ride  ye  ?  They 
would  need  to  be  Threescore  beautif  uler  men !  Our  blood 
shed  like  water,  our  brethren's  bones  whitening  a  hundred 
fields ;  Tredah  Storm,  Dunbar  death-agony,  and  God's  voice 
from  the  battle- whirl  wind  :  did  they  mean  no  more  but  you ! 
—  My  Lord  General  urges  us  always  to  be  patient :  Patience, 
the  Parliament  itself  will  yet  do  it.  That  is  what  we  shall 
see!  — 

On  the  whole,  it  must  be  seriously  owned  by  every  reader, 
this  present  Fag-end  of  a  Parliament  of  England  has  failed 
altogether  to  realize  the  high  dream  of  those  old  Puritan 
hearts.  "  Incumbrance,"  it  appears,  cannot  in  the  abstract 
be  denned :  but  if  you  would  know  in  the  concrete  what  it  is, 
look  there !  The  thing  we  fought  for,  and  gained  as  if  by 
miracle,  it  is  ours  this  long  while,  and  yet  not  ours ;  within 
grasp  of  us,  it  lies  there  unattainable,  enchanted  under  Par- 
liamentary formulas.  Enemies  are  swept  away  ;  extinguished 
as  in  the  brightness  of  the  Lord  :  and  no  Divine  Kingdom, 
and  no  clear  incipiency  of  such,  has  yet  in  any  measure 
come!  —  These  are  sorrowful  reflections. 

For,  alas,  such  high  dream  is  difficult  to  realize !  Not  the 
Stuart  Dynasty  alone  that  opposes  it;  all  the  Dynasties  of 
the  Devil,  the  whole  perversions  of  this  poor  Earth,  without 
us  and  within  us,  oppose  it.  —  Yea,  answers  with  a  sigh  the 
heart  of  my  Lord  General :  yea,  it  is  difficult,  and  thrice  diffi- 
cult ;  —  and  yet  woe  to  us,  if  we  do  not  with  our  whole  soul 
try  it,  make  some  clear  beginning  of  it;  if  we  sit  defining 

1  Speech,  poetea. 


1652.  THE   RUMP.  283 

"incumbrances,"  instead  of  bending  every  muscle  to  the 
wheel  that  is  incuinbered !  Who  art  thou  that  standest  still ; 
that  having  put  to  thy  hand,  turnest  back  ?  In  these  years 
of  miracle  in  England,  were  there  not  great  things,  as  if  by 
divine  voices,  audibly  promised  ?  "  The  Lord  said  unto  my 
Lord!"  —  And  is  it  all  to  end  here?  In  Juntos  of  Three- 
score ;  in  Grocers-Hall  Committees,  in  red-tape,  and  official 
shakings  of  the  head  ? 

My  Lord  General,  are  there  no  voices,  dumb  voices  from 
the  depths  of  poor  England's  heart,  that  address  themselves 
to  you,  even  you  ?  My  Lord  General  hears  voices ;  and 
would  fain  distinguish  and  discriminate  them.  Which,  in 
all  these,  is  the  God's  voice  ?  That  were  the  one  to  follow. 
My  Lord  General,  I  think,  has  many  meditations,  of  a  very 
mixed,  and  some  of  a  very  abstruse  nature,  in  these  months. 

Amjust  13th,  1652.  This  day  came  a  "Petition  from  the 
Officers  of  my  Lord  General's  Army,"  which  a  little  alarmed 
us.  Petition  craving  for  some  real  reform  of  the  Law ;  some 
real  attempt  towards  setting  up  a  Gospel  Ministry  in  Eng- 
land ;  real  and  general  ousting  of  scandalous,  incompetent 
and  plainly  diabolic  persons  from  all  offices  of  Church  and 
State ;  real  beginning,  in  short,  of  a  Reign  of  Gospel  Truth 
in  this  England ;  —  and  for  one  thing,  a  swift  progress  in 
that  most  slow-going  Bill  for  a  New  Representative ;  an 
actual  ending  of  this  present  Fag-end  of  a  Parliament,  which 
has  now  sat  very  long!  So,  in  most  respectful  language, 
prays  this  Petition  *  of  the  Officers.  Petition  prefaced,  they 
say,  with  earnest  prayer  to  God :  that  was  the  preface  or 
prologue  they  gave  it;  —  what  kind  of  epilogue  they  might 
be  prepared  to  give  it,  one  does  not  learn :  but  the  men  carry 
swords  at  their  sides ;  and  we  have  known  them !  —  "  Many 
thought  this  kind  of  Petition  dangerous  ;  and  counselled  my 
Lord  General  to  put  a  stop  to  the  like:  but  he  seemed  to 
make  light  of  it,"  says  Bulstrode.  In  fact,  my  Lord  Genera  1 
does  not  disapprove  of  it:  my  Lord  General,  after  much 
abstruse  meditation,  has  decided  on  putting  himself  at  the 
bead  of  it  He,  and  a  serious  minority  in  Parliament,  and 

»  Whitlocke,  p.  516. 


284  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.      14  Sept 

in  England  at  large,  think  with  themselves,  once  more,  If  it 
were  not  for  this  Army  Parliament,  what  would  become  of  us  ? 

Speaker  Lenthall  "  thanked "  these  Officers,  with  a  smile 
which  I  think  must  have  been  of  the  grimmest,  like  that 
produced  in  certain  animals  by  the  act  of  eating  thistles. 

September  14^A,  1C52.  The  somnolent  slow-going  Bill  for 
a  New  Representative,  which  has  slept  much,  and  now  and 
then  pretended  to  move  a  little,  for  long  years  past,  is  resus- 
citated by  this  Petition ;  comes  out,  rubbing  its  eyes,  disposed 
for  decided  activity ;  —  and  in  fact  sleeps  no  more  ;  cannot 
think  of  sleep  any  more,  the  noise  round  it  waxing  ever 
louder.  Settle  how  your  Representative  shall  be ;  for  be  it 
now  actually  must ! 

This  Bill,  which  has  slept  and  waked  so  long,  does  not  sleep 
again :  but,  How  to  settle  the  conditions  of  the  New  Repre- 
sentative ? — there  is  a  question  !  My  Lord  General  will  have 
good  security  against  "  the  Presbyterial  Party,"  that  they 
come  not  into  power  again ;  good  security  against  the  red-tape 
Party,  that  they  sit  not  for  three  months  denning  an  incum- 
brance  again.  How  shall  we  settle  the  New  Representative ; 
—  on  the  whole,  what  or  how  shall  we  do?  For  the  old 
stagnancy  is  verily  broken  up :  these  petitioning  Army  Offi- 
cers, with  all  the  earnest  armed  and  unarmed  men  of  England 
in  the  rear  of  them,  have  verily  torn  us  from  our  moorings ; 
and  we  do  go  adrift, — with  questionable  havens,  on  starboard 
and  larboard,  very  difficult  of  entrance  ;  with  Mahlstroms  and 
Niagaras  very  patent  right  ahead !  We  are  become  to  man- 
kind a  Rump  Parliament;  sit  here  we  cannot  much  longer; 
and  we  know  not  what  to  do ! 

"  During  the  month  of  October,  some  ten  or  twelve  confer- 
ences took  place,"  —  private  conferences  between  the  Army 
Officers  and  the  Leaders  of  the  Parliament :  wherein  nothing 
could  be  agreed  upon.  Difficult  to  settle  the  New  Representa- 
tive; impossible  for  this  Old  Misrepresentative  or  Rump  to 
continue !  What  shall  or  can  be  done  ?  Summon,  without 
popular  intervention,  by  earnest  selection  on  your  and  our 
part,  a  Body  of  godly  wise  Men,  the  Best  and  Wisest  we 
can  find  in  England ;  to  them  intrust  the  whole  question ; 


LETTER  CLXXXVI.    COCKPIT.  285 

and  do  you  abdicate,  and  depart  straightway,  say  the  Officers, 
forty  good  Men,  or  a  hundred  and  forty  ;  choose  them  well,  — 
they  will  define  an  incumbrance  in  less  than  three  months,  we 
may  hope,  and  tell  us  what  to  do  !  Such  is  the  notion  of 
the  Army  Officers,  and  my  Lord  General ;  a  kind  of  Puritan 
"  Convention  of  the  Notables,"  so  the  French  would  call  it ; 
to  which  the  Parliament  Party  see  insuperable  objections. 
What  other  remedy,  then?  The  Parliament  Party  mourn- 
fully insinuate  that  there  is  no  remedy,  except,  —  except  con- 
tinuance of  the  present  Rump  ! l 

November  7th,  1652.  "About  this  time,"  prior  or  posterior 
to  it,  while  such  conferences  and  abstruse  considerations  are 
in  progress,  my  Lord  General,  walking  once  in  St.  James's 
Park,  beckons  the  learned  Bulstrode,  who  is  also  there ;  strolls 
gradually  aside  with  him,  and  begins  one  of  the  most  important 
Dialogues.  Whereof  learned  Bulstrode  has  preserved  some 
record ;  which  is  unfortunately  much  dimmed  by  just  suspicion 
of  dramaturgy  on  the  part  of  Bulstrode ;  and  shall  not  be  ex- 
cerpted by  us  here.  It  tends  conspicuously  to  show,  first, 
how  Cromwell  already  entertained  most  alarming  notions  of 
"  making  oneself  a  King,"  and  even  wore  them  pinned  on  his 
sleeve,  for  the  inspection  of  the  learned;  and  secondly,  how 
Bulstrode,  a  secret-royalist  in  the  worst  of  times,  advised  him 
by  no  means  to  think  of  that,  but  to  call  in  Charles  Stuart,  — - 
who  had  an  immense  popularity  among  the  Powerful  in  Eng- 
land just  then  !  "  My  Lord  General  did  not  in  words  express 
any  anger,  but  only  by  looks  and  carriage ;  and  turned  aside 
from  me  to  other  company,"  —  as  this  Editor,  in  quest  of  cer- 
tainty and  insight,  and  not  of  doubt  and  fat  drowsy  pedantry, 
will  now  also  do  ! 


LETTER  CLXXXVI. 

HERE,  from  the  old  Chest  of  Farley  Castle,  is  the  other 
Hungerford  Letter;  and  a  dim  glance  into  the  domesticities 
again.  Anthony  Hungerford,  as  we  saw,  was  the  Royalist 

1  Speech,  postea. 


28C  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.       lODec. 

Hungerford,  of  Blackbonrton  in  Oxfordshire;  once  Member 
for  Malmesbury ;  who  has  been  living  these  six  or  seven  years 
past  in  a  repentant  wholesomely  secluded  state.  "Cousin 
Dunch "  is  young  Mrs.  Dunch  of  Pusey,  once  Ann  Mayor  of 
Hursley ;  she  lives  within  visiting  distance  of  Blackbourton, 
when  at  Pusey  ;  does  not  forget  old  neighbors  while  in  Town, 
—  and  occasionally  hears  gloomy  observations  from  thorn. 
"  Your  Lord  General  is  become  a  great  man  now ! "  —  From 
the  Answer  to  which  we  gather  at  least  one  thing :  That  the 
"  offer  of  a  very  great  Proposition  "  as  to  Son  Richard's  mar. 
riage,  which  we  once  obscurely  heard  of,1  was,  to  all  appear- 
ance, made  by  this  Anthony  Hungerford,  —  perhaps  in  behalf 
of  his  kinsman  Sir  Edward,  who,  as  he  had  no  Son,2  might 
have  a  Daughter  that  would  be  a  very  great  Proposition  to 
a  young  man.  Unluckily  "there  was  not  that  assurance  of 
Godliness  "  that  seemed  to  warrant  it :  however,  the  nobleness 
of  the  Overture  is  never  to  be  forgotten. 

"  For  my  honored  Friend  Anthony  Hungerford,  Esquire :  These. 

"  COCKPIT,  10th  December,  1652. 

"  SIR,  —  I  understand,  by  my  Cousin  Dunch,  of  so  much 
trouble  of  yours,  and  so  much  unhandsomeness  (at  least  seem- 
ing so)  on  my  part,  as  doth  not  a  little  afflict  me,  until  I  give 
you  this  account  of  my  innocency. 

"  She  was  pleased  to  tell  my  Wife  of  your  often  resorts  to 
my  house  to  visit  me,  and  of  your  disappointments.  Truly, 
Sir,  had  I  but  once  known  of  your  being  there,  and  [had  con- 
cealed myself],  it  had  been  an  action  so  below  a  gentleman  or 
an  honest  man,  so  full  of  ingratitude  for  your  civilities  I  have 
received  from  you,  as  •  would  have  rendered  me  unworthy  of 
human  society !  Believe  me,  Sir,  I  am  much  ashamed  that  the 
least  color  of  the  appearance  of  such  a  thing  should  have  hap- 
pened ;  and  [I]  could  not  take  satisfaction  but  by  this  plain- 
dealing  for  my  justification,  which  I  ingenuously  offer  you. 
And  although  Providence  did  not  dispose  other  matters  to 
our  mutual  satisfaction,  yet  your  nobleness  in  that  Overture 
1  Antea,  vol.  xvii.  p.  291  2  Epitaph  in  Collinson's  Somersetshire. 


1652.  LETTER  CLXXXVII.    COCKPIT.  287 

obligeth  me,  and  I  hope  ever  shall  whilst  I  live,  to  study  upon 
all  occasions  to  approve  myself  your  Family's  and  your 
"  Most  affectionate  and  humble  servant, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"My  Wife  and  I  desire  our  service  be  presented  to  your 
Lady  and  Family." l 


LETTER  CLXXXVII. 

SKEMINGLY  belonging  to  the  same  neighborhood  is  the  fol- 
lowing altogether  domestic  Letter  to  Fleetwood;  which  still 
survives  in  Autograph ;  but  has  no  date  whatever,  and  no  indi- 
cation that  will  enable  us  to  fix  its  place  with  perfect  exactness. 
Fleetwood's  Commission  for  Ireland  is  dated  10th  July,  1652;* 
the  precise  date  of  his  marriage  with  Bridget  Ireton,  of  his 
departure  for  Ireland,  or  of  any  ulterior  proceedings  of  his, 
is  not  recoverable,  in  those  months.  Of  Henry  Cromwell,  too, 
we  know  only  that  he  sat  in  the  Little  Parliament ;  and,  indis- 
putably therefore,  was  home  from  Ireland  before  summer  next. 
From  the  total  silence  as  to  Public  Affairs,  in  this  Letter,  it 
may  be  inferred  that  nothing  decisive  had  yet  been  done  or 
resolved  upon;  —  that  through  this  strange  old  Autograph,  as 
through  a  dim  Horn-Gate  (not  of  Dreams  but  of  Realities), 
we  are  looking  into  the  interior  of  the  Cromwell  Lodging,  and 
the  Cromwell  heart,  in  the  Winter  of  1652. 

"  For  the  Right  Honorable  Lieutenant- General  Fleetwood,  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Forces  in  Ireland:  These. 

[COCKPIT, 1652.] 

"  DEAR  CHARLES,  —  I  thank  you  for  your  loving  Letter. 
The  same  hopes  and  desires,  upon  your  planting  into  my 
Family,  were  much  the  same  in  me  that  you  express  in  yours 
towards  me.  However,  the  dispensation  of  the  Lord  is,  to 

1  (Hirer  Cromwell'*  Mrmoin  of  the.  Protector  (3d  edition,  T-ondon,  1822),  ii. 
488  ;  me  r<>llinm>n'H  History  of  Somertetshire,  iii.  357  note. 
9  Tliurloe,  L  212. 


288  PART   VII.     THE    LITTLE    PARLIAMENT.    December, 

have  it  otherwise  for  the  present ;  and  therein  I  desire  to  ac- 
quiesce ;  —  not  being  out  of  hope  that  it  may  lie  iu  His  good 
pleasure,  in  His  time,  to  give  us  the  mutual  comfort  of  our 
relation :  the  want  whereof  He  is  able  abundantly  to  supply  by 
His  own  presence ;  which  indeed  makes  up  all  defects,  and  is 
the  comfort  of  all  our  comforts  and  enjoyments. 

"  Salute  your  dear  Wife  from  me.  Bid  her  beware  of  a 
bondage  spirit.1  Fear  is  the  natural  issue  of  such  a  spirit ;  — 
the  antidote  is  Love.  The  voice  of  Fear  is :  If  I  had  done 
this  ;  if  I  had  avoided  that,  how  well  it  had  been  with  me  !  — 
I  know  this  hath  been  her  vain  reasoning.  [Poor  Biddy  !] 

'•  Love  argueth  in  this  wise  :  What  a  Christ  have  I ;  what  a 
Father  in  and  through  Him  !  What  a  Name  hath  my  Father : 
Merciful,  gracious,  long-suffering,  abundant  in  goodness  and 
truth;  forgiving  iniquity,  transgression  and  sin.  What  a  Nature 
hath  my  Father:  He  is  LOVE; — free  in  it,  unchangeable,  in- 
finite !  What  a  Covenant  between  Him  and  Christ,  —  for  all 
the  Seed,  for  every  one :  wherein  He  undertakes  all,  and  the 
poor  Soul  nothing.  The  new  Covenant  is  Grace,  —  to  or  upon 
the  Soul;  to  which  it  [the  Soul]  is  passive  and  receptive:  I'll 
do  away  their  sins  ;  I'll  write  my  Law,  &c.  /  I'll  put  it  in  their 
hearts  :  they  shall  never  depart  from  me,  &c.2 

"This  commends  the  Love  of  God:  it's  Christ  dying  for 
men  without  strength,  for  men  whilst  sinners,  whilst  enemies. 
And  shall  we  seek  for  the  root  of  our  comforts  within  us,  — 
What  God  hath  done,  what  He  is  to  us  in  Christ,  is  the  root 
of  our  comfort :  in  this  is  stability  ;  in  us  is  weakness.  Acts 
of  obedience  are  not  perfect,  and  therefore  yield  not  perfect 
Grace.  Faith,  as  an  act,  yields  it  not ;  but  [only]  as  it  carries 
us  into  Him,  who  is  our  perfect  rest  and  peace ;  in  whom  we 
are  accounted  of,  and  received  by,  the  Father,  —  even  as  Christ 
Himself.  This  is  our  high  calling.  Kest  we  here,  and  here 
only.8 

1  A  Secretary  has  written  hitherto ;  the  Lord  General  now  begins,  himself, 
with  a  new  pen. 

2  Has  been  crowding,  for  the  last  line  or  two,  very  close  upon  the  bottom 
of  the  page  ;  finds  now  that  it  will  not  do  ;  and  takes  to  the  margin. 

3  Even  so,  my  noble  one !     The  noble  soul  will,  one  day,  again  come  to 
under,-;taiid  these  old  words  of  yours. 


1652.  THE   RUMP.  289 

"Commend  me  to  Harry  Cromwell:  I  pray  for  him,  That 
he  may  thrive,  and  improve  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of 
Christ.  Commend  me  to  all  the  Officers.  My  prayers  indeed 
are  daily  for  them.  Wish  them  to  beware  of  bitterness  of 
spirit ;  and  of  all  things  uncomely  for  the  Gospel.  The  Lord 
give  you  abundance  of  wisdom,  and  faith  and  patience.  Take 
heed  also  of  your  natural  inclination  to  compliance. 

"Fray  for  me.     I  commit  you  to  the  Lord;  and  rest, 

"  Your  loving  father, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL." l 

"The  Boy  and  Betty  are  very  well.  Show  what  kindness 
you  well  may  to  Colonel  Clayton,  to  my  nephew  Gregory,  to 
Clay  pole's  Brother."  » 

And  so  the  miraculous  Horn-Gate,  not  of  Dreams  but  of 
Realities  and  old  dim  Domesticities,  closes  again,  into  totally 
opaque  ;  —  and  we  return  to  matters  public. 

December,  1652-March,  1653.  The  Dutch  War  prospers  and 
has  prospered,  Blake  and  Monk  beating  the  Dutch  in  tough 
sea-fights  ;  Delinquents,  monthly  Assessments,  and  the  lead  of 
Cathedrals  furnishing  the  sinews :  the  Dutch  are  about  send- 
ing Ambassadors  to  treat  of  Peace.  With  home  affairs,  again, 
it  goes  not  so  well.  Through  winter,  through  spring,  that  Bill 
for  a  New  Representative  goes  along  in  its  slow  gestation; 
reappearing  Wednesday  after  Wednesday;  painfully  strug- 
gling to  take  a  shape  that  shall  fit  both  parties,  Parliament 
Grandees  and  Army  Grandees  both  at  once.  A  thing  difficult ; 
a  tiling  impossible!  Parliament  Grandees,  now  become  a  con- 
t<  inptible  Rump,  wish  they  could  grow  into  a  Reputable  Full 
Parliament  again,  and  have  the  Government  and  the  Govern- 

1  Has  exhausted  the  long  hroad  margin  ;  inverts  now,  and  writes  atop. 

2  Ayacongh  MSS.  no.  4165,  f.  1.     On  (In-  inner  or  blank  leaf  of  this  i-uriona 
'•lil  Sheet  are  neatly  paetod  two  square  tiny  t>iu»  of  Paper  :  on  one  of  them, 
"  Fairfax  "  in   autograph  ;   on   the  other  these  wonls,  "  <;<><!   tiles*-  the  now 
I.-T-l  I'roUt-t.ir  ,      .in«l  c-rowiwise,  "  Marquis  W'..  ester  writt  it,  '  —  concern- 
ing which  Mun|uu,  ouce  "  Lord  Herbert,"  see  aotea,  p.  221.  » 

vou  xvin.  19 


290  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.  December, 

ing  Persons  go  on  as  they  are  now  doing ;  this  naturally  is 
their  wish.  Naturally  too  the  Army  Party's  wish  is  the 
reverse  of  this  :  that  a  Full  free  Parliament,  with  safety  to 
the  Godly  Interests,  and  due  subordination  of  the  Presbyterian 
and  other  factions,  should  assemble ;  but  also  that  the  present 
Governing  Persons,  with  their  red-tape  habits  unable  to  define 
an  incumbrance  in  three  months,  should  for  most  part  be  out 
of  it.  Impossible  to  shape  a  Bill  that  will  fit  both  of  these 
Parties :  Tom  Thumb  and  the  Irish  Giant,  you  cannot,  by  the 
art  of  Parliamentary  tailoring,  clip  out  a  coat  that  will  fit 
them  both !  We  can  fancy  "  conferences,"  considerations  deep 
and  almost  awful ;  my  Lord  General  looking  forward  to  possi 
bilities  that  fill  even  him  with  fear.  Puritan  Notables  they 
will  not  have ;  these  present  Governing  men  are  clear  against 
that :  not  Puritan  Notables ;  —  and  if  they  themselves,  by 
this  new  Bill  or  otherwise,  insist  on  staying  there,  what  is  to 
become  of  them  ? 

Dryasdust  laments  that  this  invaluable  Bill,  now  in  process 
of  gestation,  is  altogether  lost  to  Posterity ;  no  copy  even  of 
itself,  much  less  any  record  of  the  conferences,  debates,  or 
contemporaneous  considerations  on  it,  attainable  even  in  frac- 
tions by  mankind.  Much  is  lost,  my  erudite  friend ;  —  and  we 
must  console  ourselves !  The  substantial  essence  of  the  Bill 
oame  out  afterwards  into  full  practice,  in  Oliver's  own  Par- 
liaments. The  present  form  of  the  Bill,  I  do  clearly  perceive, 
had  one  clause,  That  all  the  Members  of  this  present  Eump 
should  continue  to  sit  without  re-election ;  and  still  better, 
another,  That  they  should  be  a  general  Election  Committee, 
and  have  power  to  say  to  every  new  Member,  "Thou  art 
dangerous,  thou  shalt  not  enter ;  go  ! "  This  clearly  in  the 
Bill :  and  not  less  clearly  that  the  Lord  General  and  Army 
Party  would  in  no  wise  have  a  Bill  with  this  in  it,  — or  indeed 
have  any  Bill  that  was  to  be  the  old  story  over  again  under 
a  new  name.  So  much,  on  good  evidence,  is  very  clear  to 
me;  —  the  rest,  which  is  all  obliterated,  becomes  not  incon- 
ceivable. Cost  what  it  may  cost,  this  Rump  Parliament,  which 
has  by  its  conduct  abundantly  "  defined  what  an  incumbrance 
is,"  shall  go  about  its  business.  Terrible  Voices,  supernal  and 


1652. 


THE   RUMP.  291 


other,  have  said  it,  awfully  enough,  in  the  hearts  of  some  men ! 
Neither  under  its  own  shabby  figure,  nor  under  another  more 
plausible,  shall  it  guide  the  Divine  Mercies  and  Miraculous 
Affairs  of  this  Nation  any  farther. 

The  last  of  all  the  conferences  was  held  at  my  Lord  General's 
house  in  Whitehall,  on  Tuesday  evening,  19th  of  April,  1653. 
Above  twenty  leading  Members  of  Parliament  present,  and 
many  Officers.  Conference  of  which  we  shall  have  some  pass- 
ing glimpse,  from  a  sure  hand,  by  and  by.1  Conference  which 
came  to  nothing,  as  all  the  others  had  done.  Your  Bill,  with 
these  clauses  and  visible  tendencies  in  it,  cannot  pass,  says  the 
one  party :  Your  Scheme  of  Puritan  Notables  seems  full  of 
danger,  says  the  other.  What  remedy  ?  "  No  remedy  except, 
—  except  that  you  leave  us  to  sit  as  we  are,  for  a  while  yet ! " 
suggest  the  Official  persons.  — "  In  no  wise ! "  answer  the 
Officers,  with  a  vehemence  of  look  and  tone,  which  my  Lord 
General,  seemingly  anxious  to  do  it,  cannot  repress.  You 
must  not,  and  cannot  sit  longer,  say  the  Officers  ;  —  and  their 
look  says  even,  Shall  not !  Bulstrode  went  home  to  Chelsea, 
very  late,  with  the  tears  in  his  big  dull  eyes,  at  thought  of  the 
courses  men  were  getting  into.  Bulstrode  and  Widdrington 
were  the  most  eager  for  sitting;  Chief-Justice  St.  John,  strange 
thing  iu  a  Constitutional  gentleman,  declared  that  there  could 
be  no  sitting  for  us  any  longer.  We  parted,  able  to  settle  on 
nothing,  except  the  engagement  to  meet  here  again  to-morrow 
morning,  and  to  leave  the  Bill  asleep  till  something  were 
settled  OH.  "  A  leading  person,"  Sir  Harry  Vane  or  another, 
undertook  that  nothing  should  be  done  in  it  till  then. 

ll'<'<lnesdfit/,  2Qtk  April,  1653.  My  Lord  General  accordingly 
is  in  his  reception-room  this  morning,  "in  plain  black  clothes 
:uul  gray  worsted  stockings;"  he,  with  many  Officers:  but 
.Uembi  r;j  have  yet  come,  though  punctual  Bulstrode  and 
certain  others  are  there.  Some  waiting  there  is;  some  im- 
patience that  the  Members  would  come.  The  Members  do  not 
come :  instead  of  Members,  comes  a  notice  that  they  are  busy 
;ig  on  with  their  Bill  in  the  House,  hurrying  it  double- 
quick  through  all  the  stages.  Possible?  New  message  that 
»  Speech,  postea ,  MC  also  Whitlocke,  p.  52'J. 


292  PART  VII.    THE  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.   80  April, 

it  will  be  Law  in  a  little  while,  if  no  interposition  take  place ! 
Bulstrode  hastens  off  to  the  House :  my  Lord  General,  at  first 
incredulous,  does  now  also  hasten  off,  —  nay  orders  that  a 
Company  of  Musketeers  of  his  own  regiment  attend  him. 
Hastens  off,  with  a  very  high  expression  of  countenance,  I 
think ;  —  saying  or  feeling :  Who  would  have  believed  it  of 
them?  "It  is  not  honest;  yea,  it  is  contrary  to  common 
honesty ! "  —  My  Lord  General,  the  big  hour  is  come ! 

Young  Colonel  Sidney,  the  celebrated  Algernon,  sat  in  the 
House  this  morning ;  a  House  of  some  Fifty-three.1  Algernon 
has  left  distinct  note  of  the  affair ;  less  distinct  we  have  from 
Bulstrode,  who  was  also  there,  who  seems  in  some  points  to 
be  even  wilfully  wrong.  Solid  Ludlow  was  far  off  in  Ireland, 
but  gathered  many  details  in  after-years;  and  faithfully 
wrote  them  down,  in  the  unappeasable  indignation  of  his 
heart.  Combining  these  three  originals,  we  have,  after  various 
perusals  and  collations  and  considerations,  obtained  the  follow- 
ing authentic,  moderately  conceivable  account : 2  — 

"  The  Parliament  sitting  as  usual,  and  being  in  debate  upon 
the  Bill  with  the  amendments,  which  it  was  thought  would 
have  been  passed  that  day,  the  Lord  General  Cromwell  came 
into  the  House,  clad  in  plain  black  clothes  and  gray  worsted 
stockings,  and  sat  down,  as  he  used  to  do,  in  an  ordinary  place." 
For  some  time  he  listens  to  this  interesting  debate  on  the  Bill ; 
beckoning  once  to  Harrison,  who  came  over  to  him,  and  an- 
swered dubitatingly.  Whereupon  the  Lord  General  sat  still, 
for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  longer.  But  now  the  question 
being  to  be  put,  That  this  Bill  do  now  pass,  he  beckons  again 
to  Harrison,  says,  "This  is  the  time;  I  must  do  it!"  —  and 
so  "rose  up,  put  off  his  hat,  and  spake.  At  the  first,  and  for 
a  good  while,  he  spake  to  the  commendation  of  the  Parliament 
for  their  pains  and  care  of  the  public  good  ;  but  afterwards  he 
changed  his  style,  told  them  of  their  injustice,  delays  of  jus- 
tice, self-interest,  and  other  faults,"  —  rising  higher  and  higher, 

1  That  is  Cromwell's  number ;  Ludlow,  far  distant,  and  not  credible  on  this 
occasion,  says  "  Eighty  or  a  Hundred." 

8  Blencowe's  Sidney  Papers  (London,  1825),  pp.  139-141;  Whitlocke,  p.  529 ; 
Ludlow,  ii.  456 ;  — the  last  two  are  reprinted  in  Parliamentary  History,  xx.  128. 


165.3.  DISMISSAL  OF  THE  RUMP.  293 

into  a  very  aggravated  style  indeed.  An  honorable  Member, 
ISir  Peter  Wentworth  by  name,  not  known  to  iny  readers,  and 
by  me  better  known  than  trusted,  rises  to  order,  as  we  phrase 
it ;  says,  "  It  is  a  strange  language  this ;  unusual  within  the 
walls  of  Parliament  this !  And  from  a  trusted  servant  too  ; 
and  one  whom  we  have  so  highly  honored ;  and  one "  — 
"  Come,  come ! "  exclaims  my  Lord  General  in  a  very  high 
key,  "we  have  had  enough  of  this," — and  in  fact  my  Lord 
General  now  blazing  all  up  into  clear  conflagration,  exclaims, 
"I  will  put  an  end  to  your  prating,"  and  steps  forth  into 
the  floor  of  the  House,  and  "  clapping  on  his  hat,"  and  oc- 
casionally "  stamping  the  floor  with  his  feet,"  begins  a  dis- 
course which  no  man  can  report !  He  says  —  Heavens  !  he 
is  heard  saying :  "  It  is  not  fit  that  you  should  sit  here  any 
longer !  You  have  sat  too  long  here  for  any  good  you  have 
been  doing  lately.  You  shall  now  give  place  to  better  men  ! 

—  call  them  in  ! "  adds  he  briefly,  to  Harrison,  in  word  of  com- 
mand :  and  "  some  twenty  or  thirty  "  grim  musketeers  enter, 
with  bullets  in  their  snaphances ;  grimly  prompt  for  orders ; 
and  stand  in  some  attitude  of  Carry -arms  there.    Veteran  men  : 
men  of  might  and  men  of  war,  their  faces  are  as  the  faces  of 
lions,  and  their  feet  are  swift  as  the  roes  upon  the  mountains  ; 

—  not  beautiful  to  honorable  gentlemen  at  this  moment ! 

"  You  call  yourselves  a  Parliament,"  continues  my  Lord 
General  in  clear  blazes  of  conflagration  :  "You  are  no  Parlia- 
ment ;  I  say  you  are  no  Parliament !  Some  of  you  are  drunk- 
ards," and  his  eye  flashes  on  poor  Mr.  Chaloner,  an  official  man 
of  some  value,  addicted  to  the  bottle ;  "  some  of  you  are  —  " 
and  he  glares  into  Harry  Marten,  and  the  poor  Sir  Peter  who 
rose  to  order,  lewd  livers  both;  "living  in  open  contempt  of 
God's  Commandments.  Following  your  own  greedy  appetites, 
and  the  Devil's  Commandments.  Corrupt  unjust  persons," 
ami  here  I  think  he  glanced  "at  Sir  Bulstrode  Whitlocke,  one 
of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal,  giving  him  and  others 
sharp  language,  though  he  named  them  not : "  —  "  Corrupt 
unjust  persons ;  scandalous  to  the  profession  of  the  Gospel: 
i-an  you  be  a  Parliament  for  God's  People  ?  Depart,  T  say  ; 
and  let  us  have  done  with  you.  ID  the  name  of  God,  —  go ! " 


294  PART  VII.    THE    LITTLE    PARLIAMENT.      20  April, 

The  House  is  of  course  all  on  its  feet,  —  uncertain  almost 
whether  not  on  its  head  :  such  a  scene  as  was  never  seen  before 
in  any  House  of  Commons.  History  reports  with  a  shudder  that 
my  Lord  General,  lifting  the  sacred  Mace  itself,  said,  "  What 
shall  we  do  with  this  bauble  ?  Take  it  away  !  "  —  and  gave  it 
to  a  musketeer.  And  now,  —  "  Fetch  him  down  ! "  says  he  to 
Harrison,  flashing  on  the  Speaker.  Speaker  Lenthall,  more  an 
ancient  Roman  than  anything  else,  declares,  He  will  not  come 
till  forced.  "  Sir,"  said  Harrison,  "  I  will  lend  you  a  hand ; " 
on  which  Speaker  Lenthall  came  down,  and  gloomily  vanished. 
They  all  vanished ;  flooding  gloomily,  clamorously  out,  to  their 
ulterior  businesses  and  respective  places  of  abode :  the  Long 
Parliament  is  dissolved  !  "  It 's  you  that  have  forced  me  to 
this,"  exclaims  my  Lord  General :  "  I  have  sought  the  Lord 
night  and  day,  that  He  would  rather  slay  me  than  put  me  upon 
the  doing  of  this  work."  At  their  going  out,  some  say  the 
Lord  General  said  to  young  Sir  Harry  Vane,  calling  him  by  his 
name,  That  he  might  have  prevented  this ;  but  that  he  was  a 
juggler,  and  had  not  common  honesty.  "Oh,  Sir  Harry  Vane," 
thou  with  thy  subtle  casuistries  and  abstruse  hair-splittings, 
thou  art  other  than  a  good  one,  I  think  !  "  The  Lord  deliver 
me  from  thee,  Sir  Harry  Vane  ! "  —  "  All  being  gone  out,  the 
door  of  the  House  was  locked,  and  the  Key  with  the  Mace,  as 
I  heard,  was  carried  away  by  Colonel  Otley  ; "  —  and  it  is  all 
over,  and  the  unspeakable  Catastrophe  has  come,  and  remains. 

Such  was  the  destructive  wrath  of  my  Lord  General  Crom- 
well against  the  Nominal  Rump  Parliament  of  England.  Wrath 
which  innumerable  mortals  since  have  accounted  extremely  dia- 
bolic ;  which  some  now  begin  to  account  partly  divine.  Divine 
or  diabolic,  it  is  an  indisputable  fact ;  left  for  the  commentaries 
of  men.  The  Rump  Parliament  has  gone  its  ways  ;  —  and 
truly,  except  it  be  in  their  own,  I  know  not  in  what  eyes  are 
tears  at  their  departure.  They  went  very  softly,  softly  as  a 
Dream,  say  all  witnesses.  "  We  did  not  hear  a  dog  bark  at 
their  going !  "  asserts  my  Lord  General  elsewhere. 

It  is  said,  my  Lord  General  did  not,  on  his  entrance  into  the 
House,  contemplate  quite  as  a  certainty  this  strong  measure; 


166-3.  LETTER  CLXXXVIIJ.    WHITEHALL.  295 

but  it  came  upon  him  like  an  irresistible  impulse,  or  inspira- 
tion, as  he  heard  their  Parliamentary  eloquence  proceed. 
"  Perceiving  the  spirit  of  God  so  strong  upon  me,  I  would  no 
longer  consult  flesh  and  blood."  1  He  has  done  it,  at  all  events ; 
and  is  responsible  for  the  results  it  may  have.  A  responsi- 
bility which  he,  as  well  as  most  of  us,  knows  to  be  awful :  but 
he  fancies  it  was  in  answer  to  the  English  Nation,  and  to  the 
Maker  of  the  English  Nation  and  of  him;  and  he  will  do  the 
best  he  may  with  it. 


LETTER  CLXXXVIII. 

WE  have  to  add  here  an  Official  Letter,  of  small  significance 
in  itself,  but  curious  for  its  date,  the  Saturday  after  this  great 
Transaction,  and  for  the  other  indications  it  gives.  Except  the 
Lord  General,  "  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  the  Forces  raised 
and  to  be  raised,"  there  is  for  the  moment  no  Authority  very 
clearly  on  foot  in  England; — though  Judges,  and  all  manner 
of  Authorities  whatsoever  do,  after  some  little  preliminary 
parleying,  consent  to  go  on  as  before. 

The  Draining  of  the  Fens  had  been  resumed  under  better 
auspices  when  the  War  ended ; 2  and  a  new  Company  of  Ad- 
venturers, among  whom  Oliver  himself  is  one,  are  vigorously 
proceeding  with  a  New  Bedford  Level,  —  the  same  that  yet 
continues.  A  "  Petition  "  of  theirs,  addressed  "  To  the  Lord 
General,"  in  these  hasty  hours,  sets  forth  that  upon  the  "  UOth 
of  this  instant  April  [exactly  while  Oliver  was  turning  out  the 
Parliament],  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  persons,"  from  the 
' l'<> \vns  of  Swaffham  and  Botsharn, —  which  Towns  had  peti- 
tioned about  certain  rights  of  theirs,  and  got  clear  promise  of 
redress  in  fit  time, — did  "  tumultuously  assemble,"  to  seek 
redress  for  themselves ;  did  "  by  force  expel  your  Petitioners' 
workmen  from  their  diking  and  working  in  the  said  Fens ;"  did 

1  Godwin,  iii.  456  (who  cites  Kchanl  :  n»t  much  of  un  Authority  in  each 
Mtten). 

3  Act  for  that  object  (Scubell,  ii.  33),  29th  May,  1649. 


PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.     23  April, 

tumble  in  again  "the  dikes  by  them  made  ;"  and  in  fine  did 
peremptorily  signify  that  if  they  or  any  other  came  again  to 
dike  in  these  Fens,  it  would  be  worse  for  them.  "The  evil 
effects  of  which  "  —  are  very  apparent  indeed.  Whereupon 
this  Official  Letter,  or  Warrant ;  written  doubtless  in  the  press 
of  much  other  business. 

[  To  Mr.  Parker,  Agent  for  the  Company  of  Adventurers  for 
Draining  the  Great  Level  of  the  Fens.~\ 

"  [WHITEHALL],  23d  April,  1653. 

"  MR  PARKER,  —  I  hear  some  unruly  persons  have  lately 
committed  great  outrages  in  Cambridgeshire,  about  Swaffham 
and  Botsharn,  in  throwing  down  the  works  making  by  the 
Adventurers,  and  menacing  those  they  employ  thereabout. 
Wherefore  I  desire  you  to  send  one  of  my  Troops,  with  a  Cap- 
tain, who  may  by  all  means  persuade  the  people  to  quiet,  by 
letting  them  know,  They  must  not  riotously  do  anything,  for 
that  must  not  be  suffered :  but  [that]  if  there  be  any  wrong 
done  by  the  Adventurers,  —  upon  complaint,  such  course  shall 
be  taken  as  appertains  to  justice,  and  right  will  be  done.  I  rest, 
"  Your  loving  friend, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  l 

The  Declaration  of  the  Lord  General  and  his  Council  of  Offi- 
cers?  which  came  out  on  the  Friday  following  the  grand  Catas- 
trophe, does  not  seem  to  be  of  Oliver's  composition  :  it  is  a 
Narrative  of  calm  pious  tone,  of  considerable  length ;  promises, 
as  a  second  Declaration  still  more  explicitly  does,8  a  Real  As- 
sembly of  the  Puritan  Notables  ;  —  and,  on  the  whole,  can  be 
imagined  by  the  reader ;  nay  we  shall  hear  the  entire  substance 
of  it  from  Oliver's  own  mouth,  before  long.  These  Declara- 
tions and  other  details  we  omit.  Conceive  that  all  manner  of 
Authorities,  with  or  without  some  little  preambling,  agree  to 
go  on  as  heretofore;  that  adherences  arrive  from  Land-Gen- 
erals and  Sea-Generals  by  return  of  post ;  that  the  old  Council 

1  From  the  Records  of  the  Fen  Office,  in  Sergeants'  Inn,  London  ;  commu- 
nicated with  other  Papers  relating  thereto,  by  Samuel  Wells,  Esq. 

2  22d  April,  Crotiiwetitaita,  p.  120.  8  30th  April,  ibid.  p.  122. 


SUMMONS.  297 

of  State  having  vanished  with  its  Mother,  a  new  Interim 
Council  of  State,  with  "  Oliver  Cromwell,  Captain  General,"  at 
the  head  of  it,  answers  equally  well ;  in  a  word,  that  all  people 
are  looking  eagerly  forward  to  those  same  "  Known  Persons, 
Men  fearing  God,  and  of  approved  Integrity,"  who  are  now 
to  be  got  together  from  all  quarters  of  England,  to  say  what 
flail  be  done  with  this  Commonwealth,  —  whom  there  is  now 
!in  Fag-end  of  a  corrupt  Parliament  to  prevent  just  men  from 
choosing  with  their  best  ability.  Conceive  all  this;  and  read 
the  following 

SUMMONS. 
"  To . 


"  FORASMUCH  as,  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  late  Parliament, 
it  became  necessary  that  the  peace,  safety  and  good  govern- 
ment of  this  Commonwealth  should  be  provided  for :  And  in 
order  thereunto,  divers  Persons  fearing  God,  and  of  approved 
Fidelity  and  Honesty,  are,  by  myself  with  the  advice  of  my 
Council  of  Officers,  nominated  ;  to  whom  the  great  charge  and 
trust  of  so  weighty  affairs  is  to  be  committed :  And  having 
good  assurance  of  your  love  to,  and  courage  for,  God  and  the 
interest  of  His  Cause,  and  [that]  of  the  good  People  of  this 
Commonwealth  j 

<:  I,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Captain  General  and  Commander-in- 
fhipf  of  all  the  Armies  and  Forces  raised  and  to  be  raised 
\\ithin  this  Commonwealth,  do  hereby  summon  and  require 

V'ou, ,  being  one  of  the  Persons  nominated,  —  Per- 

nn.illy  to  be  and  appear  at  the  Council-Chamber,  commonly 
known  or  called  by  the  name  of  the  Council-Chamber  at  White- 
lull,  within  the  City  of  Westminster,  upon  the  Fourth  day  of 
July  next  ensuing  the  date  hereof;  Then  and  there  to  take 
upon  you  the  said  Trust ;  unto  which  you  are  hereby  called, 

and  appointed  to  serve  as  a  Member  for  the  County  of . 

And  hereof  you  are  not  to  fail. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  the  6th  day  of  June,  1663. 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 

(in  CromvoeUiana,  p  125). 


298  PAKT  VII.    THE  LITTLE  PAKLIAMENT.        4  July, 


SPEECH   FIEST. 

A  HUNDRED  and  forty  of  these  Summonses  were  issued; 
and  of  all  the  Parties  so  summoned,  "  only  two "  did  not  at- 
tend. Disconsolate  Bulstrode  says,  "  Many  of  this  Assembly 
being  persons  of  fortune  and  knowledge,  it  was  much  wondered 
at  by  some  that  they  would,  at  this  Summons,  and  from  such 
hands,  take  upon  them  the  Supreme  Authority  of  this  Nation : 
considering  how  little  right  Cromwell  and  his  Officers  had  to 
give  it,  or  those  Gentlemen  to  take  it."  l  My  disconsolate 
friend,  it  is  a  sign  that  Puritan  England  in  general  accepts 
this  action  of  Cromwell  and  his  Officers,  and  thanks  them  for 
it,  in  such  a  case  of  extremity  ;  saying  as  audibly  as  the  means 
permitted  :  Yea,  we  did  wish  it  so  !  Rather  mournful  to  the 
disconsolate  official  mind  !  —  Lord  Clarendon  again,  writing 
with  much  latitude,  has  characterized  this  Convention  as  con- 
taining in  it  "  divers  Gentlemen  who  had  estates,  and  such  a 
proportion  of  credit "  in  the  world  as  might  give  some  color  to 
the  business  ;  but  consisting,  on  the  whole,  of  a  very  miserable 
beggarly  sort  of  persons,  acquainted  with  nothing  but  the  art 
of  praying ;  "  artificers  of  the  meanest  trades,"  if  they  even 
had  any  trade  :  —  all  which  the  reader  shall,  if  he  please,  add 
to  the  general  $rMawo-mountains,  and  pass  on  not  regarding. 

The  undeniable  fact  is,  these  men  were,  as  Whitlocke  inti- 
mates, a  quite  reputable  Assembly;  got  together  by  anxious 
"  consultation  of  the  godly  Clergy"  and  chief  Puritan  lights  in 
their  respective  Counties  ;  not  without  much  earnest  revision, 
and  solemn  consideration  in  all  kinds,  on  the  part  of  men 
adequate  enough  for  such  a  work,  and  desirous  enough  to  do 
it  well.  The  List  of  the  Assembly  exists ; 2  not  yet  entirely 
gone  dark  for  mankind.  A  fair  proportion  of  them  still  recog- 
nizable to  mankind.  Actual  Peers  one  or  two :  founders  of 
Peerage  Families  two  or  three,  which  still  exist  among  us,  — 

1  Whitlocke,  p.  534.  2  Somer$  Tracts,  i.  216. 


1(553. 


SPEECH  t.  299 


Colonel  Edward  Montague,  Colonel  Charles  Howard,  Anthony 
Ashley  Cooper.  And,  better  than  King's  Peers,  certain  Peers 
of  Nature  ;  whom  if  not  the  King  and  his  pasteboard  Norroys 
have  had  the  luck  to  make  Peers  of,  the  living  heart  of  Eng- 
land has  since  raised  to  the  Peerage,  and  means  to  keep  there, 
—  Colonel  Robert  Blake  the  Sea-King,  for  one.  "  Known  per- 
sons," I  do  think  ;  "  of  approved  integrity,  men  fearing  God ;  " 
and  perhaps  not  entirely  destitute  of  sense  any  one  of  them  ! 
Truly  it  seems  rather  a  distinguished  Parliament,  —  even 
though  Mr.  Praisegod  Barbone,  "  the  Leather-merchant  in 
Fleet  Street,"  be,  as  all  mortals  must  admit,  a  member  of  it. 
The  fault,  I  hope,  is  forgivable  !  Praisegod,  though  he  deals 
in  leather,  and  has  a  name  which  can  be  misspelt,  one  discerns 
to  be  the  son  of  pious  parents ;  to  be  himself  a  man  of  piety, 
of  understanding  and  weight,  —  and  even  of  considerable  pri- 
vate capital,  my  witty  flunky  friends !  We  will  leave  Praise- 
i:od  to  do  the  best  he  can,  I  think.  —  And  old  Francis  Rouse 
is  there  from  Devonshire ;  once  member  for  Truro ;  Provost 
of  Eton  College ;  whom  by  and  by  they  make  Speaker ;  — 
whose  Psalms  the  Northern  Kirks  still  sing.  Richard  Mayor 
of  Hursley  is  there,  and  even  idle  Dick  Norton;  Alexander 
Jaffnvy  of  Aberdeen,  Laird  Swinton  of  the  College  of  Justice 
in  Edinburgh ;  Alderman  Ireton,  brother  of  the  late  Lord 
Deputy,  colleague  of  Praisegod  in  London.  In  fact,  a  real 
A  nibly  of  the  Notables  in  Puritan  England;  a  Parliament, 
J'nrfiamentum,  or  real  Speaking- Apparatus  for  the  now  domi- 
nant Interest  in  England,  as  exact  as  could  well  be  got, — 
much  more  exact,  I  suppose,  than  any  ballot-box,  free  hustings 
or  alt'-l>arrel  election  usually  yields. 

Such  is  the  Assembly  called  the  Little  Parliament,  and  wit- 
tily /.'<//••  •/""» •*'«  Parliament;  which  meets  on  the  4th  of  July. 
Their  witty  name  survives ;  but  their  history  is  gone  all  dark ; 
and  no  man.  for  the  present,  has  in  his  head  or  in  his  heart 
the  f airitest  intimation  of  what  they  did,  or  what  they  aimed 
ID  «!<>.  Th.'V  are  very  dark  to  us;  and  will  never  be  illumi- 
nated much!  Here  is  one  glance  of  them  face  to  face;  here 
in  this  Speech  of  Oliver's.  —  if  we  can  read  it,  and  listen 
along  with  them  to  it.  There  is  this  one  glance ;  and  for  six 


300  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

generations,  we  may  say,  in  the  English  mind  there  has  not 
been  another. 

Listening  from  a  distance  of  two  Centuries,  across  the 
Death-chasms  and  howling  kingdoms  of  Decay,  it  is  not  easy 
to  catch  everything  !  But  let  us  faithfully  do  the  best  we  can. 
Having  once  packed  Dryasdust,  and  his  unedifying  cries  of 
"  Nonsense  !  Mere  hypocrisy  !  Ambitious  dupery  ! "  &c.  &c., 
about  his  business  ;  closed  him  safe  under  hatches,  and  got 
silence  established,  —  we  shall  perhaps  hear  a  word  or  two  ; 
have  a  real  glimpse  or  two  of  things  long  vanished ;  and  see 
for  moments  this  fabulous  Barebones's  Parliament  itself,  stand- 
ing dim  in  the  heart  of  the  extinct  Centuries,  as  a  recognizable 
fact,  once  flesh  and  blood,  now  air  and  memory ;  not  untragical 
to  us. 

Read  this  first,  from  the  old  Newspapers;  and  then  the 
Speech  itself,  which  a  laborious  Editor  has,  with  all  industry, 
copied  and  corrected  from  Two  Contemporaneous  lleports  by 
different  hands,  and  various  editions  of  these.  Note,  however  : 
The  Italic  sentences  in  brackets,  most  part  of  which,  and  yet 
perhaps  not  enough  of  which  I  have  suppressed,  are  evidently 
by  an  altogether  modern  hand ! 

"July  4th,  1653.  This  being  the  day  appointed,  by  the 
Letters  of  Summons  from  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General, 
for  the  meeting  of  the  Persons  called  to  the  Supreme  Au- 
thority, there  came  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  of  them  to 
the  Council-Chamber  in  Whitehall.  After  each  person  had 
given  in  a  Ticket  of  his  Name,  they  all  entered  the  room, 
and  sat  down  in  chairs  appointed  for  them,  round  about  the 
table.  Then  his  Excellency  the  Lord  General,  standing  by 
the  window  opposite  to  the  middle  of  the  table,  and  as  many 
of  the  Officers  of  the  Army  as  the  room  could  well  contain, 
some  on  his  right  hand,  and  others  on  his  left,  and  about  him, 
—  made  the  following  Speech  to  the  Assembly  : "  — 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  I  suppose  the  Summons  that  hath  been 
instrumental  to  bring  you  hither  gives  you  well  to  understand 
the  occasion  of  your  being  here.  Howbeit,  I  have  something 
farther  to  impart  to  you,  which  is  an  Instrument  drawn  up  by 


J.J.M.  SPEECH  I.  301 

the  consent  and  advice  of  the  principal  Officers  of  the  Army  ; 
which  is  a  little  (as  we  conceive)  more  significant  than  the 
Letter  of  the  Summons.  We  have  that  here  to  tender  you ; 
and  somewhat  likewise  to  say  farther  for  our  own  exonera- 
tion ; 1  which  we  hope  may  be  somewhat  farther  for  your 
satisfaction.  And  withal  seeing  you  sit  here  somewhat  un- 
easily by  reason  of  the  scantness  of  the  room  and  heat  of  the 
weather,  I  shall  contract  myself  with  respect  thereunto. 

"We  have  not  thought  it  amiss  a  little  to  remind  you  of 
that  Series  of  Providences  wherein  the  Lord  hath  appeared, 
dispensing  wonderful  things  to  these  Nations  from  the  begin- 
ning of  our  Troubles  to  this  very  day. 

"  If  I  should  look  much  backward,  we  might  remind  you  of 
the  state  of  affairs  as  they  were  before  the  Short,  that  is  the 
last,  Parliament,  —  in  what  posture  the  things  of  this  Nation 
then  stood :  but  they  do  so  well,  I  presume,  occur  to  all  your 
memories  and  knowledge,  that  I  shall  not  need  to  look  so  far 
backward.  Nor  yet  to  those  hostile  occasions  which  arose  be- 
tween the  King  that  was  and  the  Parliament 2  that  then  fol- 
lowed. And  indeed,  should  I  begin  much  later,  the  things 
that  would  fall  very  necessarily  before  you,  would  rather  be 
for  a  History  than  for  a  verbal  Discourse  at  this  present. 

"  But  thus  far  we  may  look  back.  You  very  well  know,  it 
pleased  God,  much  about  the  midst  of  this  War,  to  winnow 
(if  I  may  so  say)  the  Forces  of  this  Nation ; 8  and  to  put  them 
into  the  hands  of  other  men  of  other  principles  than  those 
that  did  engage  at  the  first.  By  what  ways  and  means  that 
was  brought  about,  would  ask  more  time  than  is  allotted  me 
to  mind  you  of  it.  Indeed,  there  are  Stories  that  do  recite 
Transactions,  and  give  you  narratives  of  matters  of  fact : 
but  those  things  wherein  the  life  and  power  of  them  lay  ; 
those  strange  windings  and  turnings  of  Providence ;  those 
very  great  appearances  of  God,  in  crossing  and  thwarting  the 

1  "exoneration"  doea  not  here  mean  "excuue"  or  "shifting  away  of 
Mann-,"  I. ut  mere  laying  down  of  office  with  due  form. 

•  Tin   LOIIK  Parliament. 

•  Self-denying  Ordinance;  beginning  of  1645    «ee  vul  xvil.  p.  188  et  seq. 


302  PART  VII.    THE  LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

purposes  of  men,  that  He  might  raise  up  a  poor  and  contempt- 
ible company  of  men,1  neither  versed  in  military  affairs,  nor 
having  much  natural  propensity  to  them  [into  wonderful  suc- 
cess — !].  Simply  by  their  owning  a  Principle  of  Godliness 
and  Religion ;  which  so  soon  as  it  came  to  be  owned,  and  the 
state  of  affairs  put  upon  the  foot  of  that  account,2  how  God 
blessed  them,  furthering  all  undertakings,  yet  using  the  most 
improbable  and  the  most  contemptible  and  despicable  means 
(for  that  we  shall  ever  own) :  is  very  well  known  to  you. 

"What  the  several  Successes  and  Issues  have  been,  is  not 
fit  to  mention  at  this  time  neither;  —  though  I  confess  I 
thought  to  have  enlarged  myself  upon  that  subject ;  foras- 
much as  Considering  the  works  of  God,  and  the  operations  of 
His  hands,  is  a  principal  part  of  our  duty ;  and  a  great  en- 
couragement to  the  strengthening  of  our  hands  and  of  our 
faith,  for  that  which  is  behind.8  And  among  other  ends 
which  those  marvellous  Dispensations  have  been  given  us  for, 
that 's  a  principal  end,  which  ought  to  be  minded  by  us. 

"  [Certainly]  in  this  revolution  of  affairs,  as  the  issue  of 
those  Successes  which  God  was  pleased  to  give  to  the  Army, 
and  [to]  the  Authority  that  then  stood,  there  were  very  great 
things  brought  about ;  —  besides  those  dints  that  came  upon 
the  Nations  4  and  places  where  the  War  itself  was,  very  great 
things  in  Civil  matters  too.  [As  first,]  the  bringing  of  Of- 
fenders to  justice,  —  and  the  Greatest  of  them.  Bringing  of 
the  State  of  this  Government  to  the  name  (at  least)  of  a  Com- 
monwealth. Searching  and  sifting  of  all  persons  and  places. 
The  King  removed,  and  brought  to  justice ;  and  many  great 
ones  with  him.  The  House  of  Peers  laid  aside.  The  House 
of  Commons  itself,  the  representative  of  the  People  of  Eng- 
land, winnowed,  sifted,  and  brought  to  a  handful ;  as  you  very 
well  remember. 

"  And  truly  God  would  not  rest  there  :  —  for,  by  the  way, 
although  it 's  fit  for  us  to  ascribe  5  our  failings  and  miscar- 
riages to  ourselves,  yet  the  gloriousness  of  the  work  may  well 

1  Fairfax's  Army.  2  upon  that  footing. 

8  still  to  come.  *  England,  Ireland,  Scotland. 

'  "  intitle  "  in  orig. 


1653. 


SPEECH  I.  303 


be  attributed  to  God  Himself,  and  may  be  called  His  strange 
work.  You  remember  well  that  at  the  Change  of  the  Govern- 
ment there  was  not  an  end  of  our  Troubles,  [JVo  /]  —  although 
in  that  year  were  such  high  things  transacted  as  indeed  made 
it  to  be  the  most  memorable  year  (I  mean  the  Year  1648)  that 
this  Nation  ever  saw.  So  many  Insurrections,1  Invasions, 
secret  Designs,  open  and  public  Attempts,  all  quashed  in  so 
short  a  time,  and  this  by  the  very  signal  appearance  of  God 
Himself ;  which,  I  hope,  we  shall  never  forget !  —  You  know 
also,  as  I  said  before,  that,  as  the  first  effect  of  that  memorable 
year  of  1648  was  to  lay  a  foundation,  by  bringing  Offenders  to 
Punishment,  so  it  brought  us  likewise  to  the  Change  of  Govern- 
ment :  —  although  it  were  worth  the  time  [perhaps,  if  one  had 
time],  to  speak  of  the  carriage  of  some  in  places  of  trust, 
in  most  eminent  places  of  trust,  which  was  such  as  (had  not 
God  miraculously  appeared)  would  have  frustrated  us  of  the 
hopes  of  all  our  undertakings.  I  mean  by  the  closure  of  the 
Treaty  that  was  endeavored  with  the  King;2  whereby  they 
would  have  put  into  his  hands  all  that  we  had  engaged  for, 
and  all  our  security  should  have  been  a  little  piece  of  Paper ! 
That  tiling  going  off,  you  very  well  know  how  it  kept  this 
Nation  still  in  broils  by  sea  and  land.  And  yet  what  God 
wrought  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  you  likewise  know  ;  until  He 
had  finished  these  Troubles,  upon  the  matter,8  by  His  marvel- 
lous  salvation  wrought  at  Worcester. 

"  I  confess  to  you,  that  I  am  very  much  troubled  in  my  own 
spirit  that  the  necessity  of  affairs  requires  I  should  be  so  short 
in  those  things:  because,  as  I  told  you,  this  is  the  faim-nf  part. 
of  the  Transactions,  this  mere  historical  Narrative  of  tin-in  ; 
t  here  being  in  every  particular ;  in  the  King's  first  going  from 
the  Parliament,  in  the  pulling  down  of  the  Bishops,  the  House 
of  1'eers,  in  every  step  towards  that  Change  of  the  Government, 
—  I  say  there  is  not  any  one  of  these  things,  thus  removed  and 

1  Kent,  St.  Neot's,  Colchester,  Welsh  Poyer  at  Pembroke,  Scotch  H:imi]t..n 
at  Preston,  4c.  &«. 

2  Treaty  of  the  Lde  of  Wight,  again  and  again  endeavored. 

*  Mean*  "  so  to  speak  ; "  a  common  phrase  of  those  times ;  a  perpetual  one 
with  Clarendon,  for  instance. 


304          PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.        4  Julj, 

reformed,  but  hath  an  evident  print  of  Providence  set  upon  it, 
so  that  he  who  runs  may  read  it.  I  am  sorry  I  have  not  an 
opportunity  to  be  more  particular  on  these  points,  which  I 
principally  designed,  this  day  ;  thereby  to  stir  up  your  hearts 
and  mine  to  gratitude  and  confidence. 

"  I  shall  now  begin  a  little  to  remind  you  of  the  passages 
that  have  been  transacted  since  Worcester.  Coming  from 
whence,  with  the  rest  of  my  fellow  Officers  and  Soldiers,  we 
did  expect,  and  had  some  reasonable  confidence  our  expecta- 
tions would  not  be  frustrated,  That,  having  such  an  history  to 
*ook  back  unto,  such  a  God,  so  eminently  visible,  even  our 
enemies  confessing  that  '  God  Himself  was  certainly  engaged 
against  them,  else  they  should  never  have  been  disappointed 
in  every  engagement,'  —  and  that  may  be  used  by  the  way, 
That  if  we  had  but  miscarried  in  the  least,1  all  our  former 
mercies  were  in  danger  to  be  lost :  —  I  say,  coming  up  then, 
we  had  some  confidence  That  the  mercies  God  had  shown,  and 
the  expectations  which  were  upon  our  hearts,  and  upon  the 
hearts  of  all  good  men,  would  have  prompted  those  who  were 
in  Authority  to  do  those  good  things  which  might,  by  honest 
men,  have  been  judged  fit  for  such  a  God,  and  worthy  of  such 
mercies ;  and  indeed  been  a  discharge  of  duty  from  those  to 
\vhom  all  these  mercies  had  been  shown,  for  the  true  interest 
of  this  Nation !  [Yes  /]  —  If  I  should  now  labor  to  be  particu- 
lar in  enumerating  how  businesses  have  been  transacted  from 
that  time  to  the  Dissolution  of  the  late  Parliament,  indeed  I 
should  be  upon  a  theme  which  would  be  troublesome  to  myself. 
For  I  think  I  may  say  for  myself  and  my  fellow  Officers,  That 
we  have  rather  desired  and  studied  Healing  and  Looking-for- 
ward  than  to  rake  into  sores  and  to  look  backward,  —  to  give 
things  forth  in  those  colors  that  would  not  be  very  pleasing  to 
any  good  eye  to  look  upon.  Only  this  we  shall  say  for  our 
own  vindication,  as  pointing  out  the  ground  for  that  unavoid- 
able necessity,  nay  even  that  duty  that  was  incumbent  upon 
us,  to  make  this  last  great  Change  —  I  think  it  will  not  be 
amiss  to  offer  a  word  or  two  to  that.  [Hear,  hearf]  As  I 

1  lost  one  battle  of  these  many. 


JI553. 


SPEECH  I.  305 


said  before,  we  are  loath  to  rake  into  businesses,  were  there 
not  a  necessity  so  to  do. 

"  Indeed,  we  may  say  that,  ever  since  the  coming  up  of  my- 
self and  those  Gentlemen  who  have  been  engaged  in  the  mili- 
part,  it  hath  been  full  in  our  hearts  and  thoughts,  To 
desire  and  use  all  the  fair  and  lawful  means  we  could  to  have 
the  Nation  reap  the  fruit  of  all  the  blood  and  treasure  that 
had  been  spent  in  this  Cause:  and  we  have  had  many  desires, 
and  thirstings  in  our  spirits,  to  find  out  ways  and  means 
wherein  we  might  be  anywise  instrumental  to  help  it  forward. 
We  were  very  tender,  for  a  long  time,  so  much  as  to  petition. 
For  some  of  the  Officers  being  Members  ;  and  others  having 
very  good  acquaintance  with,  and  some  relations  to,  divers 
Members  of  Parliament,  —  we  did,  from  time  to  time,  solicit 
such  ;  thinking  if  there  had  been  nobody  to  prompt  them,  nor 
call  upon  them,  these  things  might  have  been  attended  to, 
from  ingenuity  *  and  integrity  in  those  that  had  it  in  their 
power  to  answer  such  expectations. 

"  Truly,  when  we  saw  nothing  would  be  done,  we  did,  as  we 
thought  according  to  our  duty,  a  little,  to  remind  them  by  a 
Petition;  which  I  suppose  you  have  seen  :  it  was  delivered,  as 
I  remember,  in  August  last.2  What  effect  that  had,  is  like- 
wise very  well  known.  The  truth  is,  we  had  no  return  at  all 
for  our  satisfaction,  —  a  few  words  given  us  ;  the  things  pre- 
sented by  us,  or  the  most  of  them,  we  were  told  '  were  under 
consideration  :  '  and  those  not  presented  by  us  had  very  little 
or  no  consideration  at  all.  Finding  the  People  dissatisfied  in 
every  corner  of  the  Nation,  and  [all  men]  laying  at  our  doors 
th.-  non-performance  of  these  things,  which  had  been  promised, 
and  were  of  duty  to  be  performed,  —  truly  we  did  then  think 
ourselves  concerned,  if  we  would  (as  becomes  honest  men) 
keep  up  the  reputation  of  honest  men  in  the  world.  And 
therefore  we,  divers  times,  endeavored  to  obtain  meetings 
wiili  divers  Members  of  Parliament;  —  and  we  did  not  begin 
those  till  about  October  last.  And  in  these  meetings  we  did, 
with  all  faithfulness  and  sincerity,  beseech  them  that  they 


C'ommoru  Journal*,  vii.  164  (13th  August,  1652) 

VOL.  XVIII.  20 


306  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE    PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

would  be  mindful  of  their  duty  to  God  and  men,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  the  trust  reposed  in  them.  I  believe  (as  there  are 
many  gentlemen  here  know),  we  had  at  least  ten  or  twelve 
meetings ;  most  humbly  begging  and  beseeching  of  them,  That 
by  their  own  means  they  would  bring  forth  those  good  things 
which  had  been  promised  and  expected ;  that  so  it  might  ap- 
pear they  did  not  do  them  by  any  suggestion  from  the  Army, 
but  from  their  own  ingenuity :  so  tender  were  we  to  preserve 
them  in  the  reputation  of  the  People.  Having  had  very  many 
of  those  meetings ;  and  declaring  plainly  that  the  issue  would 
be  the  displeasure  and  judgment  of  God,  the  dissatisfaction 
of  the  People,  the  putting  of  [all]  things  into  a  confusion  : 
yet  how  little  we  prevailed,  we  very  well  know,  and  we  believe 
it 's  not  unknown  to  you. 

"  At  last,  when  indeed  we  saw  that  things  would  not  be  laid 
to  heart,  we  had  a  very  serious  consideration  among  ourselves 
what  other  ways  to  have  recourse  unto  [  Yea,  that  is  the  ques- 
tion /] ;  and  when  we  grew  to  more  closer  considerations,  then 
they  [the  Parliament  men]  began  to  take  the  Act  for  a  Repre- 
sentative l  to  heart,  and  seemed  exceeding  willing  to  put  it  on. 
And  had  it  been  done  with  integrity,  there  could  nothing  have 
happened  more  welcome  to  our  judgments  than  that.  But 
plainly  the  intention  was,  Not  to  give  the  People  a  right  of 
choice ;  it  would  have  been  but  a  seeming  right :  that  [sem- 
blance] of  giving  them  a  choice  was  only  to  recruit  the  House, 
the  better  to  perpetuate  themselves.  And  truly,  having  been, 
divers  of  us,  spoken  unto  to  give  way  hereunto,  to  which  we 
made  perpetual  aversions,  indeed  abominating  the  thoughts  of 
it,  —  we  declared  our  judgments  against  it,  and  our  dissatisfac- 
tion with  it.  And  yet  they  that  would  not  hear  of  a  Repre- 
sentative formerly,  when  it  lay  three  years  before  them,  without 
proceeding  one  line,  or  making  any  considerable  progress,  — 
I  say,  those  that  would  not  hear  of  this  Bill  formerly,  did 
now,  when  they  saw  us  falling  into  more  closer  considerations, 
make,  instead  of  protracting  their  Bill,  as  much  preposterous 
haste  with  it  on  the  other  side,  and  run  into  that  [opposite] 
extremity. 

1  For  a  New  Parliament  and  Method  of  Election. 


1953.  SPEECH  I.  307 

"  Finding  that  this  spirit  was  not  according  to  God ;  and 
that  the  whole  weight  of  this  Cause  —  which  must  needs 
be  very  dear  unto  us  who  had  so  often  adventured  our  lives 
for  it,  and  we  believe  it  was  so  to  you  —  did  hang  upon  the 
business  now  in  hand;  and  seeing  plainly  that  there  was 
not  here  any  consideration  to  assert  this  Cause,  or  provide 
security  for  it,  but  only  to  cross  the  troublesome  people  of 
the  Army,  who  by  this  time  were  high  enough  in  their  dis- 
pleasures :  Truly,  I  say,  when  we  saw  all  this,  having  power 
in  our  hands  [we  could  not  resolve]  to  let  such  monstrous 
proceedings  go  on,  and  so  to  throw  away  all  our  liberties 
into  the  hands  of  those  whom  we  had  fought  against  [Pres- 
byterian-Royalists  ;  at  Preston  and  elsewhere,  —  "fought  against" 
yea  and  beaten  to  ruin,  your  Excellency  might  add  /]  ;  we  came, 
first,  to  this  conclusion  among  ourselves,  That  if  we  had  been 
fought  out  of  our  liberties  and  rights,  Necessity  would  have 
taught  us  patience ;  but  that  to  deliver  them  [sluggishly] 
up  would  render  us  the  basest  persons  in  the  world,  and 
worthy  to  be  accounted  haters  of  God  and  of  His  People. 
\Vlnn  it  pleased  God  to  lay  this  close  to  our  hearts;  and 
indeed  to  show  us  that  the  interest  of  His  People  was  grown 
dii'ap,  [that  it  was]  not  at  all  laid  to  heart,  but  that  if  things 
came  to  real  comj>etition,  His  Cause,  even  among  themselves, 
would  also  in  every  point  go  to  the  ground :  indeed,  this  did 
a- Id  nr.Tc  considerations  to  us,  That  there  was  a  duty  incum- 
Ix'iit  upon  us  [even  upon  us].  And  —  I  speak  here  in  the 
presence  of  some  that  were  at  the  closure  of  our  consultations, 
and  as  before  the  Lord  —  the  thinking  of  an  act  of  violence 
\v;is  to  us  worse  than  any  battle  that  ever  we  were  in,  or  that 
could  be,  to  the  utmost  hazard  of  our  lives  [Hear  himf]  :  so 
willing  were  we,  even  very  tender  and  desirous,  if  possible, 
that  these  men  might  quit  their  places  with  honor. 

"  I  am  the  longer  upon  this ;  because  it  hath  been  in  our 
own  hearts  and  consciences,  justifying  us,  and  hath  never 
been  yet  thoroughly  imparted  to  any ;  and  we  had  rather 
i  with  y>u  than  have  done  it  before; — and  do  think 
indeed  that  this  Transaction  is  moiv  proper  for  a  verbal  com- 
munication than  to  have  it  put  into  writing.  I  doubt,  he  whose 


308  PART  VII.    THE  LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

pen  is  most  gentle  in  England  would,  in  recording  that,  have 
been  tempted,  whether  he  would  or  no,  to  dip  it  deep  in  anger 
and  Avrath.  [Stifled  cries  from  Dryasdust.'] — But  affairs  be- 
ing at  this  posture ;  we  seeing  plainly,  even  in  some  critical 
cases,1  that  the  Cause  of  the  People  of  God  was  a  despised 
thing ;  —  truly  we  did  believe  then  that  the  hands  of  other 
nieu  [than  these]  must  be  the  hands  to  be  used  for  the  work. 
And  we  thought  then,  it  was  very  high  time  to  look  about  us, 
and  to  be  sensible  of  our  duty.  [Oliver's  voice  somewhat  ris- 
ing;  Major- General  Harrison  and  the  others  looking  rather 
animated  /] 

"  If,  I  say,  I  should  take  up  your  time  to  tell  you  what  in- 
stances we  have  to  satisfy  our  judgments  and  consciences, 
That  these  are  not  vain  imaginations,  nor  things  fictitious, 
but  which  fell  within  the  compass  of  our  own  certain  knowl- 
edge, it,  would  bring  me,  I  say,  to  what  I  would  avoid,  to  rake 
into  these  things  too  much.  Only  this.  If  anybody  was  in 
competition  for  any  place  of  real  and  signal  trust,  [if  any 
really  public  interest  was  at  stake  in  that  Parliament,]  how 
hard  and  difficult  a  matter  was  it  to  get  anything  carried 
without  making  parties,  —  without  practices  *  indeed  unworthy 
of  a  Parliament !  When  things  must  be  carried  so  in  a  Su- 
preme Authority,  indeed  I  think  it  is  not  as  it  ought  to  be, 
to  say  no  worse  [Nor  do  I~\  \  — Then,  when  we  came  to  other 
trials,  as  in  that  case  of  Wales  [of  establishing  a  Preaching 
Ministry  in  Wales]  which,  I  must  confess  for  my  own  part, 
I  set  myself  upon,  — if  I  should  relate  what  discountenance 
that  business  of  the  poor  People  of  God  there  had  (who  had 
men 2  watching  over  them  like  so  many  wolves,  ready  to  catch 
the  lambs  so  soon  as  they  were  brought  forth  into  the  world) ; 
how  signally  that  Business  was  trodden  under  foot  [in  Parlia- 
ment], to  the  discountenancing  of  the  Honest  People,  and 
the  countenancing  of  the  Malignant  Party,  of  this  Common- 
wealth — !  I  need  but  say  it  was  so.  For  many  of  you  know, 
and  by  sad  experience  have  Telt  it  to  be  so.  And  somebody 
I  hope  will,  at  leisure,  better  impart  to  you  the  state  of  that 
Business  [of  Wales] ;  which  really,  to  myself  and  Officers, 

1  "  things  "  in  orig.  2  Clergymen  so  called. 


16M.  SPEECH  I.  309 

was  as  plain  a  trial  of  their  spirits  [the  Parliament's  spirits] 
as  anything,  —  it  being  known  to  many  of  us  that  God  had 
kindled  a  seed  there,1  indeed  hardly  to  be  paralleled  since 
the  Primitive  time.  — 

"  I  would  these  had  been  all  the  instances  we  had  !  Find- 
ing [however]  which  way  the  spirits  of  men  went,  finding 
that  good  was  never  intended  to  the  People  of  God,  —  I 
mean,  when  I  say  the  People  of  God,  I  mean  the  large  com- 
prehension of  them,  under  the  several  Forms  of  Godliness 
in  this  Nation ;  —  finding,  I  say,  that  all  tenderness  was  for- 
gotten to  the  Good  People  (though  it  was  by  their  hands 
and  their  means,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  that  those  sat 
where  they  did),  —  we  thought  this  very  bad  requital !  I 
will  not  say,  they  were  come  to  an  utter  inability  of  working 
Kef oriuation,  —  though  I  might  say  so  in  regard  to  one  thing : 
the  Reformation  of  the  Law,  so  much  groaned  under  in  the 
posture  it  now  is  in.  [Hear,  hear  /]  That  was  a  thing  we  had 
many  good  words  spoken  for ;  but  we  know  that  many  months 
together  were  not  enough  for  the  settling  of  one  word,  '  In- 
cumbrances'  [Three  calendar  months!  A  grim  smile  on  some 
faces],  —  I  say,  finding  that  this  was  the  spirit  and  complex- 
ion of  men,  —  although  these  were  faults  for  which  no  man 
should  lift  up  his  hand  against  the  Superior  Magistrate ;  not 
simply  for  these  faults  and  failings,  —  yet  when  we  saw  that 
this  [New  Representative  of  theirs]  was  meant  to  perpetuate 
men  of  such  spirits ;  nay  when  we  had  it  from  their  own 
mouths,  That  they  could  not  endure  to  hear  of  the  Dissolu- 
tion of  this  Parliament :  we  thought  this  an  high  breach  of 
trust.  If  they  had  been  a  Parliament  never  violence  was 
upon,9  sitting  as  free  and  clear  as  any  in  former  ages,  it  was 
thought,  this,  to  be  a  breach  of  trust,  such  as  a  greater  could 
not  be. 

"  And  that  we  might  not  be  in  doubt  about  these  matters ; 
having  had  that  Conference  among  ourselves  which  I  gave  you 

1  Expression  then  correct  enough:  "  kindle  "  =  &iWa'n  (German),  mean- 
ing "give  birth  t<»,"  "  create."  Occurs  in  Shakspcare  more  than  once. 

*  Had  no  Pride's  Purge,  Apprentice  riot,  or  the  like,  ever  come  upon 
them. 


310  PAltT  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.         4  July, 

an  account  of,  we  did  desire  one  more,  —  and  indeed  it  was 
the  night  before  the  Dissolution ;  it  had  beeii  desired  two  or 
three  nights  before  :  we  did  desire  that  we  might  speak  with 
some  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  House.  That  we  might 
with  ingenuity  open  our  hearts  to  them ;  that  we  might  either 
be  convinced  of  the  certainty  of  their  intentions ;  or  else  that 
they  would  be  pleased  to  hear  our  expedients  to  prevent  these 
inconveniences.  And  indeed  we  could  not  attain  our  desire  till 
the  night  before  the  Dissolution.  There  is  a  touch  of  this  in 
our  Declaration.1  As  I  said  before,  at  that  time  we  had  often 
desired  it,  and  at  that  time  we  obtained  it :  where  about 
twenty  of  them  were,  none  of  the  least  in  consideration  for 
their  interest  and  ability ;  with  whom  we  desired  some  dis- 
course upon  these  things ;  and  had  it.  And  it  pleased  these 
Gentlemen,  who  are  here,  the  Officers  of  the  Army,  to  desire 
me  to  offer  their  sense  for  them,  which  I  did,  and  it  was 
shortly  thus  :  We  told  them  ( the  reason  of  our  desire  to  wait 
upon  them  now  was,  that  we  might  know  from  them,  What 
security  lay  in  their  manner  of  proceeding,  so  hastened,  for  a 
New  Kepresentative ;  wherein  they  had  made  a  few  qualifica- 
tions, such  as  they  were  :  and  How  the  whole  business  would 
[in  actual  practice]  be  executed :  Of  which  we  had  as  yet  no 
account ;  and  yet  we  had  our  interest,  our  lives,  estates  and 
families  therein  concerned ;  and,  we  thought  likewise,  the 
Honest  People  had  interest  in  us  :  "  How  all  this  was  to  be  ?  " 
That  so,  if  it  did  seem  they  meant  to  appear  in  such  honest 
and  just  ways  as  might  be  security  to  the  Honest  Interest,  we 
might  therein  acquiesce  :  or  else  that  they  would  hear  what  we 
had  to  offer.'  Indeed,  when  this  desire  was  made,  the  answer 
was,  '  That  nothing  would  do  good  for  this  Nation  but  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  Parliament ! '  We  wondered  we  should  have 
such  a  return.  We  said  little  to  that :  but,  seeing  they  would 
not  give  us  satisfaction  that  their  ways  were  honorable  and  just, 
we  craved  their  leave  to  make  our  objections.  We  then  told 
them,  That  the  way  they  Avere  going  in  would  be  impracticable. 
[That]  we  could  not  tell  how  to  send  out  an  Act  with  such 
qualifications  as  to  be  a  rule  for  electing  and  for  being  elected, 

1  Of  April  22d  ;  referred  to,  not  given,  at  p.  296. 


1653.  SPEECH   I.  311 

Until  we  first  knew  who  the  persons  were  that  should  be 
admitted  to  elect.  And  above  all,  Whether  any  of  the  quali- 
fications reached  [so  far  as  to  include]  the  Presbyterian  Party.1 
And  we  were  bold  to  tell  them,  That  none  of  that  judgment 
who  had  deserted  this  Cause  and  Interest  2  should  have  any 
power  therein.  We  did  think  we  should  profess  it,  That  we 
had  as  good  deliver  up  our  Cause  into  the  hands  of  any  as  into 
the  hands  of  those  who  had  deserted  us,  or  who  were  as  neu- 
ters !  For  it 's  one  thing  to  love  a  brother,  to  bear  with  and 
love  a  person  of  different  judgment  in  matters  of  religion  j 
and  another  thing  to  have  anybody  so  far  set  in  the  saddle  on 
that  account,  as  to  have  all  the  rest  of  his  brethren  at  mercy. 

u  Truly,  Gentlemen,  having  this  discourse  concerning  the 
impracticableuess  of  the  thing,  the  bringing  in  of  neuters,  and 
such  as  had  deserted  this  Cause,  whom  we  very  well  knew ; 
objecting  likewise  how  dangerous  it  would  be  by  drawing  con- 
courses of  people  in  the  several  Counties  (every  person  that 
was  within  the  qualification  or  without)  ;  and  how  it  did  fall 
obvious  to  us  that  the  power  would  come  into  the  hands  of 
men  who  had  very  little  affection  to  this  Cause  :  the  answer 
again  was  made,  and  that  by  very  eminent  persons,  '  That 
nothing  would  save  the  Nation  but  the  continuance  of  this 
Parliament.'  This  being  so,  we  humbly  proposed,  —  since 
neither  our  counsels,  our  objections  to  their  way  of  proceeding, 
nor  their  answers  to  justify  that,  did  give  us  satisfaction  ;  nor 
did  we  think  they  ever  intended  to  give  us  any,  which  indeed 
some  of  them  have  since  declared  [to  be  the  fact], — we  pro- 
'1  to  them,  I  say,  our  expedient;  which  was  indeed  this  : 
That  the  Government  of  the  Nation  being  in  such  a  condition 
;us  we  saw,  atid  things  [being]  under  so  much  ill  sense  abroad, 
and  likely  to  end  in  confusion  [if  we  so  proceeded],  —  we  de- 
sired they  would  devolve  the  trust  over  to  some  Well-affected 
Men,  such  as  had  an  interest  in  the  Nation,  and  were  known 
to  be  of  good  affection  to  the  Commonwealth.  Which,  we 
told  them,  was  no  new  thing  when  this  Land  was  under  the 
like  hurly-burlies.  And  we  had  been  laboring  to  get  precedents 

1  "  I'rwliyti-ry  "  in  ori^. 

*  NWUO  of  yuur  KoyaliitU,  llamillou-iuvadkm 


312  PART  VII.    THE  LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

[out  of  History]  to  convince  them  of  it ;  and  it  was  confessed 
by  them  it  had  been  no  new  thing.  This  expedient  we  offered 
out  of  the  deep  sense  we  had  of  the  Cause  of  Christ;  and 
were  answered  so  as  I  told  you,  That  nothing  would  save  this 
Nation  but  the  continuance  of  that  Parliament.  [The  continu- 
ance :]  they  would  not  [be  brought  to]  say  the  perpetuating  of 
it,  at  this  time ;  yet  we  found  their  endeavors  did  directly 
tend  that  way  ;  they  gave  us  this  answer,  '  That  the  thing  we 
offered  was  of  a  very  high  nature  and  of  tender  consideration : 
How  would  money  be  raised  ? '  —  and  made  some  other  ob- 
jections. We  told  them  [how] ;  and  that  we  here  offered  an 
expedient  five  times  better  than  that  [of  theirs],  for  which  no 
reason  was  given,  nor  we  thought  could  be  given  [  Why  should 
the  Fag-end  of  this  poor  old  Parliament,  now  fallen  impotent 
except  to  raise  money  for  itself,  continue  ?  No  reason  is  given,  nor 
we  think  can  be,  that  will  convince  mankind"] ;  —  and  desired  them 
that  they  would  lay  things  seriously  to  heart !  They  told  us, 
They  would  take  time  for  the  consideration  of  these  things  till 
to-morrow ;  they  would  sleep  upon  them,  and  consult  some 
friends  ;  [some  friends,]  —  though,  as  I  said,  there  were  about 
twenty-three  [of  them  here],  and  not  above  fifty-three  in  the 
House.  And  at  parting,  two  or  three  of  the  chief  of  them, 
one  of  the  chief  [  0  Sir  Harry  Vane  /],  and  two  or  three 
more,  did  tell  us,  That  they  would  endeavor  to  suspend  farther 
proceedings  about  their  Bill  for  a  New  Kepresentative  until 
they  had  another  conference  with  us.  And  upon  this  we  had 
great  satisfaction ;  and  had  hope,  if  our  expedient  could  re- 
ceive a  loving  debate,  that  the  next  day  we  should  have  some 
such  issue  thereof  as  would  give  satisfaction  to  all.1  And 
herewith  they  went  away,  [it]  being  late  at  night. 

"The  next  morning,  we  considering  how  to  order  what  we 
had  farther  to  offer  to  them  in  the  evening,  word  was  brought 
us  that  the  House  was  proceeding  with  all  speed  upon  the 
New  Representative !  We  could  not  believe  it,  that  such 
persons  would  be  so  unworthy ;  we  remained  there  till  a  sec- 
ond and  third  messenger  came,  with  tidings  That  the  House 
was  really  upon  that  business,  and  had  brought  it  near  to  the 

1  "  hoping  by  conference  to  have  satisfaction  to  all "  in  orig. 


1658.  SPEECH  L  313 

i.ssue,  —  and  with  that  height l  as  was  never  before  exercised ; 
leaving  out  all  things  relating  to  the  due  exercise  of  the 
qualifications  (which  had  appeared  all  along  [in  it  till  now]) ; 
and  [meaning],  as  we  heard,  to  pass  it  only  on  paper,  without 
engrossing,  for  the  quicker  despatch  of  it.  —  Thus,  as  we 
apprehend,  would  the  Ta berties  of  the  Nation  have  been 
thrown  away  into  the  hands  of  those  who  had  never  fought 
for  it.  And  upon  this  we  thought  it  our  duty  not  to  suffer  it. 
[No  /]  —  And  upon  this  the  House  was  dissolved,  even  when 
the  Speaker  was  going  to  put  the  last  question.  [Let  HIM 
travel  at  any  rate  /] 

"I  have  too  much  troubled  you  with  this:  but  we  have 
made  this  relation,  that  you  might  know  that  what  hath  been 
done  in  the  Dissolution  of  the  Parliament  was  as  necessary  to 
be  done  as  the  preservation  of  this  Cause.  And  the  necessity 
which  led  us  to  do  that,  hath  brought  us  to  this  [present] 
issue,  Of  exercising  an  extraordinary  way  and  course  to  draw 
You  together  [here] ;  upon  this  account,  that  you  axe  men 
who  know  the  Lord,  and  have  made  observations  of  His 
marvellous  Dispensations ;  and  may  be  trusted,  as  far  as  men 
may  l>e  trusted,  with  this  Cause. 

"  It  remains  now  for  me  to  acquaint  you  [a  little]  farther 
with  what  relates  to  your  taking  upon  you  this  great  Business. 
[But  indeed]  that  is  contained  in  the  Paper3  here  in  my 
hand,  which  will  be  offered  presently  to  you  to  read.8  But 
having  done  that  we  have  done  [Dissolving  of  the  Parliament ; 
vliirh  cannot  be  repented  of,  and  need  not  be  boasted  off]  upon 
such  ground  of  necessity  as  we  have  [now]  declared,  which 
was  not  a  feigned  necessity  but  a  real,  —  [it  did  behoove  us,] 

1  violence,  height  of  temper. 

3  An  Indenture  or  Internment  of  Government,  some  account  of  which  can 
be  f "ii M. I,  if  any  one  ia  curious  about  it,  in  Parliamentary  History,  xx.  175. 

*  Considerable  discrepancies  in  the  Two  Reports  throughout  this  para- 
graph ;  indicating  Home  embarrassment  and  intricacy  in  the  Speaker.  Which 
with  onr  bent  industry  we  endeavor  to  reconcile ;  to  elicit  from  them  what 
thf  r«-.il  utterance,  or  thought  and  attempted  uttcrum •«-,  of  the  Speaker  may 
have  been.  The  two  Reporters  being  faithful  according  to  their  ability,  and 
the  Speaker  faithful  according  to  bin,  all  discrepancies  ought  to  dissolve 
themselves  in  clearer  insight  and  conviction  ;  aa  we  hope  they  do. 


314  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE    PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

to  the  end  we  might  manifest  to  the  world  the  singleness  of 
our  hearts  and  our  integrity  who  did  these  things,  Not  to 
grasp  at  the  power  ourselves,  or  keep  it  in  military  hands,  no 
not  for  a  day ;  but,  as  far  as  God  enabled  us  with  strength 
and  ability,  to  put  it  into  the  hands  of  Proper  Persons  that 
might  be  called  from  the  several  parts  of  the  Nation.  This 
necessity ;  and  I  hope  we  may  say  for  ourselves,  this  integrity 
of  concluding  to  divest  the  Sword  of  all  power  in  the  Civil 
Administration,  —  hath  been  that  that  hath  moved  us  to  put 
You  to  this  trouble  [of  coming  hither]  :  and  having  done 
that,  truly  we  think  we  cannot,  with  the  discharge  of  our  own 
consciences,  but  offer  somewhat  to  you  on  the  devolving  of 
the  burden  on  your  shoulders.1  It  hath  been  the  practice  of 
others  who  have,  voluntarily  and  out  of  a  sense  of  duty,  di- 
vestecJ  themselves,  and  devolved  the  Government  into  new 
hands  j  I  say,  it  hath  been  the  practice  of  those  that  have 
done  so;  it  hath  been  practised,  and  is  very  consonant  to 
reason,  To  lay  [down]  together  with  their  Authority,  some 
Charge  [how  to  employ  it] 2  (as  we  hope  we  have  done),  and 
to  press  the  duty  [of  employing  it  well] :  concerning  which 
we  have  a  word  or  two  to  offer  you. 

"  Truly  God  hath  called  you  to  this  Work  by,  I  think,  as 
wonderful  providences  as  ever  passed  upon  the  sons  of  men 
in  so  short  a  time.  And  truly  I  think,  taking  the  argument 
of  necessity,  for  the  Government  must  not  fall ;  taking  the 
appearance  of  the  hand  of  God  in  this  thing,  —  [I  think]  you 
would  have  been  loath  it  should  have  been  resigned  into  the 
hands  of  wicked  men  and  enemies !  I  am  sure,  God  would 
not  have  it  so.  It 's  come,  therefore,  to  you  by  the  way  of 
necessity ;  by  the  way  of  the  wise  Providence  of  God,  — 
through  weak  hands.  And  therefore,  I  think,  coming  through 
our  hands,  though  such  as  we  are,  it  may  not  be  ill  taken  if 

1  "  for  our  own  exoneration  "  in  orig. 

2  He  seems  embarrassed  lest  he  be  thought  to  have  some  authority  over 
this  new  Little  Parliament,  and  to  treat  them  as  if  he  were  their  King.     The 
dissolving  of  the  old  Parliament  has  also  its  embarrassment,  though  not  so 
prominent  here  ;  and  both  together  make  au  intricate  paragraph.     Our  Two 
Reports,  from  this  point,  virtually  coincide  again. 


165-3. 


SPEECH  1.  315 


we  do  offer  somewhat  (as  I  said  before)  as  to  the  discharge  of 
the  Trust  which  is  now  incumbent  upon  you.  [Certainly  not  f] 
And  although  I  seem  to  speak  of  that  which  may  have  the  face 
and  interpretation  of  a  Charge,  it 's  a  very  humble  one  :  and  if 
he  that  means  to  be  a  Servant  to  you,  who  hath  now  called  you 
to  the  exercise  of  the  Supreme  Authority,  discharge  what  lie 
conceives  to  be  a  duty  to  you,  we  hope  you  will  take  it  in 
good  part. 

"  And  truly  I  shail  not  hold  you  long  in  it ;  because  I  hope 
it 's  written  in  your  hearts  to  approve  yourselves  to  God.  Only 
this  Scripture  I  shall  remember  to  you,  which  hath  been  much 
\i|>on  my  spirit:  Hosea,  xi.  12,  'Judah  yet  ruleth  with  God, 
and  is  faithful  with  the  Saints.'  It 's  said  before,  that  '  Eph- 
laini  compassed  God  about  with  lies,  and  the  house  of  Israel 
with  deceit.'  How  God  hath  been  compassed  about  by  fastings 
and  thanksgivings,1  and  other  exercises  and  transactions,  I 
think  we  have  all  cause  to  lament.  Truly  you  are  called  by 
<;<"1,  [as  Judah  \vas,]  to  'rule  with  Him/  and  for  Him.  And 
you  are  called  to  be  faithful  with  the  Saints  who  have  been 
instrumental  to  your  call.  [Again,]  Second  Samuel,  xxi.  3, 
'  He  that  ruleth  over  men,'  the  Scripture  saith,  '  must  be  just, 
ruling  in  the  fear  of  God.'  [Groans  from  Dryasdust.  Patience, 
my  friend  !  Really,  does  not  all  this  seem  an  incredibility  ;  — 
o  palpable  hypocrisy,  since  it  is  not  the  mouth  of  an  imbecile 
tli  nt  speaks  it  ?  My  estimable,  timber-headed,  leaden-hearted 
'I,  fan  there  be  any  doubt  of  it  ?~] 

"  And  truly  it 's  better  to  pray  for  you  than  to  counsel  you 
in  that  matter,  That  you  may  exercise  the  judgment  of  mercy 
:md  truth!  It's  better,  I  say,  to  pray  for  you  than  counsel 
y»u  ;  to  ask  wisdom  from  Heaven  for  you  ;  which  I  am  conti- 

1  There  was  a  Monthly  Fast,  the  Last  Wednesday  of  every  month,  helil 
iluly  for  alx.ut  Seven  Years;  till,  after  the  King's  Death,  wo  aholished  it 
Immense,  preaching  and  howling,  all  over  the  country,  there  hashecn  on  these 
stated  Wednesdays;  sin-en  :unl  insincere.  Not  to  speak  of  due  Thanks- 
giving for  victories  an.l  f<-li«-itl«^  innnmeraMe  ;  all  ending  in  this  infelicitous 
ci>nditi..n'  Hi-  Kv.-lh'tH-y  thinks  we  ought  to  restrain  such  haltits  ;  not  t., 
imifat,.  F.phraim.or  the  Long  parliament,  in  such.  The  rest  of  this  Discourse 
i»  proprrlv  :i  ^.-niion  «.f  liis ;  an<l  ..in-  •  "in •••ivi-d  in  a  different 


316  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

dent  many  thousands  of  Saints  do  this  day,  [and]  have  done, 
and  will  do,  through  the  permission  of  God  and  His  assistance. 
I  say  it 's  better  to  pray  than  advise  :  yet  truly  I  think  of 
another  Scripture,  which  is  very  useful,  though  it  seems  to 
be  for  a  common  application  to  every  man  as  a  Christian,  — 
wherein  he  is  counselled  to  ask  wisdom  ; l  and  he  is  told  what 
that  is.  That 's  '  from  Above,'  we  are  told  ;  it 's  '  pure,  peace- 
able, gentle  and  easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good 
fruits ; '  it 's  '  without  partiality  and  without  hypocrisy.'  Truly 
my  thoughts  run  much  upon  this  place,  that  to  the  execution 
of  judgment  (the  judgment  of  truth,  for  that 's  the  judgment) 
you  must  have  wisdom  '  from  Above ; '  and  that 's  '  pure.'  That 
will  teach  you  to  exercise  the  judgment  of  truth  ;  it 's  '  with- 
out partiality.'  Purity,  impartiality,  sincerity:  these  are  the 
effects  of  <  wisdom,'  and  these  will  help  you  to  execute  the 
judgment  of  truth.  And  then  if  God  give  you  hearts  to  be 
'  easy  to  be  entreated,'  to  be  '  peaceably  spirited,'  to  be  *  full 
of  good  fruits,'  bearing  good  fruits  to  the  Nation,  to  men  as 
men,  to  the  People  of  God,  to  all  in  their  several  stations,  — 
this  will  teach  you  to  execute  the  judgment  of  mercy  and  truth. 
[  Yes,  if  thou  understand  it ;  still  yes,  —  and  nothing  else  will  /] 
And  I  have  little  more  to  say  to  this.  I  shall  rather  bend 
my  prayers  for  you  in  that  behalf,  as  I  said ;  and  many  others 
will. 

"  Truly  the  '  judgment  of  truth,'  it  will  teach  you  to  be  as 
just  towards  an  Unbeliever  as  towards  a  Believer ;  and  it 's 
our  duty  to  do  so.  I  confess  I  have  said  sometimes,  foolishly 
it  may  be  :  I  had  rather  miscarry  to  a  Believer  than  an  Un- 
believer.8 This  may  seem  a  paradox  :  —  but  let 's  take  heed 
of  doing  that  which  is  evil  to  either !  Oh,  if  God  fill  your 
hearts  with  such  a  spirit  as  Moses  had,  and  as  Paul  had,  — 
which  was  not  a  spirit  for  Believers  only,  but  for  the  whole 
People  !  Moses,  he  could  die  for  them  ;  wish  himself  ( blotted 

1  "  But  the  Wisdom  that  is  from  Above  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle 
and  easy  to  be  entreated ,  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits,  without  partiality, 
and  without  hypocrisy.  And  the  fruit  of  righteousness  is  sown  in  peace  of 
them  that  make  peace"  (James,  iii.  17,  18). 

*  Do  wrong  to  a  good  than  to  a  bad  mail ;  a  remarkable  sentiment. 


1653.  SPEECH  I.  817 

out  of  God's  Book : ' 1  Paul  could  wish  himself  '  accursed  for 
Lis  countrymen  after  the  flesh  ' 2  \Let  us  never  forget  that,  in 
Moses  and  Paid.  —  Are  not  these  amazing  sentiments,  on  their 
part,  my  estimable,  timber-headed,  leaden-hearted  friend  ?]:  so  full 
of  affection  were  their  spirits  unto  all.  And  truly  this  would 
help  you  to  execute  the  judgment  of  truth,  and  of  mercy  also. 

"  A  second  thing  is,  To  desire  you  would  be  faithful  witli 
the  Saints  ;  to  be  touched  with  them.  And  I  hope,  whatever 
others  may  think,  it  may  be  a  matter  to  us  all  of  rejoicing 
to  have  our  hearts  touched  (with  reverence  be  it  spoken)  as 
Christ,  'being  full  of  the  spirit,'  was  'touched  with  our  in- 
firmities,' that  He  might  be  merciful.  So  should  we  be ;  we 
should  be  pitiful.  Truly,  this  calls  us  to  be  very  much  touched 
with  the  infirmities  of  the  Saints  ;  that  we  may  have  a  respect 
unto  all,  and  be  pitiful  and  tender  towards  all,  though  of  dif- 
ferent judgments.  And  if  I  did  seem  to  speak  something  that 
reflected  on  those  of  the  Presbyterial  judgment,  —  truly  I 
think  if  we  have  not  an  interest  of  love  for  them  too,  we  shall  * 
hardly  answer  this  of  being  faithful  to  the  Saints. 

"  In  my  pilgrimage,  and  some  exercises  I  have  had  abroad, 
I  did  read  that  Scripture  often,  Forty -first  of  Isaiah  •  where 
God  gave  me,  and  some  of  my  fellows,  encouragement  [as  to] 
what  He  would  do  there  and  elsewhere ;  which  He  hath  per- 
formed for  us.  He  said,  '  He  would  plant  in  the  wilderness 
the  cedar,  the  shittah-tree,  and  the  myrtle  and  the  oil-tree ; 
and  He  would  set  in  the  desert  the  fir-tree,  and  the  pine-tree, 
and  the  box-tree  together.'  For  what  end  will  the  Lord  do  all 
t  liis  ?  '  That  they  may  see,  and  know,  and  consider,  and  under- 
stand together,  That  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  done  this  ; '  — 
that  it  is  He  who  hath  wrought  all  the  salvations  and  deliver- 
ances we  have  received.  For  what  end  ?  To  see,  and  know, 
and  understand  together,  that  He  hath  done  and  wrought  all 
tli  is  for  the  good  of  the  Whole  Flock.  [Even  so.  For  "  Saints  " 
read  "  Good  Men ; "  and  it  is  true  to  the  end  of  the  world."] 
Therefore,  I  beseech  you,  —  but  I  think  I  need  not,  —  have  a 
care  of  the  Whole  Flock  I  Love  the  sheep,  love  the  lambs ; 
love  all,  tender  all,  cherish  and  countenance  all,  in  all 

1  Exodus,  xxxii.  38.  *  Romans,  ix.  3.  *  "  will "  in  <>ri 


318  PART  VII.    THE  LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

that  are  good.  And  if  the  poorest  Christian,  the  most  mis- 
taken Christian,  shall  desire  to  live  peaceably  and  quietly 
under  you,  —  I  say,  if  any  shall  desire  but  to  lead  a  life  of 
godliness  and  honesty,  let  him  be  protected. 

"  I  think  I  need  not  advise,  much  less  press  you,  to  endeavor 
the  Promoting  of  the  Gospel ;  to  encourage  the  Ministry ; 1 
such  a  Ministry  and  such  Ministers  as  be  faithful  in  the  Land ; 
upon  whom  the  true  character  is.  Men  that  have  received 
the  Spirit,  which  Christians  will  be  able  to  discover,  and  do 
[the  will  of] ;  men  that  '  have  received  Gifts  from  Him  who 
is  ascended  up  on  high,  who  hath  led  captivity  captive,  to  give 
gifts  to  men,' 2  even  for  this  same  work  of  the  Ministry  !  And 
truly  the  Apostle,  speaking  in  another  place,  in  the  Twelfth  of 
the  Romans,  when  he  has  summed  up  all  the  mercies  of  God, 
and  the  goodness  of  God ;  and  discoursed,  in  the  former  Chap- 
ters, of  the  foundations  of  the  Gospel,  and  of  those  things  that 
are  the  subject  of  those  first  Eleven  Chapters,  —  he  beseecheth 
them  to  'present  their  bodies  a  living  sacrifice.'  [Note  that!] 
He  beseecheth  them  that  they  would  not  esteem  highly  of 
themselves,  but  be  humble  and  sober-minded,  and  not  stretch 
themselves  beyond  their  line ;  and  also  that  they  would  have 
a  care  for  those  that  *  had  received  gifts '  to  the  uses  there 
mentioned.  I  speak  not  —  I  thank  God  it  is  far  from  my 
heart  —  for  a  Ministry  deriving  itself  from  the  Papacy,  and 
pretending  to  that  which  is  so  much  insisted  on,  '  Succession.' 
["  Hear,  hear !  "  from  the  Puseyites.~\  The  true  Succession  is 
through  the  Spirit  —  [/  should  say  so  /]  —  given  in  its  measure. 
The  Spirit  is  given  for  that  use  [To  make  proper  Speakers- 
forth  of  God's  eternal  Truth] ;  and  that 's  right  Succession. 
But  I  need  not  discourse  of  these  things  to  you ;  who,  I  am 
persuaded,  are  taught  of  God,  much  more  and  in  a  greater 
measure  than  myself,  concerning  these  things. 

"  Indeed  I  have  but  one  word  more  to  say  to  you ',  though 
in  that  perhaps  I  shall  show  my  weakness  :  it 's  by  way  of 
encouragement  to  go  on  in  this  Work.  And  give  me  'aave  to 
begin  thus.  I  confess  I  never  looked  to  see  such  a  Pay  as 
this,  —  it  may  be  nor  you  neither,  —  when  Jesus  Christ  should 
1  Pleaching  Clergy,  2  Ephesiaus,  iv.  8. 


1653.  SPEECH   I.  319 

be  so  owned  as  He  is,  this  day,  in  this  Work.  Jesus  Christ  is 
owned  this  day  by  the  Call  of  You;  and  you  own  Him  by  your 
willingness  to  appear  for  Him.  And  you  manifest  this,  as  far 
as  poor  creatures  may  do,  to  be  a  Day  of  the  Power  of  Christ. 
I  know  you  well  remember  that  Scripture,  '  He  makes  His 
People  willing  in  the  day  of  His  power.' l  God  manifests  this 
to  be  the  Day  of  the  Power  of  Christ;  having,  through  so 
murh  blood,  and  so  much  trial  as  hath  been  upon  these 
Nations,  made  this  to  be  one  of  the  great  issues  thereof :  To 
have  His  People  called  to  the  Supreme  Authority.  [A  thing, 
I  confess,  worth  striving  for ;  and  the  one  .thing  worth  striving 
forf]  He  makes  this  to  be  the  greatest  mercy,  next  to  His 
own  Son.  God  hath  owned  His  Son ;  and  He  hath  owned  you, 
and  made  you  own  Him.  I  confess  I  never  looked  to  have 
seen  such  a  day ;  I  did  not.  —  Perhaps  you  are  not  known  by 
face  to  one  another;  [indeed]  I  am  confident  you  are  strangers, 
coming  from  all  parts  of  the  Nation  as  you  do :  but  we  shall 
tell  you  that  indeed  we  have  not  allowed  ourselves  the  choice 
of  one  person  in  whom  we  had  not  this  good  hope,  That  there 
was  in  him  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  love  to  all  His  People 
and  Saints.  [  What  a  Parliament ;  unexampled  before  and 
since  in  this  world  !~\ 

"  Thus  God  hath  owned  you  in  the  eyes  of  the  world ;  and 
thus,  by  coming  hither,  you  own  Him :  and,  as  it  is  in  Isaiah, 
xliii.  21,  —  it 's  an  high  expression ;  and  look  to  your  own 
hearts  whether,  now  or  hereafter,  God  shall  apply  it  to  you  : 
'  This  People,'  saith  God,  '  I  have  formed  for  Myself,  that  they 
may  show  forth  my  praiso.'  I  say,  it 's  a  memorable  passage ; 
and,  I  hope,  not  unfitly  applied  :  the  Lord  .apply  it  to  each  of 
your  hearts  !  I  shall  not  descant  upon  the  words ;  they  are 
plain:  indeed  you  are  as  like  the  'forming  of  God 'as  ever 
people  were.  If  a  man  should  tender  a  Book  to  you  [to  swear 
you  upon],  I  dare  appeal  to  all  your  consciences,  Neither 
directly  nor  indirectly  did  you  seek  for  your  coming  hither. 
You  have  been  passive  in  coming  hither;  being  called,  —  and 
indeed  that's  :m  active  work.  —  [though  not  on  your  part  I] 

1  Pnalm  ex.  .1 ;  a  favorite  Psalm  of  Olivor'i,  — as  wo  know  already,  and 
-••lid  Lndlow  knows. 


320  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

'This  People  have  I  formed : '  consider  the  circumstances  by 
which  you  are  '  called '  hither ;  through  what  strivings  \_At 
Marston  Moor,  at  Naseby,  Dunbar  and  elsewhere],  through  what 
blood  you  are  come  hither,  —  where  neither  you  nor  I,  nor  no 
man  living,  three  months  ago,  had  any  thought  to  have  seen 
such  a  company  taking  upon  them,  or  rather  being  called  to 
take,  the  Supreme  Authority  of  this  Nation  !  Therefore,  own 
your  call !  Indeed,  I  think  it  may  be  truly  said  that  there 
never  was  a  Supreme  Authority  consisting  of  such  a  Body, 
above  one  hundred  and  forty,  I  believe ;  [never  such  a  Body] 
that  came  into  the  Supreme  Authority  [before]  under  such  a 
notion  [as  this]  in  such  a  way  of  owning  God,  and  being  owned 
by  Him.  And  therefore  I  may  also  say,  never  such  a  '  People ' 
so  '  formed, '  for  such  a  purpose,  [were]  thus  called  before. 
[These  are  lucent  considerations ;  lucent,  nay  radiant  f] 

"  If  it  were  a  time  to  compare  your  standing  with  [that  of] 
those  that  have  been  '  called '  by  the  Suffrages  of  the  People  — 
[He  does  not  say  what  the  result  would  be~\  —  Which  who  can 
tell  how  soon  God  may  fit  the  People  for  such  a  thing  ?  None 
can  desire  it  more  than  I !  Would  all  were  the  Lord's  People  ; 
as  it  was  said,  '  Would  all  the  Lord's  People  were  Prophets  ! ' 
[Fit  to  sit  in  Parliament  and  make  Laws:  alas,  hitherto  but 
few  of  them  can  "prophesy  "  /]  I  would  all  were  fit  to  be  called. 
It  ought  to  be  the  longing  of  our  hearts  to  see  men  brought  to 
own  the  Interest  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  give  me  leave  to  say  : 
I  f  I  know  anything  in  the  world,  what  is  there  likelier  to  win 
the  People  to  the  interest  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  love  of  God- 
liness (and  therefore  what  stronger  duty  lies  on  you,  being 
thus  called),  than  an  humble  and  godly  conversation  ?  So  that 
they  may  see  [that]  you  love  them  ;  [that]  you  lay  yourselves 
out,  time  and  spirits,  for  them !  Is  not  this  the  likeliest  way 
to  bring  them  to  their  liberties  ?  [To  make  them  free  by  being 
servants  of  God  /  free,  and  fit  to  elect  for  Parliament  /]  And 
do  not  you,  by  this,  put  it  upon  God  to  find  out  times  and 
seasons  for  you ;  [fit  seasons]  by  putting  forth  His  Spirit  ? 
At  least  you  convince  them  that,  as  men  fearing  God  have 
fought  them  out  of  their  bondage  under  the  Regal  Power,  so 
nu*n  Searing  God  do  n</\v  rule  them  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  take 


1«53  SPEECH   I.  321 

care  to  administer  Good  unto  them.  —  But  this  is  some  digres- 
sion. I  say,  own  your  call  j  for  it  is  of  God !  Indeed,  it  is 
marvellous,  and  it  hath  been  unprotected.  It 's  not  long  since 
either  you  or  we  came  to  know  of  it.  And  indeed  this  hath 
been  the  way  God  dealt  with  us  all  along,  To  keep  things  from 
our  eyes  all  along,  so  that  we  have  seen  nothing,  in  all  His 
dispensations,  long  beforehand; — which  is  also  a  witness,  in 
some  measure,  to  our  integrity.  ["  Integrity  !  "  from  Dryasdust. 
—  Ifusht,  my  friend,  it  i»  incredible  !  A  flat  impossibility,  how 
can  it  be  believed?  To  the  human  Owl,  living  in  his  perennial 
London  Fog,  in  his  Twilight  of  all  imaginable  corrupt  Exhala- 
tions, and  with  his  poor  head,  too,  o-verspun  to  such  extent 
with  red-tape,  parliamentary  eloquence,  force  of  public  opinion 
and  such  like,  how  shall  the  Azure  Firmaments  and  Everlasting 
Stars  become  credible?  They  are  and  remain  incredible.  From. 
his  shut  sense  all  light-rays  are  victoriously  repelled ;  no  lit/ /it 
shall  get  admittance  there.  In  no  Heaven's  light  will  he,  for  his 
part,  ever  believe  ;  —  till  at  last,  as  is  the  necessity  withal,  it  come 
to  him  as  lightning!  Then  he  will  believe  it.~]  —  I  say,  you  are 
called  with  an  high  calling.  And  why  should  we  be  afraid  to 
say  or  think,  That  this  may  be  the  door  to  usher  in  the  Things 
that  God  has  promised ;  which  have  been  prophesied  of;  which 
He  has  set  the  hearts  of  His  People  to  wait  for  and  expect  ?  l 
We  know  who  they  are  that  shall  war  with  the  Lamb,  'against 
His  enemies : '  they  shall  be  *  a  people  called,  and  chosen  and 
faithful.'  And  God  hath,  in  a  Military  way,  —  we  may  speak 
it  without  flattering  ourselves,  and  I  believe  you  know  it,  — 
He  hath  appeared  with  them,  [with  that  same  "  people,"]  and 
for  them ;  and  now  in  these  Civil  Powers  and  Authorities  [does 
not  He  appear]  ?  These  are  not  ill  prognostications  of  the 
God  we  wait  for.  Indeed  I  do  think  somewhat  is  at  the  door : 
we  are  at  the  threshold;  and  therefore  it  becomes  us  to  lift  up 
our  heads,  and  encourage  ourselves  in  the  Lord.  And  we  have 
thought,  some  of  us,  That  it  is  our  duties  to  endeavor  this  way ; 
not  merely  to  look  at  that  Prophecy  in  Daniel,  'And  the  King- 
dom shall  not  l>e  delivered  to  another  people  '  [and  passively 

1  Iluudred-oud-ttiuth  I'salm,  mid  other  Scriptural,  arc  known  to  Ludlow 

iri-i  li< 

VOL.  xviii.  21 


322  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE  PARLIAMENT,        4  July, 

wait].  Truly  God  hath  brought  this  to  your  hands  ;  by  the 
owning  of  your  call ;  blessing  the  Military  Power.  The  Lord 
hath  directed  their  [our~]  hearts  to  be  instrumental  to  call 
you ;  and  set  it  upon  our  hearts  to  deliver  over  the  Power  '  to 
another  people.'  [Therefore  "  we  "  are  not  the  persons  prophesied 
of?~\  —  But  I  may  appear  to  be  beyond  my  line  here ;  these 
things  are  dark.  Only,  I  desire  my  thoughts  l  to  be  exercised 
in  these  things,  and  so  I  hope  are  yours. 

"  Truly  seeing  things  are  thus,  that  you  are  at  the  edge  of 
the  Promises  and  Prophecies  —  [Does  not  say  what  results]  — 
At  least,  if  there  were  neither  Promise  nor  Prophecy,  yet  you 
are  carrying  on  the  best  things,  you  are  endeavoring  after  the 
best  things ;  and,  as  I  have  said  elsewhere,2  if  I  were  to  choose 
any  servant,  the  meanest  Officer  for  the  Army  or  the  Com- 
monwealth, I  would  choose  a  godly  man  that  hath  principles. 
Especially  where  a  trust  is  to  be  committed.  Because  I  know 
where  to  have  a  man  that  hath  principles.  I  believe  if  any 
one  of  you  should  choose  a  servant,  you  would  do  thus 
And  I  would  all  our  Magistrates  were  so  chosen  :  —  this  may 
be  done ;  there  may  be  good  effects  of  this  !  Surely  it  'a 
our  duty  to  choose  men  that  fear  the  Lord,  and  will  praise  the 
Lord  :  such  hath  the  Lord  '  formed  for  Himself ; '  and  He  ex- 
pects no  praises  from  other  [than  such].  [Oh,  Secretary  of  the 
Home  Department,  my  right  honorable  friend  /] 

"  This  being  so,  truly  it  puts  me  in  mind  of  another  Scrip- 
ture, that  famous  Psalm,  Sixty-eighth  Psalm ; 8  which  indeed 

1  "  senses  "  in  orig. 

2  In  some  Speech  now  lost :  —  probably  in  many  Speeches  ;  certainly  in  all 
manner  of  Practice  and  Action. 

8  We  remember  it  ever  since  Dunbar  morning ;  let  us  read  a  passage  or 
two  of  it  again  :  His  Excellency  and  the  Little  Parliament  will  perhaps  wait 
a  moment ;  and  it  may  do  us  good  ! 

"  Let  God  arise,  let  His  enemies  be  scattered :  let  them  also  that  hate 
Him  flee  before  Him.  As  smoke  is  driven  away,  so  drive  them  away  ;  as 
wax  melteth  before  the  fire,  so  let  the  wicked  perish  before  the  presence  of 
God."  The  unhappy ! 

"  But  let  the  righteous  be  glad  :  let  them  rejoice  before  God,  yea  let  them 
rejoice  exceedingly.  Sing  unto  God,  sing  praises  to  His  name.  A  father  of 
the  fatherless,  and  a  judge  of  the  widows,  is  God  in  His  holy  habitation.  — 

"  O  God,  when  Thou  wentest  forth  before  Thy  People,  —  the  Earth  shook, 


165:3. 


SPEECH  I.  323 


is  a  glorious  Prophecy,  I  am  persuaded,  of  the  Gospel  Churches, 

—  it  may  be,  of  the  Jews  also.     There  it  prophesies  that  '  Ho 
will  bring  His  People  again  from  the  depths  of  the  Sea,  as  once 
He  led  Isruel  through  the  Red  Sea.'     And  it  may  be,  as  some 
think,  God  will  bring  the  Jews  home  to  their  station  'from 
the  isles  of  the  sea,'  and  answer  their  expectations  '  as  from  the 
depths  of  the  sea.'     But  [at  all  events],  sure  I  am,  when  the 
Lord  shall  set  up  the  glory  of  the  Gospel  Church,  it  shall  be  ;i 
gathering  of  people  as  '  out  of  deep  waters,'  'out  of  the  multi- 
tude of  waters  :  '  such  are  His  People,  drawn  out  of  the  multi- 
tudes of  the  Nations  and  People  of  this  world.  —  And  truly 
that  Psalm  is  very  glorious  in  many  other  parts  of  it  :  When 
He  gathers  them,  '  great  was  the  company  '  of  them  that  pub- 
lish His  word.     'Kings  of  Armies  did  flee  apace,  and  she  that 
tarried  at  home  divided  the  spoil'  [Consider  Charles  Stuart, 
First  and  Second  ;  and  what  we  see  this  day!']  ;  and  '  Although 
ye  have  lain  among  the  pots,  yet  shall  ye  be  as  the  wings  of 
:i  dove,  covered  with  silver,  and  her  feathers  with  yellow  gold.' 
[/A//*/]    And  indeed  the  triumph  of  that  Psalm  is  exceeding 
high  and  great  ;  and  God  is  accomplishing  it.     And  the  close 
of  it,  that  closeth   with  my   heart,  and  I  do  not  doubt  with 
yours,  '  The  Lord  shakes  the  hills  and  ^nouutains,  and  they  reel.' 
And  God  huth  a  Hill  too  ;  '  an  high  Hill  as  the  Hill  of  Bashan  : 
and    the   chariots  of    God  are  twenty  thousand,   even  thou- 
sands of  Angels,  and  God  will  dwell  upon  this  Hill  forever  !  ' 

—  [PBOCUL  I'uoKANi  !     The  man  is  without  a  soul  that  looks 
into  this  Great  Soul  of  a  man,  radiant  luith  the  splendors  of  very 
II'  <inen,  and  sees  nothing  there  but  the  shadow  of  his  own  mean 
.-/.//•A/U.S.S-.     A  i»e  of  the  Dead  Sea,  peering  asquint  into  the 


t  he  Heavens  also  dropped.  Kings  of  Armies  did  floe  apace  ;  and  she  that 
t.irried  ;a  he.  in.'  diviilcd  the  spoil."  Ye  poor  and  bravo,  be  yo  of  courage! 
"  Though  vi  have  bin  aiming  th«;  pots,  yet  shall  ye  be  as  the  wings  of  a  dove, 
covered  with  silver,  and  her  feathers  with  yellow  gold. 

"The  Hill  of  Cod  is  a*  the  Hill  of  Ifcishan  ;  nn  high  Hill  as  the  Hill  of 
Bashan."  Incxpngnaldi',  that  !  "  Why  Imp  ye,  yc  hi^li  Hills  '  Tin's  is  the 
Hill  of  (Jod,  whirh  Uod  <le.-iiri.ah  t<>  dwell  in  .  yea  (lie  Lord  will  dwell  in  it 
forever.  The  chariot*  of  (i.><l  are  twmt  y  thousand,  even  thoti.-ainN  •>(  Angels: 
the  Lord  u  among  them,  att  in  Sinai  in  the  holy  place." 


324  PART  VII.    THE  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

of  Holies,  let  us  have  done  with  THY  commentaries  I    Thou  canst 
not  fathom  it.] 

"  I  am  sorry  I  have  troubled  you,  in  such  a  place  of  heat  as 
this  is,  so  long.  All  I  have  to  say,  in  my  own  name,  and  that 
of  my  fellow  Officers  who  have  joined  with  me  in  this  work, 
is :  That  we  shall  commend  you  to  the  grace  of  God,  to  the 
guidance  of  His  Spirit :  [That]  having  thus  far  served  you,  or 
rather  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  [in  regard  to  you],  we  shall  be 
ready  in  our  stations,  according  as  the  Providence  of  God  shall 
lead  us,  to  be  subservient  to  the  [farther]  work  of  God,  and  to 
that  Authority  which  we  shall  reckon  God  hath  set  over  us. 
And  though  we  have  no  formal  thing  to  present  you  with,  to 
which  the  hands,  or  visible  expressions,  of  the  Officers  and 
Soldiers  of  the  three  Nations  of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland 
[are  set]  ;  yet  we  may  say  of  them,  and  we  may  say  also  with 
confidence  for  our  brethren  at  Sea,  —  with  whom  neither  in 
Scotland,  Ireland,  nor  at  Sea,  hath  there  been  any  artifice  used 
to  persuade  their  consents  to  this  work,  —  that  nevertheless 
their  consents  have  flowed  in  to  us  from  all  parts,  beyond  our 
expectations :  and  we  may  with  all  confidence  say,  that  as  we 
have  their  approbation  and  full  consent  to  the  other  work,  so 
you  have  their  hearts  and  affections  unto  this.1  And  not  only 
theirs  :  we  have  very  many  Papers  from  the  Churches  of  Christ 
throughout  the  Nation  ;  wonderfully  both  approving  what  hath 
been  done  in  removing  of  obstacles,  and  approving  what  we 
have  done  in  this  very  thing.  And  having  said  this,  we  shall 
trouble  you  no  more.  But  if  you  will  be  pleased  that  this  In- 
strument 2  be  read  to  you,  which  I  have  signed  by  the  advice 
of  the  Council  of  Officers,  —  we  shall  then  leave  you  to  your 
own  thoughts  and  the  guidance  of  God ;  to  dispose  of  your- 
selves for  a  farther  meeting,  as  you  shall  see  cause.8 

1  "  other  work  "  delicately  means  dissolving  the  old  Parliament ;  "  this  "  is 
assembling  of  you,  "  this  very  thing." 

2  The  Instrument  is  to  be  found  among  the  Old  Pamphlets  ;  but  being  of  a 
much  lower  strain,  mere  constitutionalities,  &c.  in  phrase  and  purport  alike 
Jfiaden,  we  do  not  read  it. 

8  Report  in  Parliamentary  History,  and  the  common  Pamphlets,  ends 
here. 


16W.  SPEECH  L  325 

"  I  have  only  this  to  add.  The  affairs  of  the  Nation  lying 
on  our  hands  to  be  taken  care  of;  and  we  knowing  that  both 
the  Affairs  at  Sea,  the  Armies  in  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and 
the  providing  of  things  for  the  preventing  of  inconveniences, 
and  the  answering  of  emergencies,  did  require  that  there 
should  be  no  Interruption,  but  that  care  ought  to  be  taken 
for  these  things ;  and  foreseeing  likewise  that  before  you 
could  digest  yourselves  into  such  a  method,  both  for  place, 
time  and  other  circumstances,  as  you  shall  please  to  proceed 
in,  some  time  would  be  required,  —  which  the  Commonwealth 
could  not  bear  in  respect  to  the  managing  of  things :  I  have, 
within  a  week  [past]  set  up  a  Council  of  State,  to  whom  the 
managing  of  affairs  is  committed.  Who,  I  may  say,  very 
voluntarily  and  freely,  before  they  see  how  the  issue  of  things 
will  be,  have  engaged  themselves  in  business;  eight  or  nine 
of  them  being  Members  of  the  House  that  late  was.  —  I  say 
I  did  exercise  that  power  which,  I  thought,  was  devolved 
upon  me  at  that  time ;  to  the  end  affairs  might  not  have  any 
interval  [or  interruption].  And  now  when  you  are  met,  it 
will  ask  some  time  for  the  settling  of  your  affairs  and  your 
way.  And  [on  the  other  hand]  a  day  cannot  be  lost  [or  left 
vacant],  but  they  must  be  in  continual  Council  till  you  take 
further  order.  So  that  the  whole  matter  of  their  consideration 
also  which  regards  them  is  at  your  disposal,  as  you  shall  see 
cause.  And  therefore  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  acquaint  you 
with  thus  much,  to  prevent  distractions  in  your  way:  That 
things  have  been  thus  ordered ;  that  your  affairs  will  [not  stop, 
but]  go  on  [in  the  mean  while],  —  till  you  see  cause  to  alter 
this  Council;  they  having  no  authority  or  continuance  of 
sitting,  except  simply  until  you  take  farther  order."  * 

The  reader  has  now  struggled  through  this  First  Speech  of 
my  Lord  General's ;  not  without  astonishment  to  find  that  he 

1  Milton  State- Paper* ,  pp.  106-114:  and  Parliamentary  History,  xx.  153- 
175;  which  latter  is  identical  with  Ilarieian  Miscellany  (London,  1810),  vi. 
3.31-344.  Our  Report,  in  some  cramp  passages,  which  could  not  always  be 
iii'licated  without  roiifusimi,  is  ;i  ii-rtinm  <jnid  between  these  two.  Generally 
throughout  we  adhere  to  Milton's,  which  in  the  more  concise,  intelligible  and 
«Tery  way  better  Keport. 


326  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE    PARLIAMENT.        4  July, 

has  some  understanding  of  it.  The  Editor  has  had  his  diffi- 
culties :  but  the  Editor  too  is  astonished  to  consider  how  such 
a  Speech  should  have  lain  so  long  before  the  English  Nation, 
asking,  "  Is  there  no  meaning  whatever  in  me,  then  ? "  — 
with  negatory  response  from  almost  all  persons.  Incompetent 
Reporters  ;  —  still  more  the  obscene  droppings  of  an  extensive 
Owl -population,  the  accumulated  guano  of  Human  Stupor  in 
the  course  of  ages,  do  render  Speeches  unintelligible!  It 
ought  to  be  added,  that  my  Lord  General  always  spoke  ex- 
tempore ;  ready  to  speak,  if  his  mind  were  full  of  meaning ; 
very  careless  about  the  words  he  put  it  into.  And  never, 
except  in  one  instance,  which  we  shall  by  and  by  come  upon, 
does  he  seem  to  have  taken  any  charge  as  to  what  Keport 
might  be  published  of  it.  One  of  his  Parliaments  once  asks 
him  for  a  correct  lieport  of  a  certain  Speech,  spoken  some 
days  before :  he  declares,  "  He  cannot  remember  four  lines  of 
it." l  It  appears  also  that  his  meaning,  much  as  Dryasdust 
may  wonder,  was  generally  very  well  understood  by  his 
audience:  —  it  was  not  till  next  generation,  when  the  owl- 
droppings  already  lay  thick,  and  Human  Stupor  had  decidedly 
set  in,  that  the  cry  of  Uuiutelligibility  was  much  heard  of. 
Tones  and  looks  do  much :  —  yes,  and  the  having  a  meaning 
in  you  is  also  a  great  help !  Indeed,  I  fancy  he  must  have 
been  an  opaque  man  to  whom  these  utterances  of  such  a  man, 
all  in  a  blaze  with  such  a  conviction  of  heart,  had  remained 
altogether  dark. 

The  printed  state  of  this  Speech,  and  still  more  of  some 
others,  will  impose  hard  duties  on  an  Editor;  which  kind 
readers  must  take  their  share  of.  In  the  present  case,  it  is  sur- 
prising how  little  change  has  been  needed,  beyond  the  mere 
punctuation,  and  correct  division  into  sentences.  Not  the 
slightest  change  of  meaning  has,  of  course,  anywhere  seemed, 
or  shall  anywhere  seem,  permissible ;  nor  indeed  the  twentieth 
part  of  that  kind  of  liberty  which  a  skilful  Newspaper  Reporter 
takes  with  every  speech  he  commits  to  print  in  our  day 

A  certain  Critic,  whom  I  sometimes  cite  from,  but  seldom 
without  some  reluctance,  winds  up  his  multifarious* 

1  Burton's  Diary,    fostea,  Speech  XVII. 


1853. 


SPEECH  I.  327 


militaries  on  the  present  Speech  in  the  following  extraor- 
dinary way :  — 

"  Intelligent  readers,"  says  he,  "  have  found  intelligibility 
in  this  Speech  of  Oliver's :  but  to  one  who  has  had  to  read  it 
us  a  painful  Editor,  reading  every  fibre  of  it  with  magnifying- 
glasses,  luus  to  do,  —  it  becomes  all  glowing  with  intelligibility, 
\\ith  credibility;  with  the  splendor  of  genuine  Veracity  and 
heroic  Depth  ami  Manfulness  ;  —  and  seems  in  fact,  as  Oliver's 
Speeches  generally  do,  to  an  altogether  singular  degree,  the 
express  image  of  the  soul  it  came  from!  —  Is  not  this  the 
end  of  all  speaking,  and  wagging  of  the  tongue  in  every  con- 
ceivable sort,  except  the  false  and  accursed  sorts  ?  Shall  we 
call  Oliver  a  bad  Speaker,  then ;  shall  we  not,  in  a  very  fun- 
damental sense,  call  him  a  good  Speaker  ?  — 

"Art  of  Speech?  Art  of  Speech?  The  Art  of  Speech, 
I  take  it,  will  first  of  all  be  the  art  of  having  something 
genuine  to  speak !  Into  what  strange  regions  has  it  carried 
us,  that  same  sublime  '  Art,'  taken  up  otherwise  !  One  of  the 
saddest  bewilderments,  when  I  look  at  all  the  bearings  of  it, 
nay  properly  the  fountain  of  all  the  sad  bewilderments,  under 
\vhieh  poor  mortals  painfully  somnambulate  in  these  gener- 
ations. '  I  have  made  an  excellent  Speech  about  it,  written 
an  excellent  Book  about  it,'  —  and  there  an  end.  How  much 
better,  hadst  thou  done  a  moderately  good  deed  about  it,  and 
not  had  anything  to  speak  at  all !  He  who  is  about  doing 
some  mute  veracity  has  a  right  to  be  heard  speaking,  and 
consulting  of  the  doing  of  it;  and  properly  no  other  has. 
The  light  of  a  man  shining  all  as  a  paltry  phosphorescence 
on  the  surface  of  him,  leaving  the  interior  dark,  chaotic, 
sordid,  dead  alive,  —  was  once  regarded  as  a  most  mournful 
pheiHinienon ! 

"False  Speech  is  probably  capable  of  being  the  falsest  and 
most  accursed  of  all  things.  False  Speech;  so  false  that  it 
has  not  even  the  veracity  to  know  that  it  is  false,  — as  the 
poor  commonplace  liar  still  does !  I  have  heard  Speakers 
who  gave  rise  to  thoughts  in  me  they  were  little  dreaming  of 
suggesting!  Is  man,  then,  no  longer  an  'Incarnate  Word,'  as 
No  valid  calls  him,  — sent  into  this  world  to  utter  out  of  him, 


328  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.      August, 

and  by  all  means  to  make  audible  and  visible  what  of  God's- 
Message  he  has;  sent  hither  and  made  alive  even  for  that, 
and  for  no  other  definable  object  ?  Is  there  no  sacredness, 
then,  any  longer,  in  the  miraculous  tongue  of  man  ?  Is  his 
head  become  a  wretched  cracked  pitcher,  on  which  you  jingle 
to  frighten  crows,  and  make  bees  hive  ?  He  fills  me  with 
terror,  this  two-legged  Ehetorical  Phantasm!  I  could  long 
for  an  Oliver  without  Rhetoric  at  all.  I  could  long  for 
a  Mahomet,  whose  persuasive  eloquence,  with  wild-flashing 
heart  and  scimitar,  is:  'Wretched  mortal,  give  up  that;  or 
by  the  Eternal,  thy  Maker  and  mine,  I  will  kill  thee !  Thou 
blasphemous  scandalous  Misbirth  of  Nature,  is  not  even  that 
the  kindest  thing  I  can  do  for  thee,  if  thou  repent  not  and 
alter,  in  the  name  of  Allah  ? ' "  — 


LETTEES  CLXXXIX.-CXCI. 

CONCERNING  this  Puritan  Convention  of  the  Notables,  which, 
in  English  History  is  called  the  Little  Parliament,  and  deri- 
sively Barebones's  Parliament,  we  have  not  much  more  to  say. 
They  are,  if  by  no  means  the  remarkablest  Assembly,  yet  the 
Assembly  for  the  remarkablest  purpose  who  have  ever  met  in 
the  Modern  World.  The  business  is,  No  less  than  introdu- 
cing of  the  Christian  Religion  into  real  practice  in  the  Social 
Affairs  of  this  Nation.  Christian  Religion,  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament :  such,  for  many  hundred  years,  has 
been  the  universal  solemnly  recognized  Theory  of  all  men's 
Affairs;  Theory  sent  down  out  of  Heaven  itself:  but  the 
question  is  now  that  of  reducing  it  to  Practice  in  said  Affairs ; 
—  a  most  noble,  surely,  and  most  necessary  attempt ;  which 
should  not  have  been  put  off  so  long  in  this  Nation !  We 
have  conquered  the  Enemies  of  Christ ;  let  us  now,  in  real 
practical  earnest,  set  about  doing  the  Commandments  of 
Christ,  now  that  there  is  free  room  for  us !  Such  was  the 
purpose  of  this  Puritan  Assembly  of  the  Notables,  which  His- 


1653  LETTER  CLXXXIX.    COCKPIT.  329 

tory  calls  the  Little  Parliament,  or  derisively  Sawbones's  Par- 
li'ini  e  nt. 

It  is  well  known  they  failed :  to  us,  alas,  it  is  too  evident 
they  could  not  but  fail.  Fearful  impediments  lay  against  that 
effort  of  theirs  :  the  sluggishness,  the  slavish  half-and-halfness, 
the  greediness,  the  cowardice,  and  general  opacity  and  falsity  of 
some  ten  million  men  against  it;  —  alas,  the  whole  world,  and 
\vli;it  we  call  the  Devil  and  all  his  angels,  against  it!  Consid- 
erable angels,  human  and  other  :  most  extensive  arrangements, 
^tments,  to  be  sold  off  at  a  tremendous  sacrifice;  —  in  gen- 
eral the  entire  set  of  luggage-traps  and  very  extensive  stock 
of  merchant-goods  and  real  and  floating  property,  amassed  by 
that  assiduous  Entity  above  mentioned,  for  a  thousand  years 
or  more  !  For  these,  and  also  for  other  obstructions,  it  could 
not  take  effect  at  that  time ;  —  and  the  Little  Parliament 
became  a  Barebones's  Parliament,  and  had  to  go  its  ways 
again. 

Read  these  three  Letters,  two  of  them  of  small  or  no  sig- 
ni I'n -an ce  as  to  it  or  its  affairs;  and  then  let  us  hasten  to  the 
catastrophe. 

LETTER  CLXXXIX. 

THE  Little  Parliament  has  now  sat  some  seven  weeks ;  the 
dim  old  world  of  England,  then  in  huge  travail-throes,  and 
somewhat  of  the  Lord  General's  sad  and  great  reflections 
thereon,  may  be  dimly  read  here. 

[For  the  Right  Honorable  Lieutenant- General  Fleetwood,  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Forces  in  Ireland:  These.] 

"  COCKPIT,  22d  August,  1653. 

"  DEAR  CHARLES,  —  Although  I  do  not  so  often  as  is  desired 
by  me  acquaint  you  how  it  is  with  me,  yet  I  doubt  not  of 
your  prayers  in  my  behalf,  That  in  all  things  I  may  walk  as 
becometh  the  Gospel. 

"  Truly  I  never  m.ore  needed  all  helps  from  my  Christian 
than  now  1    Fain  would.  I  have  my  service  accepted  of 


330  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE    PARLIAMENT.  22  August, 

the  Saints,  if  the  Lord  will ;  —  but  it  is  not  so.  Being  of  dif- 
ferent judgments,  and  [those]  of  each  sort  seeking  most  to 
propagate  their  own,  that  spirit  of  kindness  that  is 1  to  them 
all,  is  hardly  accepted  of  any.  I  hope  I  can  say  it,  My  life 
has  been  a  willing  sacrifice,  —  and  I  hope,  —  for  them  all. 
Yet  it  much  falls  out  as  when  the  Two  Hebrews  were  re- 
buke J  :  you  know  upon  whom  they  turned  their  displeasure  ! 8 

"  But  the  Lord  is  wise  ;  and  will,  I  trust,  make  manifest  that 
I  am  no  enemy.  Oh,  how  easy  is  mercy  to  be  abused  :  —  Per- 
suade friends  with  you  to  be  very  sober !  If  the  Day  of  the 
Lord  be  so  near  as  some  say,  how  should  our  moderation  ap- 
pear !  If  every  one,  instead  of  contending,  would  justify  his 
form  [of  judgment]  by  love  and  meekness,  Wisdom  would  be 
'justified  of  her  children.'  But,  alas  !  — 

"  I  am,  in  my  temptation,  ready  to  say,  '  Oh,  would  I  had 
wings  like  a  dove,  then  would  I/  &c. : 8  but  this,  I  fear,  is  my 
'  haste.'  I  bless  the  Lord  I  have  somewhat  keeps  me  alive  : 
some  sparks  of  the  light  of  His  countenance,  and  some  sin- 
cerity above  man's  judgment.  Excuse  me  thus  unbowelling 
myself  to  you :  pray  for  me  ;  and  desire  my  Friends  to  do  so 
also.  My  love  to  thy  dear  Wife,  —  whom  indeed  I  entirely 
love,  both  naturally  and  upon  the  best  account ;  —  and  my 
blessing,  if  it  be  worth  anything,  upon  thy  little  Babe. 

"  Sir  George  Ayscough  having  occasions  with  you,  desired 
my  Letters  to  you  on  his  behalf :  if  he  come  or  send,  I  pray 
you  show  him  what  favor  you  can.  Indeed  his  services  have 
been  considerable  for  the  State  ;  and  I  doubt  he  hath  not  been 
answered  with  suitable  respect.  Therefore  again  I  desire  you 
and  the  Commissioners  to  take  him  into  a  very  particular 
care,  and  help  him  so  far  as  justice  and  reason  will  anyways 
afford. 

1  "  in  me  "  modestly  suppressed. 

2  "  And  he,"  the  wrong-doer  of  the  Two,  "  said  unto  Moses, '  Who  made 
thee  a  Prince  and  a  Judge  over  us  1    Intendest  thou  to  kill  me,  as  thou  killedst 
the  Egyptian ! '  "  (Exodus,  ii.  14.) 

8  "  then  would  I  fly  away,  and  be  at  rest.  Lo,  then  would  I  wander  far  off, 
and  remain  in  the  wilderness.  I  would  hasten  my  escape  from  the  windy 
Btorm  uiid  tempest !  "  (Psalm  Iv.  6-8.) 


ira.  LETTER  CXC.    COCKPIT.  331 

"Rernp.nibpr  my  hearty  affections  to  all  the  Officers.     The 
Lord  bless  you  all.     So  prayeth 

"  Your  truly  loving  father, 

"OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

"  [P.S.]     All  here  love  you.  and  are  in  health,  your  Chil- 
dren and  all."  * 


LETTER   CXC. 

IN  the  Commons  Journals,2  while  this  Little  Parliament 
sat,  we  find  that,  among  other  good  services,  the  arrangement 
of  the  Customs  Department  was  new-modelled ;  that  instead 
of  Farmers  of  the  Customs,  there  was  a  "  Committee  "  of  the 
Parliament  appointed  to  regulate  and  levy  that  impost :  Com- 
mittee appointed  on  the  23d  of  September,  1653:  among 
whom  we  recognize  "Alderman  Ireton,"  the  deceased  Gen- 
eral's Brother ;  "  Mr.  Mayor,"  of  Hursley,  Richard  Cromwell's 
Father-in- Law ;  "  Alderman  Titchborne ;  "  "  Colonel  Mon- 
tague," afterwards  Earl  of  Sandwich ;  and  others.  It  is  to 
this  Committee  that  Oliver's  Letter  is  addressed.  It  has  no 
date  of  time :  but  as  the  Little  Parliament  ended,  in  Self- 
dissolution  and  Protectorship,  on  the  12th  of  December,  the 
date  of  the  Letter  lies  between  the  23d  September  and  that 
other  limit.  My  Lord  General  —  who  is  himself  a  MrniluT 
of  the  Parliament,  he  and  his  chief  Officers  having  been  forth 
with  invited  to  sit  —  feels  evidently  that  his  recoiium-mln 
tions,  when  grounded  in  justice,  ought  to  be  attended  1<>. 

1  Ilarloian  MSS.  no.  7502,  f.  13  :  "  Copyed  from  the  Original  in  y°  li:in«ls  <-f 
Mrs.  ('<><.k  ((Jrandanghter  to  I.ii-utrnaiit-Gcneral  Flectwood)  of  Newin^-ni. 
Mid1"  :  NoV  5,  175'.),  l>y  A.  <;iff..r.I."     Printed,  without  reference,  incorn-i  tl\, 
in  Annual  Regitter  for  1761,  p.  49;  in  (lentleman't  Magazine,  &c.  —  Ap|*>ndix, 

n. 

2  vii.  323,  23d  September,  1653. 


332  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.      October, 

"For  my  honored  Friends,  the  Committee  for  Regulating  the 
Customs :  These  Present. 

[COCKPIT,  October,  1653.] 

"GENTLEMEN,  —  I  am    sorry  after   recommendation  of   a 
Friend  of  mine  the  Bearer  hereof,  —  considering  him  in  rela- 
tion to  his  poor  Parents  an  object  of  pity  and  commiseration, 
yet  well  deserving  and  not  less  qualified  for  employment,  - 
he  should  find  such  cold  success  amongst  you. 

"  His  great  necessities  and  my  love  once  more  invite  me  to 
write  unto  you,  in  his  behalf,  To  bestow  on  him,  if  it  may  not 
be  in  the  City  by  reason  of  multiplicity  of  suitors,  a  place  in 
the  Out-ports :  and  I  doubt  not  but  his  utmost  abilities  will  be 
improved  to  the  faithful  discharging  of  such  trust  as  you  shall 
impose  on  him,  for  the  good  of  the  Commonwealth.  And 
thereby  you  will  engage  him  who  remains, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  * 


LETTER  CXCI. 

THIS  "Henry  Weston,"  otherwise  unknown  to  all  Editors, 
is  a  Gentleman  of  Surrey;  his  "House  at  Ockham,"  not  Onl-- 
ham,  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  Guildford  in  that  County.  So 
much,  strangely  enough,  an  old  stone  Tablet  still  legible  in 
Ockham  Church,  which  a  beneficent  hand  has  pointed  out, 
enables  me  to  say;  —  an  authentic  dim  old  Stone  in  Surrey, 
curiously  reflecting  light  on  a  dim  old  Piece  of  Paper  which 
has  fluttered  far  about  the  world  before  it  reached  us  here ! 
"  Brother  Ford,"  I  find  by  the  same  authority,  is  of  knightly 
rank  in  Sussex :  and  Henry  Weston's  Father  "lieth  buried  in 
the  Chancel  of  Speldhurst  Church "  in  Kent ;  his  Uncle,  a 
childless  man,  resting  here  at  Ockham,  "  since  the  8th  day  of 
July,  1638,  in  the  clymacteric  of  his  age,  63."  2—  "Reverend 

1  Letter  genuine,  teste  me  ;  reference  unfortunately  lost. 
*  Copy  of  the  Inscription  pi-.ncs  UK  . 


1653.  LETTEK  CXCI.    LONDON.  333 

Mr.  Draper  "  has  not  elsewhere  come  across  me.  Happily  we 
can  hope  he  officiates  well  in  Kent ;  and  read  this  Letter  with' 
out  other  light. 

"  For  my  honored  Friend  Henry  Weston,  Esquire,  at  his  House 
in  Ockham:  These. 

"  [LONDON,]  16th  Nov.  1653. 

"SiR,  MY  NOBLE  FRIEND,  —  Your  Brother  Ford  was  lately 
witli  me,  acquainting  me  with  my  presumption  in  moving  for, 
and  your  civility  in  granting,  the  Advowson  of  Speldhurst  to 
one  Mr.  Draper,  who  is  now  incumbent  there,  and  who,  it  seems, 
was  there  for  three  or  four  years  before  the  death  of  the  old 
incumbent,  by  virtue  of  a  sequestration. 

"  Sir,  I  had  almost  forgot  upon  what  account  I  made  thus 
bold  with  you  ;  but  now  have  fully  recollected.  I  understand 
the  person  is  very  able  and  honest,  well  approved  of  by  most 
of  the  good  Ministers  thereabout;  and  much  desired  by  the 
honest  people  who  are  in  a  Religious  Association  in  those 
parts.1  Wherefore  I  now  most  heartily  own  and  thank  you 
for  your  favor  showed  Mr.  Draper  for  my  sake;  beseeching 
the  continuance  of  your  respects  to  the  Gentleman,  —  who 
shall  be  very  much  tied  to  pay  you  all  service ;  and  so  shall, 
in  what  lieth  in  his  power, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend  to  serve  you, 

"  OLIVER  CROMWELL."  ' 

And  now  to  Parliament  affairs  again,  —  to  the  catastrophe 
now  nigh. 

On  the  whole,  we  have  to  say  of  this  Little  Parliament,  that 
it  sut  for  five  months  and  odd  days,  very  earnestly  striving; 
earnestly,  nobly,  —  and  by  no  means  unwisely,  as  the  ignorant 

1  Ha*  crossed  oat  "  thereabout*  ; "  and  written  "  in  those  parts,"  as  prefer- 
able. 

2  Additional  Ayoeooch  MSB.  no.  12,098.    Original,  in  good  preservation ; 
with  thin  ttndomement  in  a  newer  hand  .  "  The  Generell  Cromwell's  letter  about 
SpHderst  living ;"  and  this  Note  ap|X'iided  :  "  In  an  old  Bible  I  had  fruiu 

-nd  with  other  Uooke,  March,  1726."     Some  Transatlantic  Puritan,  to 
all  ap|>«aranre. 


334  PART  VII.    THE  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.      16  Nov. 

Histories  teach.  But  the  farther  it  advanced  towards  real 
Christianism  in  human  affairs,  the  louder  grew  the  shrieks  of 
Sham-Christianism  everywhere  profitably  lodged  there ;  —  and 
prudent  persons,  responsible  for  the  issue,  discovered  that  of 
a  truth,  for  one  reason  or  another,  for  reasons  evident  and  for 
reasons  not  evident,  there  could  be  no  success  according  to  that 
method.  We  said,  the  History  of  this  Little  Parliament  lay 
all  buried  very  deep  in  the  torpors  of  Human  Stupidity,  and 
was  not  likely  ever  to  be  brought  into  daylight  in  this  world. 
In  their  five  months'  time  they  passed  various  good  Acts ;  chose, 
with  good  insight,  a  new  Council  of  State ;  took  wise  charge 
of  the  needful  Supplies  ;  did  all  the  routine  business  of  a  Par- 
liament in  a  quite  unexceptionable,  or  even  in  a  superior  man- 
ner. Concerning  their  Council  of  State,  I  find  this  Note; 
which,  though  the  Council  had  soon  to  alter  itself,  and  take 
new  figures,  may  be  worth  appending  here.1 

Routine  business  done  altogether  well  by  this  Little  Parlia- 
ment. But,  alas,  they  had  decided  on  abolishing  Tithes,  on 
supporting  a  Christian  Ministry  by  some  other  method  than 
Tithes ;  —  nay  far  worse,  they  had  decided  on  abolishing  the 
Court  of  Chancery  !  Finding  grievances  greater  than  could  be 
borne  ;  finding,  for  one  thing,  "  Twenty -three  thousand  Causes 
of  from  five  to  thirty  years'  continuance  "  lying  undetermined 
in  Chancery,  it  seemed  to  the  Little  Parliament  that  some 
Court  ought  to  be  contrived  which  would  actually  determine 
these  and  the  like  Causes ;  —  and  that,  on  the  whole,  Chancery 

1  Council'of  State  elected,  —  Tuesday,  1st  November,  1653  ( Commons  Jour- 
HO/S,  vii.  344).  The  Election  is  by  ballot,  113  Members  present;  "Colonel 
Montague"  (Sandwich),  "  Colonel  Cromwell"  (Henry),  and  "Sir  Anthony 
Ashley  Cooper,"  are  three  of  the  Four  Scrutineers.  Among  the  Names  re- 
ported as  chosen,  here  are  some,  with  the  Numbers  voting  for  them  :  Lord 
General  Cromwell  (113,  one  and  all) ;  Sir  Gilbert  Pickering  (Poet  Dryden's 
Cousin  and  Patron,  —  1 10) ;  Desborow  (74)  ;  Harrison  (58) ;  Mayor  (of  Hurs- 
ley,  —  57) ;  Colonel  Montague  (59) ;  Ashley  Cooper  (60);  Lord  Viscount  Lisle 
(Algernon  Sidney's  Brother,  —  58);  Colonel  Norton  (idle  Dick,  recovered 
from  the  Pride's  Purge  again,  but  liable  to  relapse  again,  —  57).  The  Council 
i.s  of  Thirty-one  ;  Sixteen  of  the  Old  or  Interim  Council  (above  referred  to  in 
Cromwell's  Speech)  are  to  continue  ;  Fifteen  new  :  these  mentioned  here  are 
all  among  the  Old,  whom  the  Lord  General  and  his  Officers  had  already 
nominated. 


1653.  LITTLE  PARLIAMENT  RESIGNS.  335 

would  be  better  for  abolition.  Vote  to  that  effect  stands  reg- 
istered in  the  Commons  Journals : *  but  still,  for  near  two  hun- 
dred years  now,  only  expects  fulfilment.  —  So  far  as  one  can 
discover  in  the  huge  twilight  of  Dryasdust,  it  was  mainly  by 
this  attack  on  the  Lawyers,  and  attempt  to  abolish  Chancery, 
that  the  Little  Parliament  perished.  Tithes  helped,  no  doubt; 
and  the  clamors  of  a  safely  settled  Ministry,  Presbyterian- 
Royalist  many  of  them.  But  the  Lawyers  exclaimed  :  "  Chan- 
cery ?  Law  of  the  Bible  ?  Do  you  mean  to  bring  in  the 
Mosaic  Dispensation,  then ;  and  deprive  men  of  their  proper- 
ties ?  Deprive  men  of  their  properties ;  and  us  of  our  learned 
wigs  and  lucrative  long-windednesses,  —  with  your  search 
for  'Simple  Justice'  and  'God's  Law,'  instead  of  Learned- 
Sergeant's  Law  ?  "  —  There  was  immense  "  carousing  in  the 
Temple  "  when  this  Parliament  ended ;  as  great  tremors  had 
been  in  the  like  quarters  while  it  continued.8 

But  in  brief,  on  Friday,  the  2d  of  December,  1653,  there 
came  a  "Report  from  the  Tithes-Committee,"  recommending 
that  Ministers  of  an  incompetent,  simoniacal,  loose,  or  other- 
wise scandalous  nature,  plainly  unfit  to  preach  any  Gospel  to 
immortal  creatures,  should  have  a  Travelling  Commission  ot 
chosen  Puritan  Persons  appointed,  to  travel  into  all  Counties, 
and  straightway  inspect  them,  and  eject  them,  and  clear 
Christ's  Church  of  them :  —  whereupon  there  ensued  high 
debatings :  Accept  the  Report,  or  Not  accept  it  ?  High  debat- 
inga,  for  the  space  of  ten  days ;  with  Parliamentary  manosu- 
vrings,  not  nr cessary  to  specify  here.  Which  rose  ever  higher ; 
and  on  Saturday,  the  10th,  had  got  so  high  that,  as  I  am  credi- 
bly informed,  certain  leading  persons  went  about  colleaguing 
and  consulting,  instead  of  attending  Public  Worship  on  the 
Lord's-day :  —  and  so,  on  Monday  morning  early,  while  the 
extreme  Gospel  Party  had  not  yet  assembled  in  the  House, 
it  wa«  surreptitiously  moved  and  carried,  old  Speaker  Rouse 
somewhat  treacherously  assenting  to  it,  "  That  the  sitting  of 
this  Parliament  any  longer,  as  now  constituted,  will  not  be  for 

1  v«.  296 ;  5th  Augnut,  1653. 

*  Exact  Relation  of  tke  Troniuirtions  of  the  late  Parliament,  by  a  Member  of 
the  ftame  (Louduu,  1654)  rcpriuted  iu  Some  it  Tract*,  vi.  266-284. 


336  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE   PARLIAMENT.         2  Dec. 

the  good  of  the  Commonwealth  ;  and  that  therefore  it  is  requi- 
site to  deliver  up  unto  the  Lord  General  Cromwell  the  Powers 
which  we  received  from  him  ! "  Whereupon,  adds  the  same 
Rhadainanthiue  Record,  "  the  House  rose ;  and  the  Speaker, 
with  many  of  the  Members  of  the  House,  departed  out  of  the 
1  louse  to  Whitehall :  where  they,  being  the  greater  number 
of  the  Members  sitting  in  Parliament,  did,  by  a  Writing," 
hastily  redacted  in  the  waiting-room  there,  and  signed  on 
separate  bits  of  paper  hastily  wafered  together,  "resign  unto 
his  Excellency  their  said  Powers.  And  Mr.  Speaker,  attended 
by  the  Members,  did  present  the  same  unto  his  Excellency 
accordingly,"  —  and  retired  into  private  life  again.1 

The  Lord  General  Cromwell  testified  much  emotion  and  sur- 
prise at  this  result ;  —  emotion  and  surprise  which  Dryasdust 
knows  well  how  to  interpret.  In  fact,  the  Lord  General  is 
responsible  to  England  and  Heaven  for  this  result;  and  it 
is  one  of  some  moment !  He  and  the  established  Council  of 
State,  "Council  of  Officers  and"  non-established  "Persons 
of  Interest  in  the  Nation,"  must  consider  what  they  will  now 
do! 

Clearly  enough  to  them,  and  to  us,  there  can  only  one  thing 
be  done :  search  be  made,  Whether  there  is  any  King,  Kon- 
ning-,  Canning,  or  Supremely  Able-Man  that  you  can  fall  in 
with,  to  take  charge  of  these  conflicting  and  colliding  elements, 
drifting  towards  swift  wreck  otherwise  ;  —  any  "  Parish  Con- 
stable," as  Oliver  himself  defines  it,  to  bid  good  men  keep  the 
peace  to  one  another.  To  your  unspeakable  good-luck,  such 
Supremely  Able-Man,  King,  Constable,  or  by  whatever  name 
you  will  call  him,  is  already  found,  —  known  to  all  persons 
for  years  past:  your  Puritan  Interest  is  not  yet  necessarily 
a  wreck ;  but  may  still  float,  and  do  what  farther  is  in  it, 
while  he  can  float ! 

From  Monday  onwards,  the  excitement  of  the  public  mind 
in  old  London  and  whithersoever  the  news  went,  in  those 
winter  days,  must  have  been  great.  The  "  Lord  General 

1  Commons  Journals,  vii.  363 ;  Exact  Relation,  ubi  supra ;  Whitlocke,  V. 
551,  &c. 


1653.  PROTECTOR.  337 

called  a  Council  of  Officers  and  other  Persons  of  Interest  in 
the  Nation,"  as  we  said ;  and  there  was  "  much  seeking  of  God 
by  prayer,"  and  abstruse  advising  of  this  matter,  —  the  matter 
being  really  great,  and  to  some  of  us  even  awful !  The  dia- 
logues, conferences  and  abstruse  advisings  are  all  lost;  the 
result  we  know  for  certain.  Monday  was  12th  of  December ; 
on  Friday,  16th,  the  result  became  manifest  to  all  the  world : 
That  the  ablest  of  Englishmen,  Oliver  Cromwell,  was  hence- 
forth to  be  recognized  for  Supremely  Able  ;  and  that  the  Title 
of  him  was  to  be  LORD  PROTECTOR  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH 
OF  ENGLAND,  SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND,  with  "Instrument  of 
Government,"  "Council  of  Fifteen  or  of  Twenty-one,"  and 
other  necessary  less  important  circumstances,  of  the  like 
conceivable  nature. 

The  Instrument  of  Government,  a  carefully  constitutional 
piece  in  Forty-two  Articles ;  the  Ceremony  of  Installation, 
transacted  with  due  simplicity  and  much  modest  dignity,  "  in 
the  Chancery  Court  in  Westminster  Hall."  that  Friday  after- 
noon ;  —  the  chair  of  state,  the  Judges  in  their  robes,  Lord 
Mayors  with  caps  of  maintenance  ;  the  state-coaches,  outriders, 
outrunners,  and  "  great  shoutings  of  the  people ; "  the  proces- 
sion from  and  to  Whitehall,  and  "  Mr.  Lockier  the  Chaplain's 
Exhortation  "  to  us  there  :  these,  with  the  inevitable  adjuncts 
of  the  case,  shall  be  conceived  by  ingenious  readers,  or  read  in 
innumerable  Pamphlets  and  Books,1  and  omitted  here.  "  His 
Highness  was  in  a  rich  but  plain  suit;  black  velvet,  with  cloak 
of  the  same :  about  his  hat  a  broad  band  of  gold."  Does  the 
reader  see  him?  A  rather  likely  figure,  I  think.  Stands 
some  five  feet  ten  or  more ;  a  man  of  strong  solid  stature, 
and  dignified,  now  partly  military  carriage:  the  expression 
of  him  valor  and  devout  intelligence, — energy  and  delicacy 
on  a  basis  of  simplicity.  Fifty-four  years  old,  gone  April 
last;  ruddy-fair  complexion,  bronzed  by  toil  and  age;  light- 
brown  hair  and  moustache  are  getting  streaked  with  gray. 
A  liguri-  of  sulHririit  impressiveness;  —  not  lovely  to  the  man- 
milliner  species,  nor  pretending  to  be  so.  Massive  stature; 

1  Whithx-ko,  pp.  r».V_»-.r>fil  ,  Newapapora   (iu  CrumweHiana,  p.    131,  in  Par- 

i  fli*t,>ry,  xx.) ;  &<:.&«. 
TOI..  xvin.  22 


338  PART  VII.    THE   LITTLE  PARLIAMENT.       16  Dec. 

big  massive  head,  of  somewhat  leonine  aspect,  "  evident  work- 
shop and  storehouse  of  a  vast  treasury  of  natural  parts." 
Wart  above  the  right  eyebrow;  nose  of  considerable  blunt- 
aquiline  proportions ;  strict  yet  copious  lips,  full  of  all  tremu- 
lous sensibilities,  and  also,  if  need  were,  of  all  fiercenesses  and 
rigors ;  deep  loving  eyes,  call  them  grave,  call  them  stern, 
looking  from  under  those  craggy  brows,  as  if  in  lifelong 
sorrow,  and  yet  not  thinking  it  sorrow,  thinking  it  only  labor 
and  endeavor  :  —  on  the  whole,  a  right  noble  lion-face  and  hero- 
face  ;  and  to  me  royal  enough.1  The  reader,  in  his  mind,  shall 
conceive  this  event  and  its  figures. 

Conceived  too,  or  read  elsewhere  than  here,  shall  Dryasdust's 
multifarious  unmelodious  commentaries  be,  —  and  likewise 
Anti-Dryasdust's ;  the  two  together  cancelling  one  another ; 
and  amounting  pretty  well,  by  this  time,  to  zero  for  us. 
"Love  of  power,"  as  flunkies  love  it,  remains  the  one  credi- 
bility for  Dryasdust ;  and  will  forever  remain.  To  the  valet- 
soul  how  will  you  demonstrate  that,  in  this  world,  there  is 
or  was  anything  heroic  ?  You  cannot  do  it ;  you  need  not 
try  to  do  it.  —  I  cite  with  some  reluctance  from  a  Manuscript 
Author,  often  enough  referred  to  here,  the  following  detached 
sentences,  and  so  close  this  Seventh  Part. 

"  Dryasdust  knows  not  the  value  of  a  king,"  exclaims  he ; 
"  the  bewildered  mortal  has  forgotten  it.  Finding  Kings'- 
cloaks  so  cheap,  hung  out  on  every  hedge,  and  paltry  as  beg- 
gars' gabardines,  he  says,  'What  use  is  in  a  King?  This 
King's-cloak,  if  this  be  your  King,  is  naught ! '  — 

"  Power  ?  Love  of  power  ?  Does  '  power '  mean  the  faculty 
of  giving  places,  of  having  newspaper  paragraphs,  of  being 
waited  on  by  sycophants  ?  To  ride  in  gilt  coaches,  escorted 
by  the  flunkyisms  and  most  sweet  voices,  —  I  assure  thee,  it 
is  not  the  Heaven  of  all,  but  only  of  many  !  Some  born  Kings 
I  myself  have  known,  of  stout  natural  limbs,  who,  in  shoes 
of  moderately  good  fit,  found  quiet  walking  handier ;  and 
crowned  themselves,  almost  too  sufficiently,  by  putting  on 
their  own  private  hat,  with  some  spoken  or  speechless,  '  God 

1  Maidston's  Letter  to  Winthrop,  in  Thurloe,  i.  763-768  ;  Cooper's  For- 
traits ;  Mask  of  Cromwell's  Face  (in  the  Statuaries'  Shops). 


1653.  PROTECTOR.  339 

enable  me  to  be  King  of  what  lies  under  this !  For  Eterni- 
ties lie  under  it,  and  Infinitudes,  and  Heaven  also  and  Hell. 
And  it  is  as  big  as  the  Universe,  this  Kingdom ;  and  I  am  to 
conquer  it,  or  be  forever  conquered  by  it,  now  while  it  is  called 
To-day!'— 

"  The  love  of  '  power,'  if  thou  understand  what  to  the  man- 
i'ul  heart  '  power '  signifies,  is  a  very  noble  and  indispensable 
love.  And  here  and  there,  in  the  outer  world  too,  there  is 
a  due  throne  for  the  noble  man ;  —  which  let  him  see  well  that 
he  seize,  and  valiantly  defend  against  all  men  and  things. 
God  gives  it  him ;  let  no  Devil  take  it  away.  Thou  also  art 
called  by  the  God's-message :  This,  if  thou  canst  read  the 
Heavenly  omens  and  dare  do  them,  this  work  is  thine.  Voice- 
less, or  with  no  articulate  voice,  Occasion,  god-sent,  rushes 
storming  on,  amid  the  world's  events ;  swift,  perilous ;  like 
a  whirlwind,  like  a  fleet  lightning-steed :  manfully  thou  shalt 
clutch  it  by  the  inane,  and  vault  into  thy  seat  on  it,  and  ride 
and  guide  there,  thou  !  Wreck  and  ignominious  overthrow, 
if  thou  have  dared  when  the  Occasion  was  not  thine :  ever- 
lasting scorn  to  thee  if  thou  dare  not  when  it  is; — if  the 
cackling  of  lioman  geese  and  Constitutional  ganders,  if  the 
clack  of  human  tongues  and  leading-articles,  if  the  steel  of 
armies  and  the  crack  of  Doom  deter  thee,  when  the  voice  was 
God's  !  —  Yes,  this  too  is  in  the  law  for  a  man,  my  poor  quack- 
ridden,  bewildered  Constitutional  friends ;  and  we  ought  to 
remember  this  withal.  Thou  shalt  is  written  upon  Life  in 
'•haructers  as  terrible  as  Thou  shalt  not, — though  poor  Dry- 
asdust reads  almost  nothing  but  the  latter  hitherto." 

And  so  we  close  Part  Seventh ;  and  proceed  to  trace  with 
ill  piety,  what  faint  authentic  vestiges  of  Oliver's  Protectorate 
the  envious  Stupidities  have  not  obliterated  for  us. 


SUPPLEMENT  TO  PART  VU. 


LIST  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

IN  the  old  Parliamentary  History,1  and  in  other  Books,  is  given, 
14  compiled  from  the  Chancery  Records  and  Commons  Journals,"  a 
List  of  the  Long-Parliament  Members,  arranged  according  to  their 
Counties  and  Boroughs ;  which  is  very  welcome  to  the  historical  in- 
quirer. But  evidently,  for  every  purpose  of  historical  inquiry  connected 
with  this  Period,  there  is  needed  farther,  —  if  not  some  well-investi- 
gated brief  "  Biographical  Dictionary  of  the  Long- Parliament  Mem- 
bers," such  as  the  pious  historical  student  is  free  to  imagine  for  himself, 
but  will  not  soon  get,  —  at  least  and  lowest,  some  Alphabetical  List  of 
their  Names  ;  the  ready  index  and  memento  of  a  great  many  things  to 
us.  As  no  such  List  was  anywhere  discoverable,  I  had  to  construct 
one  for  my  own  behoof  ;  a  process  by  no  means  difficult  in  proportion 
to  its  usefulness,  the  facts  being  already  all  given  in  the  extant  List 
by  Places,  and  only  requiring  to  be  rearranged  for  the  new  object  of 
a  List  by  Names.  This  latter  List,  after  long  doing  duty  in  the  man- 
uscript state,  is  now,  for  the  use  of  others,  appended  here  in  print,  — 
there  being  accidentally  a  corner  of  room  for  it  in  this  New  Edition. 

It  is  not  vitally  connected  with  Oliver  Cromwell's  Letters  and 
Speeches  ;  yet  neither  is  it  quite  without  relation  to  the  man.  Here 
are  the  Names  of  some  five  or  six  hundred  men,  whom  Oliver  Crom- 
well sat  in  view  of,  and  worked  along  with,  through  certain  years  of 
time  in  this  world  ;  their  Names  and  Localities,  if  we  have  nothing 
more.  More  is  attainable  concerning  several  of  them,  and  is  very  well 
worth  attaining ;  but  little  more,  to  the  general  reader,  is  yet  attained. 
Featureless,  to  the  general  reader  ;  little  other  than  ticketed  shadows, 
a  strange  sanhedrim  of  phantoms,  most  of  these  men  ;  —  not  unlikely 
all  of  them  to  become  shadows  and  invisible,  except  where  kindled  by 
some  contact  with  this  the  luminous  and  living  one  1  Here  are  their 

1  London,  1763,  ki.  13-&7. 


LIST   OF  THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT.  341 

Names,  at  whatever  worth  the  reader  may  put  upon  them  :  "  ad- 
joined" to  the  Name  of  Oliver  in  this  place,  but  capable  of  being 
disjoined  again  ;  and  perhaps  worth  printing,  there  being  a  corner  of 
room  for  them. 

What  is  a  more  questionable  point,  this  List  I  am  aware  is  not  quite 
free  from  errors  ;  one  or  two  of  which  it  has  even  fallen  in  my  own 
way  not  only  to  surmise,  but  to  prosecute  to  their  source,  and  correct. 
Numerous  I  do  not  suppose  them  to  be,  nor  important :  but  I  cannot 
certify  that  there  are  none  ;  nor  help  farther  in  removing  what  there 
may  be.  The  List  itself,  once  printed,  offers  to  all  studious  persons 
the  opportunity  to  help ;  which  certainly  it  would  be  a  beneficence  of 
its  sort  if  some  strict  antiquary,  or  series  of  antiquaries,  would  effect- 
ually do.  The  constituent  elements  of  the  "  most  remarkable  Parlia- 
ment that  ever  sat," — which  indeed  is  definable  as  the  Father  of 
Parliaments,  which  first  rendered  Parliaments  supreme,  and  has  since 
set  the  whole  world  upon  chase  of  Parliaments,  a  notable  speculation 
very  lively  in  most  parts  of  Europe  at  this  day,  —  deserve  at  least  to 
have  their  names  accurately  given.  They  deserve,  and  perhaps  they 
will  one  day  get,  much  more  ;  they  deserve  a  History,  constitutional, 
biographical,  political,  practical,  picturesque,  better  than  most  Enti- 
ties that  yet  have  one  among  us  ;  and,  in  all  points  of  view,  they  will 
be  found  not  imaginary  but  real,  and  well  worth  remembering  and 
attending  to.  Meanwhile,  in  the  absence  of  all  History,  constitutional 
or  other,  of  the  Long  Parliament,  let  this  imperfect  foreshadow  of  the 
incipiency  of  one  be  welcome. 


The  asterisk  *,  prefixed  to  a  Member's  name,  denotes  that  he  was  a  "  Recruiter  " 
(see  Letters  a*<l  Speeches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  236),  not  an  original  Member  :  "  disab." 
means  divMed,  declared  incapable  of  sitting  henceforth,  for  some  reason,  gener- 
ally for  Roijalism,  for  desertion  to  the  King  ;  the  year  when,  is  also  indicated. 
"  King's  judge  "  is  one  nominated  to  that  office,  and  only  in  part  or  not  at  all 
risking  to  perform  it  ;  "regicide"  is  one  who  performed  and  completed  it,  win. 
signed  the  Death-warrant  :  both  title*,  1  tind,  are  now  and  then,  especially  in  the 
cases  where  nothing  not  already  known  was  to  be  learned  from  them,  omitted  in 
this  Lost.  Other  contractions  will  probably  require  no  explanation. 

Abbot,  George,  Esq.  (dead  '45)     .     .     .  QuUdford. 

•Abbot,  George,  Esq Tamwarth. 

Acton,  Sir  Edward,  Knight  (disab.  '44)  Bridgnorth. 
Al.lhurgh,    Kiohard,    Esq.    (disab.    '42, 

Yorkshire  jM-titioii) Al'l/xtrouijh,  Yorkshire. 

*  Aid  worth,  Uiclutid,  Eaq Bristol. 


342  LIST  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

Alford,  Sir  Edward,  Kuight  (disab.  '44)  ArundeL 
Alford,    Sir     Edward,    Knight     (void, 

though  twice) Tewkesbury. 

Alford,  John,  Esq Shoreham. 

Allanson,  Sir  William,  Knight  (King's 

judge) York. 

*Allen,  Francis,  Esq.  (King's  judge).     .  Cockermouth. 

*Allen,  Matthew,  Esq Weymouth. 

Allestre,     William,     Esq.      (Recorder  ; 

disab.)        Derby. 

Alured,  John,- Esq.  (regicide)   ....  Heydon,  Yorkshire. 
Anderson,    Sir    Henry,   Knight   (disab. 

'44) Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Andover,  Charles,  Viscount  (e.  s.  of  E. 

of  Berkshire  ;  made  Peer   '40,  in  his 

father's  lifetime) Oxford. 

*Andrews,  Robert,  Esq Weobly,  Herefordshire. 

*Anlaby,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)       .  Scarborough. 

*Annesley,  Arthur,  Esq Radnorshire. 

*Apsley,  Edward,  Esq Steyning. 

Armyn,  Sir  William,  Baronet  (King's 

judge) Grantham. 

*Armyn,  William,  Esq.  (since  '15)    .     .  Cumberland. 

*Arthington,  Henry,  Esq Pontefract. 

Aruudel,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .    .  (St.  Michaels,  but  preferred 

Bodmin. 

*Arundel,  John,  Esq West  Looe. 

Arundel,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Lostwithiel. 

Arundel,  Thomas,  Esq.  (died)  ....  West  Looe. 

*  Arundel,  Thomas,  Esq West  Looe. 

*Ash,  James,  Esq Bath. 

Ashburnham,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)     .  Hastings. 
Ashburnham,  William,  Esq.   (army-plot 

'41,  expelled) Ludgershall,  Wilts. 

Ashe,  Edward,  Esq Heytesbury,  Wilts. 

Ashe,  John,  Esq Westbury,  Wilts. 

Ashton,  Ralph,  Esq Clithero. 

Ashton,  Sir  Ralph,  Baronet ...          -  Lancashire. 

Ashurst,  William,  Esq Newton,  Lancashire. 

*Atkins,  Thomas,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  .  Norwich. 

Ayscough,  Sir  Edward,  Knight     .     .     .  Lincolnshire. 

*Ayscough,  William,  Esq Thirsk. 


LIST   OF   THE    LONG    PARLIAMENT.  343 

*  Bacon,  Francis,  Esq Ipswich. 

*Bacon,  Nathaniel,  Esq Cambridge  University. 

*Bagot,  Sir  Harvey,  Knight  (disab.  '42)  Staffordshire. 

Bagshaw,  Edward,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Southuoark. 

*Baker,  John,  Esq East  Grinstead. 

Baldwin,  Charles,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)     .     .  Luillow. 

*  Hull,  John,  Esq.  (dead  '48)      ....  Abingdon. 
l>;ini[)lield,  Sir  John,  Baronet    ....  Penryn. 
Barker,  Anthony,  Esq.  (void)   ....  WaUingford. 
Barker,  John,  Esq.,  Alderman  ....  Coventry. 
Barnardiston,  Sir  Nathaniel,  Knight  .     .  Suffolk. 
•Barnardiston,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  .     .  Bury  St.  Edmunds. 
Barnttain,  Sir  Francis,  Knight  (dead  '46)  Maidslone. 

*  Harrington,  Sir  John,  Baronet  (King's 

judge) Newton,  Hants. 

Barrington,  Sir  Thomas,  Baronet  (dead 

'44) Colchester. 

•Barrow,  Morris,  Esq Eye,  Suffolk. 

Barwis,  Richard,  Esq.  (died)    ....  Carlisle. 

Basset,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '11)       .     .  Bath. 

Bayntou,   Sir   Edward,   Knight   (King's 

judge) Chippenham. 

Bay 1 1 ton,  Sir  Edward,  Knight  ....  Devizes. 

Bedingfield,  Sir  Anthony,  Knight      .     .  Dunwich. 

Bell,  William,  E.sq Westminster 

Bellasis,  Henry,  Esq.  (disab.   '42,  York- 
shire petition) Yorkshire. 

Bellasis,  John,  Esq.    (disab.  '42,  York- 
shire petition  ;  made  Ix>rd  '44)  .     .     .  Thirsk. 

Bellinghatn,    Sir   Henry,   Bart,    (disab. 

'45) Westmoreland. 

•Bellinghatn,  James,  Esq Westmoreland. 

BiMnv,  Squire,  Esq Aldborough,  Suffolk. 

•Bonce,     Alexander,     Esq.     (succeeded 

Rainsborough) Altlburnngh,  Suffolk. 

•I'.fiidlowes,  Sir  Robert,  Knight    .     .     .  Lancaster. 

met,  Thomas,  Esq.  (dead  '44)     .     .  Hindon,  WUt*. 

Benson,  Henry,  Esq.  (expelled  '41,  for 

.vlling  protections) Knarexhorougk. 

!'••  ;keley,  Sir  Henry,  Knight  (void)  .     .  Ilchester. 

•Hiildiilph,  Michael,  K»q Lichjleld. 

•Biughaui,  John,  E«q Sltaflcsbury. 


344  LIST   OF   THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

•Birch,  John,  Esq.  (the  Colonel;  Walk- 
er's Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  part  ii. 

p.  34) Leominster. 

*Birch,  Thomas,  Esq.  (from  Oct.  '49)  .  Liverpool. 

Bishop,  Sir  Edward,  Knight  (void)  .     .  Bramber. 

*Blackiston,  John,  Esq.  (regicide)     .     .  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

*Blagrave,  Daniel,  Esq.  (regicide)     .     .  Reading. 

*  Blake,  Robert,  Esq.  (the  Admiral)  .     .  Taunton. 

Blud worth,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (disab.)  Reigate. 

Bodville,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .     .  Anglesea. 

Bond,  Dennis,  Esq.  (King's  judge)    .     .  Dorchester. 

*Bond,  John,  LL.D Melcomb  Regis. 

*Boone,  Thomas,  Esq.  (King's  judge)    .  Clifton,    Dartmouth,    Hard- 
ness (Devonshire,  united) 

*Booth,  George,  Esq.  (May,  '46)  .     .     .  Cheshire. 

*Booth,  John,  Esq Portsmouth. 

*Borde,  Herbert,  Esq.  (died)    ....  Steyning. 

Borlace,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)    .     .     .  Corfe  Castle. 

Borlace,  John,  Esq.  (void) Marlow. 

*Bo,scawen,  Hugh,  Esq Cornwall. 

*Bosville,  Godfrey,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  Warwick. 

*Boughtoii,  Thomas,  Esq Warwickshire. 

*Bourchier,  Sir  John,  Knight  (regicide)  Ripon. 

Bowyer,   Sir   Thomas,    Baronet   (disab. 

'42,  for  Chichester  garrison)       .     .     .  Bramber. 

Bowyer,  Sir  William  (died  '40)    .     .     .  Staffordshire. 

*Bowyer,  John,  Esq Staffordshire. 

Boyle,  Richard,  Viscount  Dungarvon 
(e.  s.  of  E.  of  Cork,  whom  he  suc- 
ceeded in  '43  ;  disab.  '43)  ....  Appleby. 

*Boynton,  Sir  Matthew,  Baronet  (dead 

'47) Scarborough. 

Boys,  Sir  Edward,  Knight  (dead  '46)     .  Dover. 

*Boys,  John,  Esq Kent. 

Brereton,  Sir  William,  Bart.  (King's 

judge) Cheshire. 

Brett,  Henry,  Esq.  (disab.)      ....  Gloucester. 

*Brewster,  Robert,  Esq Dunwich. 

Bridgeman,  Orlando,  Esq.  (Lawyer,  see 
D'Etves,  118  ;  disab.  for  assisting 

Lord  Strange  '42) Wigan. 

*Briggs,  Sir  Humphrey,  Knight   .     .     .  Great  Wenlock. 


LIST   OF   THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT.  345 

Brooke,  Sir  John,  Knight  (disab.   '43, 

for  raising  money  in  Lincolnshire)      .  Appleby. 

*Brooke,  Peter,  Esq Newton,  Lancashire. 

Brown,  Sir  Ambrose,  Baronet ....  Surrey. 

*Brown,  Richard,  Esq Bomney. 

*Brown,  Major- General  Richard  (disab. 
'49) Wycombe. 

Brown,  Samuel,  Esq Clifton,    Dartmouth,    Hard- 
ness (united). 

*Browue,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)      .  Dorsetshire. 

Broxholme,  John,  Esq.  (dead  '47)     .     .  Lincoln. 

Buckhurst,  Lord  Richard  (e.  a',  of  E.  of 

Dorset,  disab.  '44) (Steyning,  Sussex,  but  pre- 
fers) East  Grinstead. 

•Bulkeley,  John,  Esq Newton,  Hants. 

Buller,  Francis,  Esq East  Looe. 

Buller,  George,  Esq.  (died)       ....  Saltash. 

Buller,  Sir  Richard,  Knight  (dead  '46)  .  Fowey. 

*Burgoyne,  Sir  John,  Baronet  ....  Warwickshire. 

•Burgoyne,  Sir  Roger,  Baronet     .     .     .  Bedfordshire. 

Burrel,  Abraham,  Esq.  (King's  judge)   .  Huntingdon. 

Button,  John,  Esq Lymington. 

Byshe,  Edward,  junior,  Esq Bletchingley. 

Cage,  William,  Esq.  (dead  *44)     .     .     .  Ipswich. 

Campbell,  James,  Esq Qrampound. 

Campion,  Henry,  Esq Lymington. 

Capel,  Arthur,  Esq.  (created  Lord  '41)  .  Hertfordshire. 

Carew,    Sir    Alexander     (treachery    of 

Plymouth;  beheaded  '44)      ....  Cornwall. 

•Carew,  John,  Esq.  (regicide)  ....  Tregony,  Cornwall. 

•Carew,  William,  Esq Milborn  Port. 

('iirnaby,  Sir   William,  Knight   (disab. 

'42) Morpeth. 

Catalyn,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)   .     .  Norwich. 

Cave,  Sir  Richard,  Knight  (disab.  '42)  .  Lichfield. 

Cawley,  William,  Esq.  (regicide)       .     .  Midhurst,  Sussex. 

CVril,  Robert,  Esq.  (2d  B.  of  E.  of  Salis- 
bury)      Old  Sarum. 

•(Vive,  Thomas,  Esq Bridjwrt,  Dorsetshire. 

•ri.;i.lw.-ll,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '11)   .  St.  Michael*,  Cornwall. 

•rii.illoner,  James,  E.s<[    (Kind's  judge)  Aldborow/h ,  Yorkshire. 

,  Thomas,  JVM j.  ( re^icidu)  .     .  Richmond,  Yorkshire. 


340  LIST   OF   THE   LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

*Charlton,  Robert,  Esq Bndgnorth.  • 

Chaworth,  Dr.  (not  duly) Mid  hurst,  Sussex. 

Cheeke,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight    ....  (Becralslon,  Devon,  but  pre- 
ferred) Harwich. 

*Chettle,  Francis,  Esq Corfe  Castle. 

Cheyne,  William,  Esq.  (died)  ....  Amersham. 

Chichely,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)       .  Cambridgeshire. 

Cholmley,  Sir  Hugh  (disab.  '43)    .     .     .  Scarborough. 

*Cholmley,  Thomas,  Esq Carlisle. 

Chomley,  Sir  Henry,  Knight    ....  Northallerton. 

*Clark,  Samuel,  Esq Exeter. 

*Clement,  Gregory,  Esq.  (regicide;  disab. 

'52) Camclford. 

Clifton,  Sir  Gervase,  Baronet  (disab.)    .  East  Retford. 
Clinton,  Lord  Edward   (e.   s.  of  E.  of 

Lincoln) St.  Michaels,  Cornwall. 

*Clive,  Robert,  Esq Bridgnorlh. 

Clotworthy,   Sir  John,  Knight   (disab., 

one  of  the  11) (Bossiney,     Cornwall,     but 

prefers)  Maiden,  >  w«a;. 

Coke,  Henry,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)      .     .     .  Dunwich. 

Coke,  Sir  John,  Knight Derbyshire. 

Colepepper,   Sir   John,   Knight    (disab. 

'44;  made  Lord  21  Oct.  '44)  .     .     .     .  Kent. 

Combe,  Edward,  Esq.  (void)    ....  Warwickshire. 
Compton,  Lord  James  (e.    s.  of  E.  of 

Northampton;  disab.) Warwickshire. 

Coningsby,  Fitzwilliam,  Esq.  (disab.  '41, 

monopolist) Herefordshire. 

*Coniugsby,    Humphrey,    Esq.    (disab. 

'46) Herefordshire. 

*Constable,  Sir  William,  Baronet  (regi- 
cide;  instead  of  Benson  the  jobber, 

and  in  preference  to  Deerlove,  '42)     .  Knaresborough. 

Constantino,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '43)  .  Poole. 

Uook,  Sir  Robert,  Knight  (died)    .     .     .  Tewkesbury. 

Cook,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .     .  Leicester. 
*Copley,  Lionel,  Esq.  (disab.  with  the 

11) Bossiney. 

*Corbet,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  .     .  Bishop's  Castle,  Salop. 

*Corbet,  Sir  John,  Baronet Shropshire. 

Corbet,  Miles,  Esq.  (regicide)  ....  Yarmouth. 


LIST  OP  THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT.  347 

Cornwallis,  Sir  Frederick,  Baronet  (dis- 

ab   '42,  for  sending  officers  from  Hol- 
land)       Eye,  Suffolk. 

Coryton,  William,  Esq.  (not  duly)     .     .  Launccston,  alias  DuncheviL 
•Coventry,  John,  Esq.    (2d  s.   of  late 

Lord  Keeper,  disab.  '42) Evesham. 

Cowcher,  John,  Esq Worcester. 

Cradock,  Matthew,  Esq.  (died  '40)    .     .  London. 
Cranbourne,  Viscount  Charles  (e.  s.  of 

K.  of  Salisbury) Hertford. 

Crane,  Sir  Robert,  Baronet  (dead  '44)   .  Sudbury. 
Craven,  John,  Esq.  (void;  made  Baron 

Craven  21  March,  '43) Tewkesbury. 

Creswell,  Sergeant  Richard Evesham. 

Crew,  John,  Esq Brackley. 

Crispe,  Sir  Nicholas,  Knight  (expelled 

'41,  for  monopoly  in  copperas)  .     .     .  Winchelsea. 

*Crompton,  Thomas,  Esq Staffordshire. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  Esq Cambridge. 

*Cromwell,  Richard,  Esq Portsmouth. 

Crooke,  Sir  Roliert,  Knight  (disab.  '43)  Wendover,  Bucks- 

•Crowther,  William,  Esq Weobly. 

*Crynes,  Elizeus,  Esq Tavistock. 

Curwen,   Sir  Patricius,  Baronet  (disab. 

'44) Cumberland. 

Curzon,  Sir  John,  Baronet Derbyshire. 

*Dacres,  Sir   Thomas,  Knight  (instead 

of  Capel) Hertfordshire. 

•Dacres,  Thomas,  Esq Kellington. 

Dalstnn,  Sir  George,  Knight  (disab  '44)  Cumlterland. 

I  Ulsiou,  Sir  William,  Baronet  (disab. '44)  Carlisle. 
Dauby,  Sir  Tlmmas,  Knight  (disab.  '42, 

Yorkshire  petition) Richmond,  Yorkshire. 

•Danvers,  Sir  John,  Knight  (E.  Danby's 

brother;  regicide) Malmsbury. 

•Darlcy,  Henry.  K»\ Malton. 

•Daili-v.  Kirhai.l,  KM).  (Kin  •  s  judge)  .  Northallcrton. 

h.i\i.    .  Mrii'i. "A.  IVMJ.  (.lisali.  '!:'.)    .     .  Christchurch,  Hants. 

•Davies,  William,  Ksq Carmarthen. 

Deerinp,  Sir  Edward,  Barouet  (disab.  '42, 

for  printing  his  speechea) Kent. 

•Decrlove,  William,  Esq.  (void)   .     .     .  Knaresborough. 


348  LIST  OF   THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

Denton,  Sir  Alexander,  Knight  (disab. 

'44) Buckingham. 

*Devereux,  George,  Esq Montgomery. 

D'Ewes,  Sir  Simond,  Baronet  ....  Sudbury. 

Digby,  Lord  George  (e.  s.  of  E.  of  Bris- 
tol; till  10  June,  '41,  writ  to  House  of 

Peers) (Milborn  Port,  but  preferred) 

Dorsetshire. 

Digby,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '42).     .     .     .  Milborn  Port. 

Dives,  Sir  Lewis,  Knight  (disab.)     .     .  Bridport. 

*Dixwell,  John,  Esq.  (regicide)     .     .     .  Dover. 

*Dobins,  Daniel,  Esq Bewdley. 

*Dodderidge,  John,  Esq Barnstaple. 

*Dormer,  John,  Esq.  (in  '46)  ....  Buckingham. 

*Dove,  John,  P^sq.  (King's  judge)     .     .  Salisbury. 

*Downes,  John,  Esq.  (regicide)    .     .     .  Arundel. 

*Dowse,  Edward,  Esq.  (dead  '48)     .     .  Portsmouth. 

*Doyley,  John,  Esq Oxford. 

Drake,  Sir  William,  Knight     ....  Amersham,  Bucks. 

*Drake,  Francis,  Esq Amersham. 

*Drake,  Sir  Francis,  Baronet  ....  Beerahton. 

Dryden,  Sir  John,  Baronet Northamptonshire. 

Dunch,  Edmund,  Esq Wallingford. 

Dutton,  John,  Esq.  (disab.)      ....  Gloucestershire. 

*Earle,  Erasmus,  Esq Nonoich. 

Earle,  Thomas,  Esq Wareham,  Dorset. 

Earle,  Sir  Walter,  Knight Weymouth. 

Eden,  Thomas,  LL.D.  (dead  in  '44).     .  Cambridge  University, 

Edgcombe,  Piers,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Camelford. 

Edgecumbe,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.)   .     .  Newport,  Cornwall. 

*Edwards,  Humphrey,  Esq.  (regicide)  .  Shropshire. 

*Ed wards,  Richard,  Esq.  (Nov.  '50).     .  Bedford. 

*Edwards,  Richard,  Esq Christchurch,  Hants. 

*Edwards,  William,  Esq Chester. 

*Egerton,  Sir  Charles,  Knight ....  Ripon. 

*Elford,  John,  Esq Tlverton. 

Ellis,  William,  Esq Boston. 

*Ellison,  Robert,  Esq Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Erisy,  Richard,  Esq St.  Mawes,  Cornwall. 

Eure,  Sergeant  Samuel  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Leominster. 

•Evelyn,  George,  Esq Reigate. 

Evelyn,  Sir  John,  Knight Bletchingley ,  Surrey 


LIST  OF  THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT.  349 

Evelyn,  Sir  John,  Knight Luilgershall,  Wilts. 

Eversfield,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (disab. 

'44) Hastings. 

Exton,  Edward,  Esq Southampton. 

•Fagg,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)     .     .  Rye. 

Fairfax,  Lord  Ferdiuaudo  (died  '47)     .  Yorkshire. 

•Fairfax,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (from  7 

Feb.  '49) Cirencester. 

Falkland,   Lord  (disab.    '42,  killed   at 

Newbery,  Sept.  '43) Newport,  Wight. 

Fanshaw,    Sir    Thomas,   K.B.    (disab. 

'43) Hertford. 

Fanshaw,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (disab. 

'42) Lancaster. 

*Fell,  Thomas,  Esq.  (after  Fanshaw)     .  Lancaster. 

Fenwick,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44) .     .     .  Morpeth. 

*Fenwick,  George,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  Morpeth. 

Fenwick,  Sir  John,  Knight  (disab.  '44)  ( Cockermo uth,  but  pre- 
ferred) Northumberland. 

*Fenwick,  William,  Esq Northumberland. 

Femfold,  Sir  Thomas  (dead  '45)  .     .     .  Steyning. 

Ferrers,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.)     .     .     .  Barnstaple. 

Fettiplacc,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)    .     .  Berkshire. 

•Fielder,  John,  Esq St.  Ives,  Cornwall. 

Fiennes,   Hon.   James   (e.   s.   of   "Old 

Subtlety,"  Say  and  Scale)     ....  Oxfordshire. 

*Fiennes,   Hon.   John   (3d  s.   of   Sub- 
tlety)      Morpeth. 

Fiennes,  Hon.  Nathaniel  (2d  s.  of  Sub- 
tlety)      Banbury. 

Finch,  Sir  John,  Knight  (dead  '44)    .     .  Winchchea. 

Fitxwilliiim,  Hon.  William  (e.  s.  of  Lord 

Vise.  Fitzwilliam;  till  Jan.  '44)    .     .  Peterborough. 

•Flootwood,  Charles,  Esq Marlborough. 

•Fleetwood,  George,  Esq.  (regicide;  suc- 
ceeded Goodwin,  '15) Buckinghamshire. 

Fleetwrxxl,  Sir  Miles,  Knight  (died)  .     .  Ilindon,  Wilts. 

Fountaine,  Thomas,  Esq.   (in  place  of 

H:ini|«lt'n;  dead  *4tf) Wentlnvrr. 

*Fowel,  Edmund,  Esq Tavinlock. 

Fo\\cl,  Sir  Edmund,  Knight    ....  AsMmrton. 

•FoxwUt,   Williitiu,  Eaq Carnarvon. 


350  LIST   OF   THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

Franklyn,  John,  Esq.  (dead  '45)  .     .     .  Marlborougk. 
Franklyn,   Sir   John,   Knight   (dead  in 

'48) Middlesex. 

*Frye,     John,     Esq.      (King's     judge; 

against  the  Trinity;  disab.   '51)     ,     .  Shaftesbury. 

Gallop,  George,  Esq Southampton. 

Gamul,   Francis,  Esq.   (disab.    '44 ;  see 

Rushworth,  iv.  3) Chester. 

*Gardiner,  Samuel,  Esq Evesham. 

*Garland,  Augustin,  Esq.  (regicide) .     .  Queenborough. 

Garton,  Henry,  Esq.  (dead  '41)    .     .     .  Arundel. 

Gawdy,   Framlingham,  Esq Thetford. 

*Gawen,  Thomas,  Esq Launceston,  alias  Dunchevit 

*Gell,  Thomas,  Esq Derby. 

George,  John,  Esq.  (disab.)     ....  Cirencester. 

Gerrard,  Francis,  Esq Seaford  {Cinque  Ports). 

Gerrard,  Sir  Gilbert,  Baronet  ....  Middlesex. 
Glauville,    Sergeant   John    (instead   of 

Humphrey  Hooke,  monopolist)      .     .  Bristol 

Glanville,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)     .  Camelford. 
Glynn,  John,   Esq.   (Recorder;    disab., 

one  of  the  11) Westminster. 

Godolphin,  Francis,  Esq.  (disab.)     .     .  St.  Ives,  Cornwall. 
Godolphin,  Francis,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)    .  Helston,  Cornwall. 
Godolphin,  Sidney,  Esq.  (killed  at  Salt- 
ash  '42) Helston. 

*Gold,  Nicholas,  Esq.  (died)    ....  Fowey. 

Goodwin,  Arthur,  Esq.  (died,  May  '45)  Buckinghainshire. 
Goodwin,    Ralph,    Esq.     (disab.     '44  ; 

Secretary  to  Rupert) Ludlow. 

Goodwin,  Robert,  Esq East  Grinstead. 

Goodwyn,  John,  Esq Haslemere,  Surrey. 

Gorges,   Sir   Theobald,    Knight   (disab. 

'44) Cirencesler. 

Goring,  Colonel  George  (disab.   '42,  for 

surrendering  Portsmouth)     ....  Portsmouth. 

*Got,  Samuel,  Esq Winchelsea. 

*Gourdon,  Brampton,  jun.,  Esq.        .     .  Sudbury. 

Gourdon,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)      .  Ipswich. 

Grantham,  Thomas,  Esq Lincoln. 

*Gratvvick,  Roger,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  Hastings. 

*Green,  Giles,  Esq Corfe  Castle. 


LIST  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  351 

Greenville,  Sir  Bevil  (disab.  '42;  killed 

at  Lansdo'.vn,  July,  '43)       ....  Cornwall. 
Grey,  Henry  de  (commonly  called  Lord 

Ruthen ;    House  of  Peers,  on  father 

E.  Kent's  death,  in  '43) Leicestershire. 

Grey,  Lord  Thomas,  of  Groby  (e.  s.  of 

E.  of  Stamford;  regicide)      ....  Leicester. 

Griffith,  Sir  Edward,  Knight  (disab.  '44)  Downton,  Wilts. 

Griffith,  John,  sen.,  Esq.  (died  '42)  .     .  Beaumaris. 

(iriiiith,  John,  jun.,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)    .  Carnarvonshire. 
Grimston,   Harbottle,  Esq.  (afterwards 

Sir) Colchester. 

Grimston,  Sir  Harbottle,  Baronet  (dead 

'47) Harwich. 

*Grove,  Thomas,  Esq Milborn  Port. 

Hales,  Sir  Edward,  Baronet  (disab.)      .  Queenborough ,  Kent. 

Hallows,  Nathaniel,  Esq.  (Alderman)  .  Derby. 

llainpden,  John,  Esq.  (slain  June,  '43)  (  Wendover,  but  preferred) 

Buckinghamshire. 
Harding,   Sir  Richard,   Knight  (disab. 

'44) Bedtoin,  Wilts. 

•Harley,  Edward,  Esq.  (till  '47;  one  of 

the  11) Herefordshire. 

Harley,  Sir  Robert,  K.B Herefordshire. 

•Harley,  Robert,  Esq Radnor. 

Harman,  Richard,  Esq.  (dead  '46)    .     .  Norwich. 
•Harrington,  Sir  James,  Knight  (King's 

judge) Rutlandshire. 

•Harrington,  John,  Esq.  (void)    .     .     .  Somersetshire.1 

•Harris,  John,  Esq Launceston,  alias  Dunchevit. 

Harris,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)     .     .     .  Lixkeard. 

Harrison,  Sir  John,  Knight  (disab.  '43)  Lancaster. 
•Harrison,   Thomas,  Esq.  (Major-Gen- 

eral,  regicide) Wendover. 

Harrison,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '43)      .  Queenborough 

Hartnoll,  George,  Esq.  (disab.)    .     .     .  Tiverton. 
•Harvey,    Edmund,   Esq.    (instead    of 

Smith;  King's  judge) Bedwin,  Wilts. 

•Harvey,  Edward,  Esq Higham  Ferrers. 

Harvey,  John,  Ksq.  (dead  '45)          .     .  Hythe. 

1  Sat  afterward*  for  Ca.itle  Carey,  as  appears  ;  and  took  come  dim  meagre  ffottt, 
which  are  still  hi  existence  among  tin-  I'.iit.  Mtis.  MSS. 


352  LIST  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

Haselrig,  Sir  Arthur,  Baronet  (King's 

iudere)  .  ....  Leicestershire. 

J          Ox 

Hatcher,  Thomas,  Esq Stamford. 

Hatton,  Sir  Christopher  (disab.  '42,  ar- 
ray;  made  Baron '43)      (Castle Rising, but  preferred) 

Higham  Ferrers. 

Hatton,    Sir   Robert   (in    place   of   Sir 

Christopher ;  disab.  '42) Castle  Rising. 

*Hay,  Herbert,  Esq Arundel. 

*Hay,  William,  Esq Rye. 

Hayman,  Sir  Henry,  Baronet  ....  Hythe. 

Hayman,  Sir  Peter,  Knight  (dead  '41)  .  Dover. 

Heblethwaite,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  Malton. 

*Hele,  Sir  Thomas  (disab.)      ....  Plimpton,  Devon. 

Herbert,  Edward,   Esq.    (till  Jan.   '41, 

made  Attorney-General) Old  Sarum. 

Herbert,  Sir  Henry,  Knight  (disab.  '42, 

array) Bewdley. 

*Herbert,  Henry,  Esq Monmouthshire 

*  Herbert,  John,  Esq Monmouthshire' 

*Herbert,  Hon.  James  (2d  s.  of  E.  of 

Pembroke) Wiltshire. 

Herbert,  Lord  Phil.  (e.  s.  of  E.  of  Pem- 
broke)    Glamorganshire. 

Herbert,  Richard,  Esq.   (disab.   '42,   ar- 
ray)        Montgomery. 

Herbert,  William,   Esq.   (disab.,  killed 

atEdgehill) Cardiff. 

Herbert,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  (  Woodstock,  but  preferred) 

Monmouthshire. 

Heveningham,   William,   Esq.    (King's 

judge)        Stockbridge,  Hants. 

*Hill,  Roger,  Esq.  (King's  judge)     .     .  Bridport. 

Hippesley,  Gabriel,  Esq.  (void)    .     .     .  Marlow. 

Hippesley,  Sir  John,  Knight     ....  Cockermoutk. 

*Hobart,  Sir  John,  Baronet  (dead  '47)  Norfolk. 

Hobby,   Peregrine,  Esq.    (in    place   of 

Borlace) Marlow. 

*Hodges,  Luke,  Esq.  (died)     ....  Bristol. 

Hodges,  Thomas,  Esq Cricklade. 

*Hodgps,  Thomas,  Esq Ilchester. 

Holboru,  Robert,  Esq.  (disab   '42)    .     .  St.  Michaels. 


LIST  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  353 

*Holcrofte,  John,  Esq Wigan. 

Holland,  Cornelius,  Esq.  (King's  judge; 

in  place  of  Roe) New  Windsor. 

Holland,  Sir  John,  Baronet       ....     Castle  Rising,  Norfolk. 
Holies,  Denzil,   Esq.   (till  '47;  one  of 

the  11) Dorchester. 

•Holies,  Francis,  Esq Lostwilhiel. 

Holies,  Gervase,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)      .     .     Great  Grimsby. 
Hooke,  Humphrey,  Esq.  (monopolist,  not 

duly:  Evans's  Bristol,  p.  181)    .     .     .     Bristol. 
Hopton,  Sir  Ralph,  K.B.  (disab.  '42)    .     Wells. 
•Homer,  George,  Esq.  (void;  Harring- 
ton's partner)     Somersetshire. 

•Hoskins,  Bennet,  Esq Hereford. 

Hotham,  John,  Esq.   (beheaded  1  Jan. 

'44) Scarborough. 

Hotham,  Sir  John,   Baronet  (beheaded 

2  Jan.  '44) Beoerley. 

•Houghton,  Sir  Richard,  Baronet  (from 

'45) Lancashire. 

•Howard,  Lord  Edward,  of  Escrick  (in 

'49;  disab.  '51) Carlisle. 

Howard,  Sir  Robert,  K.B.  (disab.  '42)  .     Bishop's  Castle,  Salop. 
Howard,    Thomas,    Esq.    (in    place   of 

Barker;  disab.  '44;  D'Ewcs,  219)       .      Wallingford 
Hoyle,  Thomas,  Esq.  (Alderman)     .     .     York. 
•Hudson,  Edmund,  Esq.  (disab.  '47)     .     Lynn. 
Hiin^erford,  Anthony,  Esq.  (disab.)      .     Malmsbury. 
Hungerford,  Sir  Edward,  K.B.    .     .     .     Chippenham. 

•Hungorford,  Henry,  Esq Bedwin,  WUt*. 

Hunt,  Robert,  Esq.  (void,  but  re-elected; 

disab.  '44) Ilchester. 

•Hunt,  Thomas,  Esq Shrewsbury. 

•Hussey,  Thomas,  Esq.   (after  Jervoise 

«li.-d) Whilchurch,  Hants. 

•Hutchinson,  John,  Esq.  (the  Colonel; 

regicide) Nottinghamshire. 

Hutchinson,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (dead 

'44) Nottinghamshire. 

Hyde,  Edward,  Esq.  (Clarendon;  disab. 

»42) Saltaxh. 

',  Sergeant  Robort  (disab.  '42)  .     .     Salisbury. 
VOL.  xviii.  23 


354  LIST   OF   THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

*Ingoldsby,  Richard,  Esq.  (the  signer)  .  Wendover. 

Ingram,  Sir  Arthur,  Knight  (died)  .     .  Kellingtom* 
Ingram,    Sir  Thomas,    Knight    (disab. 

'42,  for  Yorkshire  petition)  ....  Thirsk. 

Irby,  Sir  Anthony,  Knight Boston. 

*Ireton,  Henry,  Esq Appleby. 

Jacob,  Sir  John,  Knight  (expelled  '41, 

monopolist  of  tobacco) Rye. 

Jane,  Joseph,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)     .     .     .  Liskeard. 

Jenner,  Robert,  Esq Cricklade. 

Jennings,  Sir  John,  Knight  (died  '42)  .  St.  Albans. 
*Jenniugs,  Richard,  Esq.  (succeeds  Sir 

John) St.  Albans. 

Jephson,  William,  Esq Stockbridge,  Hants. 

Jermyn,  Henry,  Esq.  (disab.  '43;  Lord 

Jermyn) Bury  St.  Edmunds. 

Jermyn,    Sir   Thomas,    Knight   (disab. 

'44) Bury  St.  Edmunds. 

Jervoise,  Richard,  Esq.  (dead  '45)     .     .  Whit  church,  Hants. 

Jervoise,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight   ....  Whitchurch.  Hants* 

Jesson,  William,  Esq.  (Alderman)    .     .  Coventry. 

Jones,  Arthur,  Lord  Ranelagh  (disab.)  Weobly. 

*Jones,  John,  Esq.  (regicide)  ....  Merionethshire. 

*Jones,  Colonel  Philip  (in  Feb.  '50)       .  Brecknockshire. 

Jones,  William,  Esq Beaumaris. 

*Kekewich,  George,  Esq Liskeard. 

*Kemp,  John,  Esq Christchurch,  Hants. 

Killegrew,  Henry,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)      .  West  Looe. 

King,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.  '43)  .     .     .  Melcomb  Regis. 

Kirkby,  Roger,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)      .     .  Lancashire. 

*Kirkham,  Roger,  Esq.  (dead  '46)    .     .  Old  Sarum. 

Kirle,  Walter,  Esq Leominster. 

Kirton,  Edward,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)     .     .  Milborn  Port. 

*Knatchbull,  Sir  Norton,  Baronet      .     .  Romney. 

Knightley,  Richard,  Esq Northampton. 

Knowles,  Sir  Francis,  sen.,  Knight  .     . 

(died  '48) Reading. 

Knowles,    Sir     Francis,    Jan.,    Knight 

(died  '45) Reading. 

Lane,  Thomas,  Esq Wy  combe. 

*Langton,  William,  Esq Preston. 

*Lascelles,  Francis,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  Thirsk. 


LIST  OF  THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT.  355 

*Lawrence.  Henry,  Esq Westmoreland. 

•Lechuiere,  Nicholas,  Esq Droitwich. 

Lee,  Richard,  Esq Rochester. 

Lee,  Sir  Richard,  Baronet  (disab.  '42)  .  Shropshire. 

•Leech,  Nicholas,  Esq.  (dead  '47)      .     .  Newport,  Cornwall. 

Leeds,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)      .     .  Steyning. 

Ixjgh,  Peter,  Esq.  (dead  '41)    ....  Newton,  Lancashire. 

Legrose,  Sir  Charles,  Knight     ....  Orford,  Suffolk. 

•Leigh,  Edward,  Esq Stafford. 

Leigh,  Sir  John,  Knight Yarmouth,  Wight. 

*Leman,  William,  Esq Hertford. 

•Lenthall,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)     .  Gloucester. 

Lenthall,  William,  Esq.  (Speaker)    .     .  Woodstock. 

Leveson,  Sir  Richard,  K.B.   (disab.  '42)  Newcastle-under-Line. 

•Lewis,  Ludovicos,  Esq Brecon. 

Lewis,  Sir  William,  Baronet  (disab.,  one 

of  the  11,  in  '47) Petersfield. 

Lewkenor,  Christopher,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)  Chichester. 

Lisle,  Johu,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  .     .     .  Winchester. 

Lisle,  Lord  Philip  (e.   s.  of  Robert  E. 

of  Leicester;  King's  judge).      .     .     .  (St.  Iocs,  Cornwall,  but  pre- 
ferred) Yarmouth,  Wight. 

Lister,  Sir  John,  Knight  (died)     .     .     .  Hull. 

•Lister,  Thomas,  Esq.  (King's  judge)    .  Lincoln. 

•Lister,  Sir  William,  Knight    ....  East  Retford. 

Littleton,   Sir  Edward,  Baronet  (disab. 

'44) Staffordshire. 

Littleton,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)      .  Great  Wenlock. 

Litton,  Sir  William,  Knight     ....  Hertfordshire. 

•Livesey,   Sir   Michael,  Baronet  (regi- 
cide)        Queenborougk. 

Lloyd,  Francis,  Esq.  (disab.  '44) .     .     .  Carmarthen. 

•Lloyd,  John,  Esq Carmarthenshire. 

I.Iuy.l.  Walter,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .     .  Cardiganshire. 

*I,ong,  Lislebone,  Esq Wells. 

Long,    Richard,   Esq.    (monopolist,  not 

duly) Bristol. 

•Long,  Walter,  Esq.    (instead  of  Ash- 

bumham;  one  of  the  11,  in  '47)     .     .  Ludgcrshall,  Wilts. 

•Love,  Nicholas,  r'.^\.  (King's  judge)    .  Winchester. 

Lowe,  George;,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .     .  Calne. 

Lower,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)     .     .  East  Looe. 


356  LIST   OF  THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

Lowry,  John,   Esq.  (King's  judge;  see 

Harris,  Appendix) Cambridge. 

Lucas,  Henry,  Esq Cambridge  University. 

*Luckyn,  Capel,  Esq Harwich. 

*Lucy,  Sir  Richard,  Baronet     .    ...  Old  Sarum. 

Lucy,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (died  '40)     .  Warwick. 

*Ludlow,  Edmund,  Esq Hindon,  Wills. 

Ludlow,  Sir  Henry,  Knight  (dead  '44)  .  Wiltshire. 

*Ludlow,  Lieut- General  Edmund  (regi- 
cide)        Wiltshire. 

Luke,  Sir  Oliver,  Knight Bedfordshire. 

Luke,  Sir  Samuel,  Knight  (died)      .     .  Bedford. 

Lumley,  Sir  Martin,  Baronet   ....  Essex. 

Lutterel,  Alexander,  Esq.  (dead  '44)     .  Minehead. 

Lyster,  Sir  Martin,  Knight       ....  Brackley,  Northamptonshu*. 

*Mackworth,  Thomas,  Esq Ludlow. 

Mallory,  Sir  John,  Knight  (disab.  '43)  Ripon. 

Mallory,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '42,  York- 
shire petition) Ripon. 

Manaton,  Ambrose,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)      .  Launceston,  alias  Dunchevit. 

Mansfield,  Charles  Viscount  (e.  s.  of  E. 

of  Newcastle,  disab.  '44)      ....  East  Retford. 

Marlot,  William,  Esq.  (dead  '46)       .     .  Shoreham. 

Marten,  Henry,  Esq.  (regicide)     .     .     .  Berkshire. 

*Martin,  Christopher,  Esq Plimpton. 

*Martin,  Sir  Nicholas,  Knight      .     .     .  Devonshire. 

*Masham,  Sir  William,  Baronet  (King's 

judge) Essex. 

*Masham,  William,  Esq Shrewsbury. 

*Massey,   Edward,    Esq.    (the    soldier; 

disab.,  one  of  the  11) Wootton  Basset. 

Masters,  Sir  Edward,  Knight  (dead  '48)  Canterbury. 

*Matthews,  Roger,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  Clifton,    Dartmouth,    Hard- 
ness (united). 

Mauleverer,  Sir  Thomas,  Baronet  (regi- 
cide)       Boroughbridge. 

May,  Thomas,  Esq.  (not  May  historian ; 

disab.  '42) Midhurst. 

*Maynard,  Sir  John,  K.B.   (disab.,  one 

of  the  11) Ltjstwithiel. 

Maynard,  John,  Esq.  (refusing  Newport, 

Cornwall,  whereupon  Prynne)    .     .     .  Totnese. 


LIST  OF   THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  357 

*Mayne,  Simon,  Esq.  (regicide)    .     .     .  Aylesbury. 

Melton,  Sir  John  (died '40)      ....  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Murrick,  Sir  John,  Knight Newcastle-under-Line. 

MI-IIX,  Sir  John,  Knight  (disab.  '44)     .  Newton,  Hants. 

Middleton,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight    .     .     .  Denbighshire. 

*Middleton,  Thomas,  Esq Flint. 

Mil MlrUm,  Thomas,  Esq Horsham. 

Mildmay,    Sir   Henry,   Knight   (King's 

judge) Maiden. 

•Millington,    Gilbert,    Esq.    (regicide  ; 

D'Euxs,  211,  13  Dec.  '41)     ....  Nottingham. 
Monson,  William,  Viscount  Mouson  in 

Ireland  (King's  judge) Reigale. 

Montague,   Sir  Sidney,  Knight   (disab. 

'42) Huntingdonshire. 

•Montague,  Edward,  Esq.  (Colonel,  E. 

of   Sandwich ;  —  after  his  father  Sir 

Sidney) Huntingdonshire. 

Montague,  Edward,  Esq.  (succeeds  Lord 

M.  of  Boughton,  in  '44;  till  then)1     .  Huntingdon. 

•Moody,  Miles,  Esq.  (dead  '46)    .     .     .  Ripon. 

Moor,  Richard,  Esq.  (dead  '44)     .     .     .  Bishop's  Castle. 

Moor,  Thomas,  Esq Heytesbury. 

•Moor,  Thomas,  Esq Ludlow. 

Moore,  John,  Esq.  (regicide)    ....  Liverpool. 

More,  Sir  Poynings,  Baronet  (dead  '49)  Haslemere. 

Morgan,  William,  Esq.  (dead  '49)    .     .  Brecknockshire. 

Morley,  Herbert,  Esq.  (King's  judge)    .  Lewes. 
Morley,  Sir  William,  Knight  (disab.  '42, 

for  garrison  there) Chichester. 

Mostyn,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)    .     .     .  Flintshire. 
Mountford,  Sir  Edward,  Knight  (dead 

Ml) Norfolk. 

•Moyle,  John,  Esq East  Loot. 

Moyle,  John,  jun.,  Esq.  (dead  '46)    .     .  St.  Germaint. 
Musgrave,   Sir  Philip,  Baronet  (disab. 

'43,  array) Westmoreland. 

Napier,  Sir  Gerard,  Knight  (disab.  '44)  .  Melcomb  Regis. 

•r,  Sir  Robert,  Baronet     ....  Peterborough. 

Nabh,  John,  Ksq Worcester. 

1  A  "George  Montague  "  is  aUu  indisputably  a  member  (Common*  Journal*,  iv. 
10),  I  kuow  nut  fur  what  place. 


358  LIST   OF   THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

*Needham,  Sir  Robert,  Knight     .     .     .  Haverford  West. 

*Nelthorp,  James,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  .  Beverlcy. 

*Nelthorp,  John,  Esq Beverley. 

*Nevil, ,  Esq.  (from  '49)  ....  East  Retford. 

•Neville,  Henry,  Esq.  (from  '50)       .     .  Berkshire. 

Newport,  Francis,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Shrewsbury. 

Newport,  Sir  Richard,  Knight  (disab.; 

made  Lord  '42) Shropshire. 

Nicholas,  Edward,  Esq.  (Secretary  after 

Falkland;  disab.) Newton,  Hants. 

Nichols,  Anthony,  Esq.   (disab.,  one  of 

the  11) Bodmin. 

Nichols,  Sergeant  Robert  (King's  judge)  Devizes. 

*Nixon,  John,  Esq.  (Alderman)   .     .     .  Oxford. 

Noble,  Michael,  Esq Lichfield. 

Noel,  Hon.   Baptist  (e.  s.  of   Viscount 

Carnden;  disab.) Rutlandshire. 

North,  Sir  Dudley,  Baronet       ....  Cambridgeshire. 

North,  Sir  Roger,  Knight  (disab.  ?)    .     .  Eye,  Suffolk. 

Northcote,  Sir  John,  Baronet    ....  Ashburlon. 

*Norton,  Sir  Gregory,  Baronet  (regicide)  Midhurst. 

*Norton,  Richard,  Esq.  (Colonel)       .     .  Hampshire. 

Nutt,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  .     .     .  Canterbury. 

Ogle,  Sir  William,  Knight  (disab.'43)    .  Winchester. 

Oldsworth,  Michael,  Esq (Plimpton,  Devon,  buf.  pre- 
ferred) Salisbury. 

Onslow,    Arthur,    Esq.    (void,   but  re- 
elected)      Bramber. 

Onslow,  Sir  Richard,  Knight    ....  Surrey. 

Osborne,  Sir  Edward,  Knight  (void)       .  Berwick. 

*Owen,  Arthur,  Esq Pembrokeshire. 

Owen,  Sir  Hugh,  Knight Pembroke. 

Owfield,  Sir  Samuel,  Knight  (dead  '44)  Gallon. 

*Owfield,  William,  Esq Gallon. 

Owner,  Edward,  Esq Yarmouth. 

*Oxenden,  Henry,  Esq Winchelsea. 

*Packer,  Robert,  Esq.      ......  Wallingford. 

Packington,   Sir  John,  Baronet  (disab. 

'42;  array) Aylesbury. 

*Palgrave,  Sir  John,  Baronet   ....  Norfolk. 

Palmer,  Geoffrey,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)    .     .  Stamford. 

*Palmer,  John.  M.D Bridgwater. 


LIST  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  359 

*Palmer,  Sir  Roger,  Knight  (succeeded 

Legh  in  '42;  di.sab.  '44) Newton,  Lancashire. 

Palmes,  Sir  Guy,  Knight  (disab.  '43)     .  Rutlandshire. 

Parker,  Sir  Philip,  Knight Suffolk. 

Parker,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight    ....  Seaford  {Cinque  Portt). 

Parkhurst,  Sir  Robert,  Knight  (died)     .  Guildford. 

Parry,  George,  LL.D.  (disab.  '44)      .     .  St.  Mawes. 

I'mteriche,  Sir  Edward,  Baronet  .     .     .  Sandwich. 

Pun  let,  Sir  John,  Knight  (disab.  '42)     .  Somersetshire 

iVurd,  George,  Esq.  (died)       ,     .     .     .  Barnstaple. 

*Peck,  Henry,  Esq Chichesler. 

Pel  ham,  Henry,  Esq.  (speaker  in  tu- 
mults of  11) (?  rani  ham. 

•Pelham,  John,  Esq Hastings. 

*Pelham,     Peregrine,     Esq.     (regicide; 

Heath,  p.  364) HuU. 

Pelham,  Sir  Thomas,  Baronet  ....  Sussex. 

*Pembroke,  Philip,  Earl  of  (in  Pile's 
place,  '49,  House  of  Lords  being  abol- 
ished; died  '50) Berkshire. 

lYimington,  Isaac,  Esq.   (King's  judge)  London. 

Pennyman,   Sir  William,  Bart,   (disab. 

'42) Richmond,  Yorkshire. 

•Penrose,  John,  Esq Helston. 

Percival,  John,  Esq.  (dead  '44)     .     .     .  Lynn. 

•Percival,  Sir  Philip,  Knight  (dead  '47)  Neicport,  Cornwall. 

Perfoy,  William,  Esq.  (regicide)  .     .     .  Warwick. 

Peyton,    Sir   Thomas,   Baronet    (disab. 

'44) Sandwich. 

Philips,  Edward,  Esq.  (instead  of  Berke- 
ley, '40;  disab.  '44) llchester. 

Pickering,   Sir   Gilbert,    Baronet   (Poet 

Dryden's;  King's  judg»;)        ....  Northamptonshire. 

Pi.-koring,  K<>l>ert,  Esq.  (void  '4(5)     .     .  East  Grinstead. 

Piercy,  Henry,  Esq.  (Earl  of  Northum- 
liurland's  brother;  expelled,  Army- 

1'lot,  '41;   made  Baron  '43)      .     .     .  (Portsmouth,  but  preferred) 

North  umberland. 

Pierpoint,  Francis,  Esq.  (3d  s.  of  Earl  of 

Kingston) Not  tint/ham. 

Pii-rjHjint,  William,  Esq.  (:>d  s.  of  do.)  .  Great  Wenlock,  Salop. 

•Pigot,  Gervase,  Esq Nottinghamshire. 


3GO  LIST   OF   THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

•Pile,  Sir  Francis,  Baronet  (died  '49)     .  Berkshire. 

Playters,  Sir  William,  Baronet      .     .     .  Orford,  Suffolk. 

Pleydall,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .     Wootton  Basset. 

Pole,  Sir  William,  Knight  (disab.  '43)  .  Honiton. 

Polewheel,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)      .     .     Tregony. 

Pollard,  Sir  Hugh,  Knight  (expelled '41, 

for  plot  of  bringing  up  army)  .  .  .  Beeralston. 

Poole,  Edward,  Esq Wootton  Basset. 

Poole,  Sir  Nevil,  Knight Malmsbury. 

*Pope,  Roger,  Esq.  (dead  '47)       .     .     .  Merionethshire. 

Popham,  Alexander,  Esq Bath. 

*Popham,  Edward,  Esq.  (from  '45)  .     .  Minehead. 

Popham,  Sir  Francis  (dead  '44)     .     .     .  Minehead. 

Porter,  Eudymion,  Esq.  (disab.  '43)      .  Droitwich. 

Portman,  Sir  William,  Baronet  (disab. 

'44) Taunton. 

Potter,  Hugh,  Esq.  (disab.)      ....  Plimpton. 

Potts,  Sir  John,  Baronet  (died)    .     .     .  Norfolk. 

*Povey,  Thomas,  Esq Liskeard. 

Price,  Charles,  Esq.  (disab.)    ....  Radnorshire. 

Price,  Herbert,  Esq.  (disab.)   ....  Brecon- 

Price,  Sir  John,  Baronet  (disab.  '45)     .  Montgomeryshire. 

*Price,  Sir  Richard,  Baronet    ....  Cardiganshire. 

Price,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Merionethshire. 

Prideaux,  Edmund,  Esq Lyme  Regis. 

*Priestley,  William,  Esq St.  Mawes. 

Prynne,  William,  Esq Newport,1  Cornwall 

Pury,  Alderman  Thomas  (took  notes,  see 
Burton's  Diary,  where  the  name  is,  by 

mistake,  printed  "  Davy  ")  ....  Gloucester* 

*Pury,  Thomas,  jun.,  Esq.  (of  Glouces- 
ter)    Monmouth. 

*Pye,  Sir  Robert,  Knight Woodstock. 

*Pym,  Charles,  Esq Beeralston. 

Pym,  John,  Esq.  (died  Dec.  '43)  .     .     .  Tavistock. 

Pyne,  John,  Esq Poole. 

*Radcliff,  John,  Esq Chester. 

Rainsborough,  Captain  (died  '41)      .     .  Aldborough,  Suffolk. 

*Rainsborough,  Colonel  Thomas  (killed 

at  Doncaster,  29  Oct.  '48)  ....  Droitwich. 

1  "  Newport,  soon  after  the  Parliament  sat ; "  not  "  Bristol  in  '45,"  as  the  Par* 
liamentary  History  gives  it. 


LIST   OF  THE   LONG  PARLIAMENT.  361 

Rainsford,  Sir  Henry,  Knight  (dead  '41) .  A  ndover. 

•Rainsford,  Henry,  Esq St.  Ives,  Cornwall. 

*Raleigh,  Carew,  Esq Kellington,  Cornwall. 

li.-imsden,   Sir  John   (disab.   for   Selby 

right,  '44) Northallerton. 

Rashleigh,  Jonathan,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .  Fowey. 

Kavenscroft,  Paul,  Esq Horsham. 

Kcyuulds,  Robert,  Esq.  (King's  judge)    .  Hitidon,  Wilts, 

•Rich,  Charles,  Esq Sandwich. 

•Rich,  Nathaniel,  Esq.  (from  Feb.  '49)  Cirencester. 

Rich,  Robert  Lord  (e.  s.  of  Robert  E. 
of  Warwick;  called  to  Peers,  Jan.  27, 

'11;  Rushtcorth,  iv.  4) Essex. 

Rigby,  Alexander,  Esq.  (King's  judge).  Wigan. 

Rivers, ,  Esq.  (dead  '41)    ....  Lewes. 

•Robinson,  Luke,  Esq Scarborough. 

•Rochester,  Charles  Lord  Viscount  (e.  s. 

of  E.  of  Somerset) St.  Michaels. 

Rodney,  Sir  Edward  (disab.  '42)  .     .     .  Wells. 

Roe,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (not  duly).     .  New  Windsor. 

Roe,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (dead  in  '44)  Oxford  University. 

Rogers,  Hugh,  Esq Calne. 

Rogers,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)     .     .  Dorsetshire. 

Rolle,  John,  Esq Truro. 

•Rolle,  Sir  Samuel,  Knight  (died)     .     .  Devonshire. 

Rose,  Richard,  Esq Lyme  Regis. 

•Rossiter,  Edward,  Esq Great  Grimsby. 

Rouse,  Francis,  Esq Truro. 

Rudyard,  Sir  Benjamin,  Knight  .     .     .  Wilton. 

•Russel,  Francis,  Esq Cambridgeshire. 

Russel,  Lord  William  (e.  s.  of  E.  of  Bed- 
ford ;  till  '41) Tavislock. 

•Russel,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)   .     .     .  Taoistock. 

St.  Hill,  Peter,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .     .  Twerton, 

St.  John,  Sir  Beauchamp,  Knight      .     .  Bedford. 

St.  John,  Oliver,  Esq.  (Sol.-Gen.  in  '40)  Totness. 

Salisbury,  John,  jun.,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  Flint. 

•Salisbury,  William.  K;irl  of  (in  '49)     .  Lynn. 

Salway,  Humphrey,  Esq.  (King's  judijr)  Worcestershire. 

•Salway,  Richard,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  AfijiUby. 

is, ,  Esq.  (not  duly)      .     .     .  Gallon. 

lyu,  Samuel,  Esq.  (disab.  'U)     .      .  Druilwich. 


LIST  OF  THE  LONG  PAUL  LAMENT. 

Sandys,  Thomas,  Esq Gallon, 

Sandys,  William,  Esq.   (expelled  '41,  as 

monopolist) Evesham. 

*Saville,   Sir  William,  Baronet  (disab. 

'42,  Yorkshire  petition) Old  Sarum. 

*Say,  William,  Esq.  (regicide)     .     .     .  Camelford. 

*Sayer,  John,  Esq Colchester. 

*Scawen,  Robert,  Esq Berwick. 

*Scot,  Thomas,  Esq.  (dead  '47)    .     .     .  Aldborough,  Yorkshire. 

*Scott,  Thomas,  Esq.  (regicide)    .     .     .  Aylesbury. 

*Scudamore,  James,  Esq.  (disab.)    .     .  Hereford. 

Seabourne,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.  '46)    .  Hereford. 

Searle,  George,  Esq Taunlon. 

Selden,  John,  Esq Oxford  University. 

Seymour,  Edward,  Esq.  (disab.  '44).     .  Devonshire. 

Seymour,    Sir   Francis,   Knight    (made 

Lord,  '41). Marlborough. 

*Seymour,  Sir  John,  Knight     ....  Gloucestershire. 

*Shapcot,  Robert,  Esq Tiverton. 

*Shelley,  Henry,  Esq.  (after  Rivers)      .  Lewes. 

Shuckburgh,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.;  in- 
stead of  Combe) Warwickshire* 

Shuttleworth,  Richard,  Esq Clithero. 

Shuttleworth,  Richard,  Esq Preston. 

Siddenham,  Sir  Ralph  (iu  place  of  Clot- 
worthy;  disab.  '42) Bossiney. 

*Sidney,  Algernon,  Esq.  (after  Herbert; 

King's  judge) Cardiff. 

*Skeffington,  Sir  Richard,  Knight  (dead 

'47) Staffordshire. 

*Skinner,  Augustin,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  Kent. 

*Skippon,    Philip,   Esq.    (the    soldier; 

King's  judge) Barnstaple. 

*Skutt,  George,  Esq Pools. 

Slanning,  Sir  Nicholas,  Knight  (disab. 

'42;  killed  at  Bristol) (Plimpton,  Devon,  but  pre- 
ferred) Penryn. 

Slingsby,  Sir  Henry,  Baronet  (disab.  '42, 

Yorkshire  petition ;  beheaded  '58)      .  Knaresborough. 

*Smith,  John,  Esq.  (succeeds  Lord  An- 

dover;  soon  disab.) Oxford. 

*§mith,  Philip,  Esq Marlborough, 


LIST  OF   THE   LONG    PARLIAMENT.  363 

Smith,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)      .     .  Chester. 

•Smith,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '42)    .     .  Bridgwater. 

Smith,  Sir  Walter,  Knight  (disab.  '44)  Bedwin,  WiUt. 

•Smith,  William,  Esq.  (disab.)    .     .     .  Winchelsea. 

•Smyth,  Henry,  Esq.  (regicide)    .     .     .  Leicestershire. 

*Snelling,  George,  Esq.        Southwark. 

Sneyd,    Ralph,   jun.,  Esq.   (disab.    '43, 

taken  prisoner  at  Stafford)  ....  Stafford. 

Snow,  Simon,  Esq Exeter. 

Soame,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight    ....  London. 

•Spelman,  John,  Esq Castle  Rising,  Norfolk. 

•Spring,  Sir  William,  Baronet ;    (after 

Jermyn) Bury  St.  Edmunds. 

•Springet,  Herbert,  Esq Shoreham. 

Spurstow,  William,  Esq. ,  merchant  (dead 

'46) Shrewsbury. 

Stamford,  Sir  Thomas  (not  duly)      .     .  Cockermouth. 

Standish,  Thomas,  Esq.  (dead  '44)    .     .  Preston. 
Stanhope,  Ferdinando,  Esq.  (4th  s.  of  E. 

of  Chesterfield;  disab.  '43)    ....  Tamworth. 

Stanhope,  William,  Esq.  (disab.)  .     .     .  Nottingham. 

*Stapleton,  Bryan,  Esq Aldborough,  Yorkshire. 

Stapleton,  Sir  Philip,  Knight  (disab.,  one 

of  the  11 ;  died  '47) Boroughbridge. 

•Stapleton,  Henry,  Esq Boroughbridge. 

Staply,  Anthony,  Esq.  (regicide)  .     .     .  Sussex. 

•Starre,  Colonel (dead  '47)  .     .     .  Shaflesbury. 

Stawell,  Sir  John,  K.  B.  (disab.  '42)     .  Somersetshire. 
Stephens,  Edward,  Esq.  (two  elections  ; 

not   duly,    then    lost,   at   last    duly; 

died) .'    .     .     .     .  Tewkesbury. 

•Stephens,  John,  Esq Tewkesbury. 

Stephens,  Nathaniel,  Rsq Gloucestershire. 

•Stephens,  William,  LL.D Neioport,  Wight. 

Stepney,  Sir  John,  Baronet  (disab.)  .     .  Haverford  West. 

•Stockdale,  Thomas,  Esq Knaresborougk. 

Stonehonse,   Sir  George,   Bart,   (disab. 

'44) Alringdon. 

•Stoughton,  Nicholas,  Esq.  (d<-:nl  "1")   .  GiiUdford. 

Strangways,  Gil»>«,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)       .  Brulport. 
,'ways,  Sir  John,   Knight   (di.sab. 

Sept.  '42) . 


304  MST  OF  THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

Strickland,  Sir  Robert,  Knight  (diaab. 

'43) Aldborough,  Yorkshire. 

*Strickland,  Walter,  Esq.  (from  '45)     .  Minehead. 

Strickland,  Sir  William,  Knight  .     .     .  Heydon,  Yorkshire. 

*Strode,  Sir  Richard,  Knight  ....  Plimpton. 

*Strode,  William,  Esq llchester. 

Strode,  William,  Esq.  (died  '45)  .     .     .  (Tamworth,     but     prefers) 

Beeralston. 

Sutton,    Robert,     Esq.     (disab. ;    made 

Baron  Lexington,  21  Nov.  '45).     .     .  Nottinghamshire. 

*Swynfen,  John,  Esq.      ......  Stafford. 

*Sydenham,  William,  jun.,  Esq.  .     .     .  Melcomb  Regis. 

Tate,  Zouch,  Esq.  (Self-denying  Ordi- 
nance)    Northampton. 

Taylor,  William,  Esq.  (instead  of  a 
monopolist;  disab.  '45,  Siege  of  Bris- 
tol)    Bristol. 

Taylor,  William,  Esq.  (in  place  of  Wal- 
ler; expelled  May,  '41,  on  Strafford's 

account) New  Windsor. 

*Temple,  James,  Esq.  (regicide)  .     .     .  Bramber. 

*Temple,  Sir  John,  Knight Chichester. 

*Temple,  Peter,  Esq.  (regicide)     .     .     .  Leicester. 

Temple,    Sir    Peter,    Baronet     (King's 

judge) Buckingham. 

*Temple,  Thomas,  Esq .     .  Huntingdon. 

*Terrick,  Samuel,  Esq.    ......  Newcastle-under-Line. 

Theloall,  Simon,  jun.,  Esq Denbigh. 

*Thistlethwaite,  Alexander,  Esq.      .     .  Doamton,  Wilts. 

Thomas,  Edward,  Esq Okehampton,  Devonshire. 

*Thomas,  Isaiah,  Esq '  Bishop's  Castle. 

*Thomas,  John,  Esq Helston. 

Thomas,  William,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Carnarvon. 

*Thompson,  George,  Esq Soulhwark. 

*Thornhaugh,  Francis,  Esq.   (dead  '48)  East  Retford. 

*Thorpe,      Sergeant     Francis     (King's 

judge) Richmond,  Yorkshire. 

*Thynn,  Thomas,  Esq Saltash. 

Thynne,  Sir  James,  Knight  (disab.)      .  Wiltshire. 

Toll,  Thomas,  Esq Lynn. 

*Tolson,  Richard,  Esq Cumberland. 

Tomkins,  Thomas,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)       .  Weobly. 


LIST  OF  THE   LONG   PARLIAMENT.  865 

•Trefusis,  Nicholas,  Esq Cornwall. 

Trenchard,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)   .  Warehatn,  Dorsetshire. 

•Trenchard,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight      .     .  Dorsetshire. 
Trevanion,  John,   Esq.    (disab. ;  killed 

at  Bristol) Lostwithiel. 

Trevor,  Sir  John,  Knight Gnimpound. 

•Trevor,  John,  Esq Flintshire. 

•Trevor,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  ....  Tregony. 
Trevor,   Thomas,  Esq.    (till   '44,  then 

void) ....  Monmouth. 

Tufton,  Sir  Humphrey,  Knight     .     .     .  Maidstone. 

Tulsey,  Henry,  Esq.  (dead  '  14)     .     .     .  Christchurch,  Hants. 

Turner,  Samuel,  M.D.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Shaflesbury. 

•Twisden,  Thomas,  Esq Maidstone. 

Upton,  Arthur,  Esq.  (died  '41)     .     .     .  Clifton,   Dartmouth,   Hard- 
ness (united). 

•Upton,  John,  Esq Fowey. 

Uvedale,  Sir  William,  Knight  (disab.)  .  Petersjield. 

•Vachel,  Tanfield,  Esq Reading. 

Valentine,  Benjamin,  Esq St.  Germain$. 

Vane,  George,  Esq.  (disab.)    ....  KeUington. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  Knight Wilton. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  jun.,  Knight    .    .     .  Hull. 

Vassal,  Samuel,  Esq.,  merchant  .     .     .  London. 

•Vaughan,  Charles,  Esq Honiton. 

•Vaughan,  Edward,  Esq Montgomeryshire. 

Vaughan,  Sir  Henry,  Knight  (disab.)   .  Carmarthenshire. 

Vaughan,  John,  Esq.  (disab.  '45)     .     .  Cardigan. 

Venables,  Peter,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)     .     .  Cheshire. 

•Venn,  John,  Esq.  (regicide)       .     .     .  London. 
Verney,  Sir  Edmund,  Knight  Marshal 

(killed  at  Edgehill,  Oct.   '42,  where 

he  bore  the  King's  standard)     .     .     .  Wycombe. 

Verney,  Sir  Ralph,  Knight  (disab.  '45)  Aylesbury. 

Vernon,  Henry,  Esq.  (not  duly)  .     .     .  Andover. 

Vivian,  Sir  Richard,  Knight  (disab.  '44)  Tregony. 

•Walker.  Cl.-ment,  Esq Wells. 

Walk.-r,  llobert,  Esq.  (disab.  '43)     .     .  Exeter. 
\\';ill.-r,  Kdmiiinl.  Esq  (in  place  of  Lord 

I-i  -!••;  disab.  '43) St.  Ivet,  CornwaU.1 

•Waller,  Thomas,  E«q Bodmin. 

1  "  Agranndesluui)."  Mjrt  KtHjr  Briton,  (vi.  4103). 


300  LIST  OF  THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT. 

Waller,  Thomas,  Esq.  (not  duly)      .     .  New  Windsor. 

Waller,  Sir  William,  Knight  (instead  of 

Vernon;  one  of  the  11) Andover. 

Wallop,  Sir  Henry,  Knight  (dead  '44)  .  Hampshire. 

*  Wallop,  Robert,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  .  Andover. 

Walsinghain,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight     .  Rochester. 

Walton,  Valentine,  Esq.  (regicide)   .     .  Huntingdonshire. 

*Warmouth, ,  Esq.  (void)      .     .     .  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Warton,  Michael,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  Beverley. 

Warwick,  Philip,  Esq.  (disab.  '44)  .     .  (Romney,  but  preferred) 

Radnor. 

Wastell,  John,  Esq Afalton. 

Watkins,  William,  Esq.  (void  in  '44)    .  Monmouth. 

*Wayte,  Thomas,  Esq.  (regicide)       .     .  Rutlandshire. 

*Weaver,  John,  Esq.  (King's  judge)      .  Stamford. 

Weaver,  Richard,  Esq.  (dead  May,  '42)  Hereford. 

*Weaver,  Edmund,  Esq.  (after  '4G)       .  Hereford. 

Webb,   Thomas,    Esq.    (expelled    '42, 

monopolist) Romney. 

Wenman,   Thomas,   Lord   Viscount,  in 

Ireland Oxfordshire. 

Wentworth,  Sir  George,  of  Wooley, 
Knight  (disab.  '42,  Yorkshire  peti- 
tion)    Pontefract 

Wentworth,  Sir  George,  Knight  (Staf- 
ford's brother,  disab.  '44)  ....  Pontefract. 

*Wentworth,   Sir    Peter,  K.B.   (King's 

judge) Tamworik. 

Wentworth,  Lord  Thomas  (Earl  of  Cleve- 
land's eldest  son;  to  House  of  Peers, 

25  Nov.  '40,  by  writ) Bedfordshire. 

*West,  Edmund,  Esq (Wendover,  but  preferred) 

Buckinghamshire. 

*Weston,     Benjamin,     Esq.    (King's 

judge) Dover. 

Weston,  Nicholas,  Esq.   (disab.  '42,  for 

Goriug's  business) Portsmouth. 

Weston,  Richard,  Esq.  (disab.)    .     .     .  Stafford. 

*Westrow,  Thomas,  Esq Hythe  (Cinque  Ports). 

Whaddon,  John,  Esq Plymouth. 

Wheeler,  William,  Esq Westbury,  Wilts. 

Whistler,  John,  Esq.  (disab.)       .     .     .  Oxford. 


LIST  OF  THE  LONG   PARLIAMENT.  367 

Whitacre,  Lawrence,  Esq.  (Borough  be- 
ing restored  to  its  rights)      ....  Okehampton,  Devon. 

Whitaker,  William,  Esq.  (dead  '46)      .  Shaflesbury. 

White,  John,  Esq.  (died  '45)  ....  Southward. 

AN  lute,  John,  Esq.  (disab. '44)     .     .     .  Rye. 

•White,    William,   Esq.   (Secretary  to 

Sir  T.  Fairfax) Pontefract. 

Whitehead,  Richard,  Esq Jjampthire. 

Wliitl<x:ke,  Bulstrode,  Esq.  (in  place  of 

Hipjx-sley) Marlow. 

Whitmore,  Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (disab. 

'44) Bridgnorth. 

Widdrington,     Sir     Thomas,     Knight 

(Rushtrorth,  ii.  179) Berwick. 

Wiililrington,     Sir     William,     Baronet 

(disab.  '42;  killed  at  Worcester)  .     .  Northundterland. 

*  Willes,  Henry,  Esq Salla*li. 

Williams,    Sir  Charles  (dead  '41)     .     .  MonmoutJishir*. 

Wilmot,  Henry,  Esq.  (expelled,  Army- 
plot '41;  made  Baron  '43)     ....  Tamworlh. 

•Wilson,  Rowland,  Esq.  (Alderman  of 

London ;  King*  judge) Calne. 

Wimlrbank,  Sir  Francis,  Knight  (Secre- 
tary; fled  Ml) Corfe  Castle. 

Wingate,  Edward,  Esq St.  Albans. 

•Winwood,  Richard,  Esq New  Windsor. 

Wise, ,  Esq.  (died  before  '41)     .     .  Devonshire. 

Wogan,  John,  sen.,  Esq.  (dead  '44)  .     .  Pembrokeshire. 

•Wogan,  Thomas,  Esq.  (regicide)      .     .  Cardigan. 

WcH'ilhouse,  Sir  Thomas,  Baronet     .     .  TJietford. 

Worsley,  Sir  Henry,  Baronet   ....  Newport,  Wight. 

Wray,   Sir  Christopher,   Knight   (dead 

'!.")) Great  Grimsby. 

\\'r.-iy,  Sir  John,  Baronet Lincolnshire. 

•Wray,  William,  Esq Great  Grimsby. 

Wroth,  Sir  Peter,  Knight  (dead  '44)      .  Bridgwaler. 

•Wroth.   Sir  Thomas,  Knight  (King's 

judge) Britlfftoater. 

<!«•,  Edmund,  Esq.  (King's  judge)  Droittcich. 

Wyld«-,  Sergeant  John Worcestrrxhin. 

U  M.-lli  mi.    K<linund,   Eaq.    (expelled 

'41,  rnonojKilist) Brifigwater. 


368  EASTERN-ASSOCIATION  COMMITTEES. 

*Wynn,  Sir  Richard,  Knight  ....  Carnarvonshire. 

Wynn,  Sir  Richard,  Baronet  (dead  '49)  Liverpool. 

Yelverton,  Sir  Christopher,  Knight .     .  Bossiney. 

Young,  Sir  John,  Knight Plymouth, 

Young,  Walter,  Esq Honiton. 


LISTS  OF  THE  EASTERN-ASSOCIATION 
COMMITTEES. 

THK  Committee  Lists  of  the  Eastern  Association  are  taken  from 
Husband's  Second  Collection,1  where,  in  three  successive  general  Acts, 
dated  1st  April,  1643,  7th  May  (and  1st  June),  1643,  and  3d  August, 
1643,  —  followed  by  a  few  partial  amendments  and  enlargements  for 
specific  places,  at  different  dates,  —the  Committees  of  all  Parliament- 
ary or  Anti-Royalist  Counties  and  principal  Boroughs,  as  settled  at 
that  stage  of  the  contest,  are  named.  Earlier  and  earliest  Committees 
are  in  Husband's  First  Collection  2  and  elsewhere ;  but  these,  as  tran- 
sient and  now  abrogated  combinations,  do  not  concern  us  here. 

The  Committee  of  April  is  named  for  managing  the  Sequestration  of 
Delinquents'  Estates ;  those  of  May  and  August  for  raising  money  by 
other  methods,  chiefly  by  Weekly  Assessments  ;  and  each  has  its  specific 
Act  and  instructions  ;  but  as  the  essential  business  of  all  these  Com- 
mittees was  to  carry  on  the  War  by  furnishing  the  sinews  of  war,  and 
as,  with  trifling  variations,  the  same  persons  sat  on  all,  it  may  well  be 
imagined  their  functions,  even  to  the  members  themselves,  became 
gradually  much  blended  ;  and  for  us  they  have  become  inextricably 
blended,  or  not  worth  the  huge  labor  of  attempting  to  extricate  and 
distinguish.  Committees,  all,  essentially  of  Finance  and  general  Ad- 
ministration ;  appointed,  we  may  say,  to  care  generally  that  the  Parlia- 
mentary Cause  suffer  no  damage  by  lack  of  money  or  otherwise,  — 
against  whom,  and  their  despotic  procedure,  rise  loud  complaints  and 
denunciations  in  the  old  Pamphlets  of  a  royalist  or  neutral  stamp. 
An  assiduous  hand,  searching  on  my  behalf  through  every  corner  of 

1  Collection  of  all  the  Public    Orders,   Ordinances,    $c.   of  Parliament,  from 
March,  1642-3  to  December,  1646 :  Printed  for  Edward  Husband  (London,  folio. 
1646). 

2  An  exact  Collection  of  all  Remonstrances  $c.  $c.  (London,  small  4to,  1643)  : 
Printed  for  Edward  Husbands  (sic),  p.  891  &c. 


EASTERN-ASfiOCTATlOX  COMMITTEES.  369 

these  Lists  and  Supplementary  Lists,  as  they  lie  in  bewildering  dis- 
order, scattered  over  the  vast  surface  of  Husband,  —  has  painfully 
added  to  each  Name  an  exact  note  of  the  several  Committees  on  which 
he  sat :  but,  not  to  encumber  the  Printer  and  the  Reader  with  what 
would  little  if  iu  auy  degree  profit,  I  have  omitted  these  specialties  at 
present,  —  all  but  the  following  two  :  — 

Under  date  10th  August,  1643  (with  Supplementary  or  subsequent 
Acts,  in  some  cases)  is  a  particular  settling  and  assorting  of  the  Asso- 
ciation Committees  as  a  distinct  body  ;  with  instructions  and  direc- 
tion ;  directing,  for  one  thing,  how  they  are  to  choose  the  Central 
Committee  which  sits  at  Cambridge  ;  —  indicating  to  us  who  they 
now  are,  and  most  probably  who  they  were  hitherto,  that  showed 
themselves  most  and  took  the  chief  management :  these,  as  in  some 
sort  peculiar,  I  have  found  good  to  note  :  all  that  sit  on  this  Committee 
are  distinguished  by  an  asterisk  (*)  ;  those  that  sit  on  this  only,  or 
are  new  men  at  the  passing  of  the  Act,  have  their  names  printed  in 
italics.  And  observe  here  :  Among  those  of  the  asterisk  the  "  Deputy 
Lieutenants,"  appointed  long  before  and  with  superior  powers,  of 
whom  there  is  sometimes  mention  in  Oliver's  Letters  and  elsewhere, 
will  be  found  ;  but  not  in  a  distinguishable  state  :  their  names  as  a 
body,  though  "  read  publicly  "  in  1642,  and  even  ordered  to  be  printed,1 
do  not  occur  in  H*$l>and.  This  is  the  first  specialty  of  indication  at- 
tempted here.  Then  secondly,  under  date  15th  Feb.  1644-5,  on  Fair- 
:  appointment  to  be  Commander-in-chief,  there  occurs  a  revision 
or  new-model  of  Committees,  in  the  Association  as  everywhere  else, 
for  raising  assessments  to  support  Fairfax  :  such  men  as  were  added 
for  serving  on  this  Committee,  are  designated  by  an  (/.).  Farther  dis- 
t i in  t ions,  as  threatening  rather  to  confuse  than  illuminate  the  reader, 
an-  not  given  at  present. 

Our  only  change  from  those  Lists  of  Husband's  is  the  arrangement, 
an  iinj)ortant  and  indispensable  one,  in  alphabetical  order  ;  and  the 
correction  of  what  mistakes  were  palpable, — the  number  and  nature 
of  which  still  testify  how  hurriedly  that  old  Parliamentary  operation, 
in  all  stages  of  it,  was  done.  The  spelling  especially,  with  its  inces- 
sant variations,  has  been  an  intricate  business,  not  to  be  settled  some- 
tini.^  cxro]>t  partly  by  guess.  Our  "Esq.,"  "  Gent,"  and  occasional 
omission  of  all  Title,  are  correctly  what  we  find  in  the  old  Book. 

Under  the  given  circumstances,  Husband's  List  may  be  taken  as 
substantially  correct  ;  but  of  course  those  Committees,  even  for  speci- 

1  Names   "read  before  the  House,"  17th  March,   1G41-2  (Comment  Jovrnnlt, 

,  ;  nrdiTi-d  "  to  \M-  printed,"  Oth  <  Vt.  following  (il>.  TUT)  .  uot  given  iu  either 

CM  .« 

VOL.  x  v  i ii.  24 


370 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION   COMMITTEES. 


fied  objects,  were  liable,  at  all  times,  both  to  be  supplemented  and  to 
be  sifted  down  ;  which  renders  their  exact  composition  a  fluctuating 
object,  dependent  on  date  in  some  measure. 


CAMBRIDGESHIRE, 

Cambridgeshire  Committees  (Husband,  ii.),  in  1643: 1st  April  (with  Supplement, 
15th  September),  p.  10,  p.  322;  —  7th  May  (with  Supplements  and  Revisals,  21st  June, 
3d  August,  20!h  September),  p.  169,  p.  225,  p.  6  Appendix,  p.  329;  Association 
specially,  10th  August  (and  4th  September),  p.  284,  p.  308.  For  support  of  Fairfax 
in  1644-5,  and  to  the  end  of  the  War :  15th  February,  1644-5,  p.  603. 

Those  that  sat  exclusively  on  this  Fairfax  Committee  have  an  (f.)  appended; 
those  of  10th  August  (among  whom  are  the  Deputy-Lieutenants)  are  marked  with 
an  asterisk  (*),  and  such  of  them  as  were  then  new  are  in  italics;  (e.)  means,  For 
Ely  only ;  (f.),  For  Town  and  University  only. 


Aldmond,  Edward.  (*./.) 
*Becket,  Thomas,  Esq. 
*Bendish,  Thomas,  Esq. 
P>1acldey,  James,  (t.f.) 

*  Browne, 

Browning,  Edward,  Esq. 
Butler,  Henry,  Esq. 
Butler,  Nevill,  Esq. 
*Castle,  Robert,  Esq. 
*Castle,  Thomas,  Esq. 
Chennery,1  John,  Esq.  (/.) 
Clapthorn,  George,  Esq. 
Clark,  Edward,  Esq. 
*Clark,  Robert,  Esq. 

*  Clench,  Edward,  Esq. 
Clopton,  Walter,  Esq. 
*Cooke,  Thomas,  Esq. 
*Cromwell,  Oliver,  Esq. 
*Cutts,  Sir  John,  Kt. 

Dal  ton,  Michael,  jun.,  Esq. 
Dalton,  Michael,  sen.,  Esq.  (/.) 
Desborow,  Isaac. 
Diamond,  Tristram,  Gent.  (e.  /.) 
*Ducket,  Thomas,  Esq. 

1  Spelt  also  Chymery. 


Eden,  Dr.  (/) 

Fiennes,  Aid.  (t.f.) 

Fisher,  William,  Esq. 

*Foxlon,  Richard,  Esq. 

French,  Thomas,  (t.) 

*IIobart,  John,  Esq. 

Hynde,  Robert 

Janes,  William,  Esq.  (f.) 

Leeds,  Edward,  Esq. 

Lowry,  John,  (t.) 

Male,  Edmund. 

*March,  Humberston,  Esq. 

*Marsh,  William,  Esq. 

*Martin,  Sir  Thomas,  Kt. 

*Mayor  for  the  time  being.  (f) 

North,  Sir  Dudley,  Kt. 

Parker,  Thomas,  Esq. 

Partridge,  Sir  Edward,  Kt.  (e.  f.) 

Pepys,  Samuel,  Esq. 

Pepys,  Talbot,  Recorder.  (t.) 

*Pope,  Dudley,  Esq. 

Raven,  John,  Esq.  (/.) 

Reynolds,  James,  Esq.  (/.) 

Reynolds,  Sir  James.  (/.) 

liobsou,  Robert,  (t.) 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION   COMMITTEES. 


371 


•Russel,  Francis,  Esq. 
Rusael,  Killiphet,  ES<I.  (/.) 
•Sandys,1  Sir  Miles,  Kt. 
Sherwood,  John.  (*.) 
Smith,  Henry. 
•Spalding,  Samuel.  (<.) 
Staughtun,  Robert. 
Story,  riiilip,  Esq. 

*  hpelt  also  Sands,  Suitdes,  Sandis. 


Stone,  Richard,  M.D.  (e.f.) 
Symonds,  Thomas,  Esq. 
•Thompson,  James,  Esq. 
Towers,  John,  Esq. 
Walker,  Thomas. 
•Welbore,  John,  Esq. 
Welbore,  William.  (<.) 
Wendy,  Francis,  Esq. 
Wright,  Johu. 


ESSEX. 


Essex  Committees  (Hatband,  il),  in  1643:  1st  April  (with  Supplement,  1st  June) 
p.  17,  p.  1!)4;  —  7th  May  (with  Supplements  and  Itevisals,  1st  June,  3d  August, 
2Uth  September),  p.  170,  p.  1U4,  p.  7  Appendix,  p.  328;—  Association  specially, 
10th  August,  p.  284.  For  support  of  Fairfax  in  1644-5,  and  to  the  end  of  the  War  : 
15th  February,  1644-5,  p .  603. 

The  (/.)  designates  the  exclusively  Fairfax  men ;  the  asterisk  (*)  those  of  10th 
August,  the  then  new  ones  of  whom  are  in  italics ;  (c.)  means,  For  Colchester. 


Adams,    Thomas,    of     Thaxted, 

Gout. 

Allen,  Isaac,  of  Ilaseley,  Esq. 
•Alliston,1  John,  Gent. 
•Atwood,  John.  l'.~  \. 
•At wood,  William,  Esq. 
Aylet,  Jeremy,  Esq. 
Aylett,  Thomas,  of  Kelldon,  Gent. 
Bacon,  Nathaniel,  Esq. 
•Harnardiston,  Arthur,  Esq. 
Barrington,  Henry,  Gent,  (c.) 
Barrington,  Robert,  Esq.  (/.) 
Harrington,  Sir  John,  Kt. 
Harrington.  Sir  Thomas,  Hart. 
Berk head.  Edward,  Esq. 
Bourn,  Robert,  Esq. 
Brook,  John,  Esq. 
Burket,  John,  Esq. 
Buxton,  Robert,  Gent  (c.) 
•Calthorp,  Robert,  Esq. 
Cheeke,  Sir  Thomas,  Kt. 

ii,  l.liti.,H,  &K.  SK. 


Clapton,  Thomas,  Esq. 
Cletheroe,  Captain. 
Collard,  William,  Esq. 
Cook,  William,  Aid.  (c.) 
Cooke,  Thomas,  Esq. 
Cooke,  Thomas,  Gent. 
Craue,  Robert,  Esq. 
Eden,  John,  Esq. 
•Eldred,  John,  Esq. 
•Everard,  Sir  Richard,  Bart. 
Farr,  Henry,  Esq. 
Penning,  John,  Gent. 
Friborne,  Samuel,  Esq. 
Gambeil,1  James,  Esq.  (/.) 
Goldingham,  William,  Esq. 
Grimston,  Harbottle,  Esq.   (also 

c.  Recorder.) 

Grimston,  Sir  Harbottle,  Bart. 
•Ilarlackenden,  Richard,  Esq. 
Harlackenden,  William,  Geut. 
Harrison,  Ralph,  Aid.  (c.) 
1  Spelt  ai,u  CamMl 


372 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION   COMMITTEES. 


Harvey,  John,  Esq.  (/.) 

Hawkin,  Richard,  of  Harwich, 
Gent. 

Herne,  James,  Esq. 

Hicks,  Sir  William,  Bart. 

*Holcroft,  Sir  Henry,  Kt. 

*Honywood,  Sir  Thomas,  Kt. 

Jocelyn,  John,  Esq.  (also  c.  Dep- 
uty Recorder.) 

Johnson,  Thomas,  (c.) 

Kemp,  Sir  Robert,   Kt.  (/.) 

Langley,  John,  of  Colchester,  Esq. 
(also  c.) 

Langton,  John,  Gent,  (c.) 

Lumley,  Sir  Martin,  Bart. 

Luther,  Anthony,  Esq. 

Maidstone,  Robert,  Gent. 

Martin,  Sir  William,  Kt. 

Mashiim,  Sir  William,  Bart. 

Masham,  William,  Esq. 

Matthews,  Joachim,  Esq.  (/.) 

Mayor  for  the  time  being,  (c.) 

Mead,  John,  Esq. 

*Middleton,  Timothy,  Esq. 

Mildmay,  Gary,  Esq. 

Mildmay,  Henry,  of  Graves,  Esq. 

Mildmay,  Sir  Henry,  of  Wansted, 
Bart. 

Nicholson,  Francis,  Gent. 

*Palmer,  Edward,  Esq. 

Pike,  John,  Esq. 

Plume,1  Samuel,  Gent. 

Raymond,  Oliver,  Esq. 

*Reade,  Dr.  of  Birchauger. 

*Rowe,  Sir  William,  Kt. 

1  Spelt  also  Plum,  Plumme,  Plain, 
Playne,  Plague, 


*Sayer,  John,  Esq. 

Shaw,  John,  jun.,Gent.  (f.) 

Sheffield,  Samson,  Esq.  (/.) 

Smith,  Robert,  Esq. 

*Sorrell,1  John,  Esq 

Stonehard,  Francis,  Esq. 

Talcot,     Robert,   of     Colchester, 

Gent. 

Talcot,  Thomas,  Gent.  (/.) 
Thomas,  Captain. 
Thorogood,  George,  Esq. 
Thorogood,    John,     of     Walden, 

Gent. 
*Tindall,  Deane,  Esq. 

Topsfield, ,  Esq.  (/.) 

Turner,    William,    of    Wimbish, 

Gent. 

*Umphrevill,2  William,  Esq. 
Vesey,  Robert,  Gent. 
Wade,  Thomas,  Aid.  (c.  /.) 
Walton,  George,  Esq. 
Ward,  Aid.  (c.) 
Watkins,  John,  Esq. 
Whitcombe,  Peter,  Esq. 
Williamson,  Francis,  of  Walden, 

Gent. 

Wincall,  Isaac,  Gent. 
Wiseman,  Henry,  Esq. 
Wiseman,  Richard,  Gent. 
Wiseman,    Robert,  of   May  land, 

Esq. 

*Wright,8  John,  Esq. 
*  Young,  John,  Gent. 
Young,  Robert,  Esq. 

1  Spelt  also  Serrill  and  CorreU. 
a      "      "     Humfrevile,  &C. 
8      "      «     Weight. 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION  COMMITTEES. 


373 


HERTFORDSHIRE. 

Hertfordshire  Committees  (Husband,  ii.),  in  1643:  1st  April  (with  Supplements, 

1st  June.  21st  June),  p.  18,  p.  194,  p.  225;  — 7th  May  (with  Supplements  and  Re- 

.  -kl  August,  20th  September),    p.  171,  p.  8  Appendix,  p.  329; — Association 

specially,  10th  August,  p.  284.    For  support  of  Fairfax  in  1G44-5,  aiid  to  the  end 

of  the  War:  15th  February,  1644-5,  p.  604. 

The  (f.) designates  the  exclusively  Fairfax  men;  the  asterisk  (*)  those  of  10th 
August;  (a.)  means,  For  St.  Albaus. 


Atkins,  Edward,  Esq.,  Sergeaut- 

at-law. 

•Barber,  Gabriel,  Esq. 
Carter,  William,  of  Offley,  Gent. 
Cecil,  Robert,  Esq. 
Coinbes,  Toby,  Esq. 
Cranbourne,   Charles  Lord    Vis- 

count. 

Dacres,  Sir  Thomas,  Kt. 
Faireclotb,  Litton,  Esq. 
•Freeman,  Ralph,  Esq. 
•Garret,1  Sir  John,  Bart. 
Harrison,  Sir  John. 
•Heydou,  John,  Esq. 
Humberston,  John,  sen.,  Gent. 
Jennings,  Richard,  Esq. 
•King,  Dr.  John,  M.D. 
•Leman,2  William,  Esq. 
Litton,  Rowland,  Esq.  (/.) 
Litton,  Sir  William,  Kt. 
Lucy,  Sir  Richard,  Bart.  (/.) 
Marsh,  John,  Gent. 

1  Spelt  also  Gerrat  and  Jerrntt. 

*      ••      "  Ltaman,  Lemon,  &c.  &c. 


Mayor  for  the  time  being,  (a.) 
Mayor  of  Hertford  for  the  time 

being. 

Meade,  Thomas,  Gent. 
•Mewtys,  Henry,  Esq. 
Norton,  Gravely,  Esq. 
Pemberton,  John,  Esq. 
•Pemberton,  Ralph,  Esq.  (a.) 
•Porter,  Richard,  Esq. 
•Priestley,  William,  Esq. 
Puller,  Isaac,  Gent. 
•Read,  Sir  John,  Bart. 
•Robotham,  John,  Esq.  (a.) 
Sadler,  Thomas,  Esq. 
•Scroggs,  John,  Esq. 
Tooke,  John,  Esq. 
•Tooke,  Thomas,  Esq. 
•Washington,  Adam,  Esq. 
*  Wilde,  Alexander,  Esq. 
Wingate,  Edward,  Esq. 
•Witterong,1  Sir  John,  Kt. 

1  Spelt  also  Whitterong,  Whitteronye, 
WitUtcrong,  Witewrony,  Wittervunye, 
and  WiUeroung. 


HUNTINGDONSHIRE. 

Huntingdonshire  Committees  (Jluiband,  ii.),  in  1B43  :  1st  April  (with  Supple- 
tin-lit,  8th  .Tnlv).  p.  18,  p.  229  ;- 7th  May  (with  Supplements  and  Rcvisals,  3d 
August,  2inh  S*-pti-iiibvr),  p.  171,  ji.  8  Ap|H-ni!ix,  ]•.  t_>'i,  —Association  specially, 
H'fii  An.-',  i.  ;•  .'-I  For  Mippurt  of  Fairfax  in  luU-j,  and  to  thu  end  of  the  War: 
15  February,  1041-0,  p.  604. 


374 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION    COM  M 1TTEES. 


The  (/.)  designates  the  exclusively  Fairfax  men;  the  asterisk  (*)  those  of  10th 
August,  the  then  new  ones  of  whom  are  in  italics. 


Armyn,  Sir  William,  Bart.  (/.) 
Bonner,  John,  Gent.  (/.) 
Bulkley,  John,  Esq. 
*Burrell,  Abraham,  Esq. 
Castle,  John,  Esq. 
Cotton,  Sir  Thomas,  Bart. 
*Crornwell,  Oliver,  Esq. 
Desborow,  Isaac,  Gent. 
Drury,  William.  (/.) 
*Fullwood,  Gervaise,  Gent. 
*Harvey,  Robert,  Gent. 
Hewet,  Sir  John,  Kt. 


Ingram,  Robert,  Gent. 
*Joceline,  Terrill,  Esq. 
King,  William,  Gent. 
*Montague,  Edward,  Esq. 
Montague,  George,  Esq.  (/.) 
Offley,  John,  Gent. 
Petton,  John,  Geiit. 
*Temple,  Thomas,  Esq. 

*  Vintner,  Robert,  Gent. 
Walton,  Valentine,  Esq.  (/.) 

*  Winch,  Ouslow,  Esq. 


LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Lincolnshire  Committees  (Husband,  ii.),  in  1643  :  1st  April,  p.  18;  —  7th  May 
(with  Supplements  and  Revisals,  1st  June,  3d  August,  20th  September),  p.  171, 
p  194,  p.  9  Appendix,  p.  329.  3d  July,  1644  (County  now  got ;  corresponds  to 
10th  August,  1643,  for  the  other  Counties),  p.  515.  For  support  of  Fairfax  in 
1644-5,  and  to  the  end  of  the  War  :  15th  February,  1644-5  (with  Supplements, 
3d  April,  llth  August),  p.  604,  p.  633,  p.  707. 

The  (/".)  designates  the  exclusively  Fairfax  men  ;  the  asterisk  (*)  those  of  3d 
July,  1614,  the  then  new  ones  of  whom  are  in  italics  ;  (I )  means,  For  Lincoln. 


Anderson,  Edmund,  Esq. 
Archer,  John,  Esq. 
Armyn,  Sir  William,  Bart. 
*Ashlon,  Peter,  Esq. 
*Askham,  Thomas. 
Ayscough,  Sir  Edward,  Kt. 
Ayscough,  Edward,  Esq. 
Bernard,  John,  Gent. 
Bowtal,  Barnaby,  Esq. 
Brassbridge,  Aid.  (/  Z.) 
*Browne,  John,  Gent. 
Brownlow,  Sir  John,  Bart. 
Brownlow,  Sir  William,  Bart. 
Broxholme,  John,  Esq.  (also  /.) 
Bryan,  Richard,  Esq. 
*Bury,1  William,  Esq. 

1  Spelt  also  Bury  and  Btrry. 


*Cave,  Morris,  Esq. 
Cawdron,  Robert,  Esq. 
*Cholmley,  Montague,  Esq. 
*Coppledike,  Thomas,  Esq. 
*Cornwallis,  Thomas,  Esq. 
*Cust,  Samuel,  Esq. 
Davison,  William,  Gent.  (/.) 
Dawson,  Stephen,  Aid.  (/.) 
*Disney,  John,  sen.  Esq. 
*Disney,  Mollineux,  Esq. 
Disney,  Thomas,  Esq.  (f.) 
* Disney,  William,  Esq. 
*Ellis,  Edmund,  Esq. 
Ellis,  William,  Esq. 
*Emmerson,  Alexander,  Esq. 
*Empson,  Charles,  Esq. 
Euipson,  Francis,  Gent.  (/I) 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION   COMMITTEES. 


375 


•Erie,  Sir  Richard,  Bart. 

Escote,  Captain. 

Filkiu,  Richard,  Gent.  (/) 

*Fines,  Francis,  Esq. 

Fisher,  Francis,  Esq.  (/.) 

Grantham,  Thomas,  Esq.  (also  /.) 

*Go<lfrey,  William,  Esq. 

•Hall,  Charles,  Esq. 

Hall,  — ,  of  Kettlethorp,  Esq. 

Hall,  Thomas,  Geut. 

Harrington,  James.  Esq.  (/.) 

Harrington,  John,  Esq. 

Hatcher,  Thomas,  Esq. 

Hitchcott,  Edmund,  Esq. 

liicknian,  VVilloughby,  Esq. 

Hobsou,  John,  Gent.  (/.) 

*IIob.sou,  William,  K.-|. 

Hudson,  Christopher,  Esq. 

Irby,  Sir  Anthony,  Knight 

•Irby,  Thomas,  Esq. 

Johnson,  Martin,  Gent. 

King,  Edward,  Esq. 

*  Knight,  Isaac. 

Leigh,  Samuel,  Esq. 

Li.-t'-r,  Thomas,  Esq. 

•Lister,  William,  Esq. 

•Luddington,  William,  Esq. 

Marshal.  William,  Mayor.  (I.) 

•Massinbeard,1  Draynard,  Esq. 

•Massintx-anl,1  Ilunry,  Esq. 

Massingden, ,  Esq. 

Mayor  of  Boston  for  the  time  be- 
ing. 

Mayor  of  Lincoln  for  the  time  be- 
ing. (I.) 

•Miscendyne,  Francis,  Esq. 

Moorcroft,  Robert,  Aid.  (/.) 

Munckton,  Michael,  G«nt.  (/.) 

•Neltliorp,  Edward,  Esq. 

1  Spelt  also  M>i*ttHi/lt> tint,  V"M/n</- 
bcrde,  ^f>luin</n^r<J^l,  Muuttnljuii,  and 
Mammbtry. 


Nelthorp,  John,  Esq.  (/.) 
•Nethercote,  Thomas,  Gent. 
Owfield,  Sir  Samuel,  Kt. 
Owficld,  William,  Esq.  (/.) 
•Parkins,  Wyat,  Gent. 
•I'elham,  Henry,  Esq. 
*Pierpoint,  Francis,  Esq. 
Rawsou,  Nehemiah,  Gent. 
•Rossiter,     Edward,     Esq.     (the 

Col.) 

Rossiter,  Thomas,  Esq.  (/.) 
Samuel,  Arthur,  Esq.  (/.) 
Savile,  Thomas,  Esq. 
•Savile,  William,  Esq. 
Sheffield,  John,  Esq. 
Skipworth,  Edward,  Esq. 
Tharrald,  Nathaniel,  Gent. 
•Thompson,  William,  Geut. 
Tilsou,  Edmund,  Esq. 
•Trollop,  James,  Gent. 
Trollop,  Sir  Thomas,  Bart. 
•Walcott,  Humphrey,  Esq. 
Watson,  William,  Aid.  (L) 
Welby,  Thomas,  Gent. 
•Welcome,  Thomas,  Esq. 
Whitchcot,  Edward,  Esq. 
Whitchcot,  Sir  Hamond,  Kt. 
Whiting,  John,  Gent.  (/.) 
Willesby,  John,  Esq. 
Williamson,  Richard,  Esq.  (/.) 
Williamson,  Thomas,  Esq.  (/.) 
Willoughby,  Hickman,  Esq. 
Willoughby,     Lord     Francis. 

Parham. 

Wincopp,1  John,  Gent. 
•Woolley,  William,  Esq. 
Wrath,  John,  Esq. 
Wray,  Sir  Christopher,  Kt 
Wray,  Sir  John,  Bart. 
Wray,  John,  Esq. 

i  Spelt  al*>  Wiitcock  and  Wmcodk 


376 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION   COMMITTEES. 


NORFOLK. 

Norfolk  Committees  (Husband,  ii.),  in  1643:  1st  April  (with  Supplement,  18th 
April),  p.  19,  p.  38;  — 7th  May  (with  Supplements  and  Revisals,  1st  June,  3d  August, 
20th  September),  p.  171,  p.  194,  p.  9  Appendix,  p.  328;  —  Association  specially,  10th 
August,  p.  283.  For  support  of  Fairfax  in  1644-5,  and  to  the  cud  of  the  War:  15th 
February,  1644-5,  p.  605. 

The  (f.)  designates  the  exclusively  Fairfax  men  ;  the  asterisk  (*)  those  of  10th 
August,  the  then  new  ones  of  whom  are  in  italics ;  (».)  means,  For  Norwich. 


*Ashley,  Sir  Edward,  Kt. 
*Ashley,  Sir  Isaac,  Kt. 
Bailiffs  of  Yarmouth. 
Bainham,  Robert,  Esq.  (/.) 
Baker,  Thomas,  Esq.  (n.) 
Barkham,  Sir  Edward,  Bart. 
Barret,  Christopher,  Esq.  (n.) 
Barret,  Thomas,  Sheriff,  (n./.) 
Boddingfield,  Philip,  Esq. 
Borkham,  John. 
Berney,1  Sir  Richard,  Bart 
Blofield,  Jeremy,  of  Alby. 
*Brewster,  John,  Esq. 
Brewster,  Samuel,  Gent,  (n./.) 
Brown,  John,  of  Sparks. 
*Burnam,  Edmund,  Aid.  (n.) 
Buxton,  John,  Esq.  (/.) 
Calthorp,  James,  Esq. 
Calthorp,  Philip,  Esq. 
Chamberlain,  Edward,  Esq.  (/.) 
Church,  Bernard,  Sheriff,  (n.f.) 
Clarke,  of  Gaywood. 
Collier,  John,  Gent,  (n./.) 
Collyns,  of  Blackborne  Abbey. 
Coney,  William. 
*Cooke,2  John,  Esq. 
*Cooke,  William,  Esq. 
Corbet,  Miles,  Esq. 
Dagly,  Robert,  of  Alsham. 

1  Spelt    also    Berne,   Berwy,   and 
Barney. 

9  Spelt  also  Crook  and  Coke. 


Day,  Sucklin. 

Doylie,  Sir  William,  Kt.  (/.) 
Earl,  Erasmus,  Esq.  (/.) 
Felsham,  Robert,  of  Sculthrop. 
Fountain,  Briggs,  Esq. 
Fryer,1  Tobias,  Esq. 
Gasley,  William,  of  Holcan. 
Gawdy,  Edward,  Esq.  (/.) 
Gawdy,  Framlingham,  Esq.  (/.) 
*Gawdy,  Sir  Thomas,  Kt. 
*Gawsell,2  Gregory,  Esq. 
Gibbon,8  John,  Esq. 
Gibbon,8  Sir  Thomas,  Kt. 
Gooch,  Robert,  of  Elham. 
Gower,     Robert,    of    Yarmouth, 

Gent.  (/.) 

* Greenwood,  John,  Sheriff,  (n.) 
Grey,  James  de,  Esq.  (/.) 
Grey,  John,  Gent,  (n.f.) 
Harman,  Richard,  Esq. 
Harvye,  Richard. 
Heveningham,  William,  Esq. 
Heyward.  Edward,  Esq.  (/.) 
*Hobart,  Sir  John,  Bart. 
*Hobart,  Sir  Miles,  Kt. 
Holland,  Sir  John,  Bart. 
Hough  ton,  John,  Esq. 
Houghton,  Robert,  Esq.  (/.) 

1  Spelt  also  Frere,  Friar,  and  Fryar. 

2  "     "      Causell,     Gousall,    and 

Causey. 
a    «      »      Guibon. 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION   COMMITTEES. 


377 


•Huggen,1  Sir  Thomas,  Kt. 

Hunt,  George,  Esq.  (/.) 

Jaye,  John,  of  Ersham. 

•Jenny,  Francis,  Esq. 

Jenny,  Robert,  Esq. 

Johnson,  Thomas,  Gent. 

Ket,  Robert,  of  Wicklewood. 

Kettle,  Henry,  of  Thetford.  (/.) 

King,  Henry,  Gent. 

Lincoln,   Thomas,  of  Thetford, 
Esq.,  Aid. 

•Lindsey,  Matthew,  Aid.  (n.) 

Long,  Robert,  Esq.  (/.) 

May,  John,  of  Lynn,  Aid.  (/.) 

Mayor  of  Lynn  for  the  time  be- 
ing. 

Mayor  of  Norwich  for  the  time 
being,  (n.) 

Money,  Samuel,  of  Bin  num. 

Mountford,  Sir  Edmund,  Kt. 

Owner,  Edward,  Esq.  (/.) 

•Palgrave,  Sir  John,  Bart. 

Parkes,2  Samuel,  Gent. 

•Parmenter,  Adrian,  Esq.  (n.) 

Paston,  Sir  William,  Bart.  (/.) 

•Peckoner,8  Matthew,  Aid.  (n.) 

Pell,  Sir  Valentine,  Kt.  Vice- 
comes.  (/.) 

Percivall,  John,  Esq.  of  Lynn. 

Pots,  Sir  John,  Bart. 

i aes,4  John,  Esq.  of  Oxtron. 

Rich,  Robert,  Esq. 

Rower,  Robert,  Gent. 

*  Russell,  Thomas,  Esq. 

Stlt-r,  John,  Gent,  (n./) 

Sratnlur,  Adam,  Esq.  (f.) 

Sc;inil»-r,  James,  Esq 

Scottow,  Timothy,  Gent.  (n.  /!) 

1  Spelt  al»o  /fogim,  Hrwgan,  //"'/'/in. 
«      "       "    Park*,  Parker,  PnckU. 
•     "       "    Ptckvctr  BI><\  I'ickfxrd. 
4     "       "    Jfeyynf.'.  A'.yw*,  Rumt*, 
and  Knjin. 


•Sedley,1  Martin,  Esq. 
Sheppard,  Robert,  Esq. 
Sheriffs  of  Norwich. 
Sherwood,  Livewell,  Aid.  (n.) 
Shouldham,  Francis,  of  Fulmers- 

ton. 

Skippon,  Philip,  Esq.  (/.) 
*Smith,  Samuel,  Esq. 
*Sotherton,  Thomas,  Esq. 
*Spelnian,  John,  Esq. 
Spriugall,  Thomas,  of  St.  Mary's. 

Steward, ,  Esq.  (n.  /.) 

Swalter,  John,  of  Southcreak. 
*Symonds,  William,  of  Norwich, 

Aid.  (».) 

Taylor,  Henry,  Esq.  (/.) 
•Thacker,  John,  Aid.  (n.) 
Thorisby,  Edmund,  Esq.  (/.) 
Tofts,  John,  Gent.  (n. /.) 
Tofts,  Thomas,  Aid.  (;» ./.) 
Toll,  Thomas,  Esq. 
*Tooley,  John,  Esq.  (n.) 
Townsend,  Roger,  Esq.  (/) 
Utber,  Thomas. 
Vincent,  John,  of  Criuishain. 
Walpool,  John,  Esq. 
Walter,  of  Deram. 
Ward,  Hamon,  Esq.  (/.) 
Warner,  Richard,  of  Little  Brand. 
Wasted,  Thomas,  Gent.  (/».  /:> 
•Watts,  Henry,  Aid.  («.) 
Web,  John,  Esq.  (/.) 
Weld,  Thomas,  Esq. 
•Wilton,2  Robert,  Esq. 
Windhiun,  Sir  George,  Kt.  (/.) 
•Windham,  Thomas,  Esq. 
With,  of  Brodish. 
•Wood,  Robert,  Esq. 
WiMxlhouse,  Sir  Thomas,  Bart 
•  Wriyhtf  Thomas,  E*<j. 

i  Spelt  also  ISM  ./  and  Ittdlty. 
«      "       "     WtitvH. 
•     »      "     Wtiyhl. 


378 


EASTERN -ASSOCIATION    COMMITTEES. 


SUFFOLK. 

Suffolk  Committees  (Husband,  ii.),  in  1643 :  1st  April  (with  Supplement,  29th 
September),  p.  19,  p.  321; — 7th  May  (with  Supplements  and  Revisals,  1st  June, 
3d  August,  20th  September),  p.  172,  p.  193,  p  10  Appendix,  p.  328;  — Association 
specially,  10th  August,  p.  284.  For  support  of  Fairfax  in  1644-5,  and  to  the  end 
of  the  War:  15th  February,  1644-5,  p.  605. 

The  (/.)  designates  the  exclusively  Fairfax  men;  the  asterisk  (*)  those  of  the 
10th  August;  (i.)  means,  For  Ipswich;  (e.)  Bury  St.  Edmunds;  (a.)  Aldborough. 


Aldermen  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds. 
(i.) 

Aldus,  John,  Gent.  (»'.) 
*Appleton,  Isaac,  Esq. 
Bacon,  Sir  Butts,  Bart. 
*Bacon,  Sir  Edmund,  Bart. 

Francis,  Esq. 

Nathaniel,  of  Freeston, 


Nathaniel,  of   Ipswich, 


*Bacon 
*Bacon 

Esq. 
*Bacou 

Esq. 

Bacon,  Nicholas,  Esq. 
Bacon,  Thomas,  Esq.  (/.) 
Bailiffs  of  Aldborough.  (a.) 
Bailiffs  of  Ipswich,  (i.) 
*Baker,  Thomas,  Esq. 
Barnardiston,  Sir  Nathaniel,  Kt. 
*Barnardiston,  Sir  Thomas,  Kt. 
*Barrow,  Maurice,  Esq. 
Basse,1  John,  Esq. 
Bence,  Alexander,  Esq.  (/.) 
Bence,  Squire,  Esq. 
Blosse,  Thomas,  Esq.  (/.) 
*Bloyse,  William,  Esq. 
Bokenham,  Wiseman,  Esq. 
Brandling,  John,  (i.) 
Brewster,  Francis,  Esq. 
*Brewster,2  Robert,  Esq. 

Bright, ,  Gent,  (e.) 

Brook,  Sir  Robert,  Kt. 
Brooke,  John,  Esq.  (/.) 

1  Spelt  also  Bates,  Base,  and  Bace. 

2  ««       «'    Brechoster* 


Cage,1  William,  Esq. 
Chaplin,  Thomas,  Gent,  (e.) 
Chapman,  Thomas,  Esq.  (e.) 
Cheney,  Henry,  (a./.) 
Clinch,  John,  sen.,  Esq. 
Clinch,  John,  of  Culpho,  Esq. 
*Cole,  Thomas,  Esq. 
Cotton,  John,  Esq.  (/.) 
D'Ewes,  Sir  Simond,  Bart.  (/.) 
Duke,  Sir  Edward,  Kt. 
Duncoinbe,2  Robert,  Gent,  (i.) 
Fisher,  Peter,  (i.) 
Gale,  Jacob,  Gent,  (t.) 
Gibbs,  Thomas,  Aid.  (e.) 
Gurdon,  Brampton,  Esq. 
Gurdou,  Brampton,  jun.,  Esq. 
Gurdon,  John,  Esq. 
*  Harvey,  Edmund,  Esq. 
Heveningham,  WTilliam,  Esq. 
*Hobart,  James,  Esq. 
Hodges,  John,  Esq.  (/.) 
Johnson,3  Thomas,  Gent,  (a.) 
*Lawrence,  William,  Esq. 
*Lucas,  Gibson,  Esq. 
Moody,  Samuel,  (e.) 
North,  Henry,  sen.,  Esq. 
North,  Henry,  juu.,  Esq. 
North,  Sir  Roger,  Kt. 
Parker,  Sir  Philip,  Kt. 
Parker,  Sir  William,  Kt. 

1  Spelt  also  Gage. 

a     "      "    Duncam  and  Duncon. 

8     «      "    Juckwn. 


EASTERN-ASSOCIATION  COMMITTEES. 


379 


Pemberton,  Joseph,  Gent,  (i.) 
Pepys,  Richard,  Esq. 
Playters,  Sir  William,  Bart. 
Puplet,1  Richard,  Gent,  (i.) 
Read,  Edward,  Esq. 
Reynolds,  Robert,  Esq. 
River,2  William,  of  Bilson,  Esq. 

1  Spelt  also  Pupltr,  Pnrplet,  Pulpit. 
•     «       "     Hint  and  Ryvet. 


Rons,  Sir  John,  Kt. 
Sicklemer,  John,  Gent,  (t.) 
*Soame,  Sir  William,  Kt. 
•Spring,  Sir  William,  Bart. 
•Terrell,1  Thomas,  Esq. 
*Vaughan,  Theophilus,  of  Becclos 

Esq. 
Wentworth,  Sir  John,  Kt. 

»  Spelt  also  Tirritt. 


PART   VIII. 

FIRST  PROTECTORATE  PARLIAMENT. 
1654. 

LETTERS   CXCII.-CXCV. 

THE  3d  of  September  ever  since  Worcester  Battle  has  been 
kept  as  a  Day  of  Thanksgiving ;  commemorative  of  the  mercy 
at  Dunbar  in  1650,  and  of  the  crowning-mercy  which  followed 
next  year ;  —  a  memorable  day  for  the  Commonwealth  of 
England.  By  Article  Seventh  of  the  Instrument  of  Govern- 
ment, it  is  now  farther  provided  that  a  Parliament  shall  meet 
on  that  auspicious  Anniversary  when  it  next  comes  round. 
September  3d,  1654,  then  shall  the  First  Protectorate  Par- 
liament meet ;  successive  Parliaments,  one  at  least  every  three 
years,  are  to  follow,  but  this  shall  be  the  First.  Not  to  be 
dissolved,  or  prorogued,  for  at  least  five  months.  Free  Par- 
liament of  four  hundred:  for  England  three  hundred  and 
forty,  for  Scotland  thirty,  for  Ireland  thirty;  fairly  chosen 
by  election  of  the  People,  according  to  rules  anxiously  con- 
stitutional, laid  down  in  that  same  Instrument,  —  which  we 
do  not  dwell  upon  here.  Smaller  Boroughs  are  excluded; 
among  Counties  and  larger  Boroughs  is  a  more  equable  di- 
vision of  representatives  according  to  their  population :  no- 
body to  vote  that  has  not  some  clearly  visible  property  to  the 
value  of  two  hundred  Pounds;  but  all  that  have  can  vote, 
and  can  be  voted  for,  —  except,  of  course,  all  such  as  have 
appeared  against  the  Parliament  in  any  of  these  Wars  "  since 
the  First  of  January,  1642,"  and  "  not  since  given  signal  tes- 
timony "  of  their  repenting  that  step.  To  appearance,  a  very 


1653.  ANABAPTISTRY.  381 

reasonable  Reform  Bill;  —  understood  to  be  substantially  i'ie 
same  with  that  invaluable  measure  once  nearly  completed  by 
the  Rump :  only  with  this  essential  difference,  That  the  Rump 
Members  are  not  now  to  sit  by  nature  and  without  election ; 
not  now  to  decide,  they,  in  case  of  extremity,  Thou  shalt  sit, 
Thou  shalt  not  sit ;  —  others  than  they  will  now  decide  that, 
in  cases  of  extremity.  How  this  Parliament,  in  its  five- 
months  Session,  will  welcome  the  new  Protector  and  Pro- 
tectorate is  naturally  the  grand  question  during  those  nine 
or  ten  months  that  intervene. 

A  question  for  all  Englishmen ;  and  most  of  all  for  Oliver 
Protector ;  —  who  however,  as  we  can  perceive,  does  not  allow 
it  to  overawe  him  very  much ;  but  diligently  doing  this  day 
the  day's  duties,  hopes  he  may  find,  as  God  has  often  favored 
him  to  do,  some  good  solution  for  the  morrow,  whatsoever  the 
morrow  please  to  be.  A  man  much  apt  to  be  overawed  by 
any  question  that  is  smaller  than  Eternity,  or  by  any  danger 
that  is  lower  than  God's  Displeasure,  would  not  suit  well  in 
Oliver's  place  at  present !  Perhaps  no  more  perilous  place, 
that  I  know  clearly  of,  was  ever  deliberately  accepted  by 
a  man.  "The  post  of  honor,"  —  the  post  of  terror  and  of 
danger  and  forlorn-hope  :  this  man  has  all  along  been  used  to 
occupy  such. 

To  see  a  little  what  kind  of  England  it  was,  and  what  kind 
of  incipient  Protectorate  it  was,  take,  as  usual,  the  following 
small  and  few  fractions  of  Authenticity,  of  various  com- 
plexion, fished  from  the  doubtful  slumber-lakes  and  dust- 
vortexes,  and  hang  them  out  at  their  places  in  the  void  night 
of  tilings.  They  are  not  very  luminous;  but  if  they  were 
well  let  alone,  and  the  positively  tenebrific  were  well  forgotten, 
they  might  assist  our  imaginations  in  some  slight  measure. 

Sunday,  18th  December,  1653.  A  certain  loud-tongued, 
loud-minded  Mr.  Feak,  of  Anabaptist-Leveller  persuasion, 
with  a  Colleague,  seemingly  Welsh,  named  Powel,  have  a 
Preaching-Establishment,  this  good  while  past,  in  Hlackfriars; 
;i  Preaching-Establishment  every  Sunday,  which  on  .Monday 
•.ing  becomes  a  National-Charter  Convention  as  we  should 
now  call  it:  there  Feak,  Powel  and  Omipauy  are  in  the  habit 


382  PART  VIII.     FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  1658. 

of  vomiting  forth  from  their  own  inner-man,  into  other  inner- 
men  greedy  of  such  pabulum,  a  very  flamy  fuliginous  set  of 
doctrines,  —  such  as  the  human  mind,  superadding  Ana- 
baptistry  to  Sansculottism,  can  make  some  attempt  to  con- 
ceive. Sunday,  the  18th,  which  is  two  days  after  the  Lord 
Protector's  Installation,  this  Feak-Powel  Meeting  was  un- 
usually large ;  the  Feak-Powel  inner-man  unusually  charged. 
Elements  of  soot  and  fire  really  copious ;  fuliginous-flamy  in 
a  very  high  degree  !  At  a  time,  too,  when  all  Doctrine  does 
not  satisfy  itself  with  spouting,  but  longs  to  become  instant 
Action.  "Go  and  tell  your  Protector,"  said  the  Anabaptist 
Prophet,  That  he  has  deceived  the  Lord's  People ;  "  that  he 
is  a  perjured  villain,"  — "  will  not  reign  long,"  or  I  am  de- 
ceived ;  "  will  end  worse  than  the  last  Protector  did,"  Protector 
Somerset  who  died  on  the  scaffold,  or  the  tyrant  Crooked 
Richard  himself!  Say,  I  said  it!  —  A  very  foul  chimney 
indeed,  here  got  on  fire.  And  "  Major-General  Harrison,  the 
most  eminent  man  of  the  Anabaptist  Party,  being  consulted 
whether  he  would  own  the  new  Protectoral  Government, 
answered  frankly,  No;" — was  thereupon  ordered  to  retire 
home  to  Staffordshire,  and  keep  quiet.1 

Does  the  reader  bethink  him  of  those  old  Leveller  Corporals 
at  Burford,  and  Diggers  at  St.  George's  Hill  five  years  ago ; 
of  Quakerisms,  Calvinistic  Sansculottisms,  and  one  of  the 
strangest  Spiritual  Developments  ever  seen  in  any  country  ? 
The  reader  sees  here  one  foul  chimney  on  fire,  the  Feak-Powel 
chimney  in  Blackf riars ;  and  must  consider  for  himself  what 
masses  of  combustible  material,  noble  fuel  and  base  soot  and 
smoky  explosive  fire-damp,  in  the  general  English  Household 
it  communicates  with!  Republicans  Proper,  of  the  Long 
Parliament ;  Republican  Fifth-Monarchists  of  the  Little  Par- 
liament; the  solid  Ludlows,  the  fervent  Harrisons:  from 
Harry  Vane  down  to  Christopher  Feak,  all  manner  of  Re- 
publicans find  Cromwell  unforgivable.  To  the  Harrison-and 
Feak  species  Kingship  in  every  sort,  and  government  of  man 
by  man,  is  carnal,  expressly  contrary  to  various  Gospel 
Scriptures.  Very  horrible  for  a  man  to  think  of  governing 

i  Thurloe,  i.  641  ;  —  442,  591,  621 


1854.  ROYALIST  PLOTTING.  383 

men;  —  whether  he  ought  even  to  govern  cattle,  and  drive 
them  to  field  and  to  needful  penfold,  "except  in  the  way  of 
love  and  persuasion,"  seems  doubtful  to  me !  But  fancy  a 
Reign  of  Christ  and  his  Saints;  Christ  and  his  Saints  just 
about  to  come,  —  had  not  Oliver  Cromwell  stept  in  and  pre- 
vented it !  The  reader  discerns  combustibilities  enough ;  con- 
H. i ^rations,  plots,  stubborn  disaffections  and  confusions,  on 
the  Republican  and  Republican-Anabaptist  side  of  things. 
It  is  the  first  Plot-department,  which  my  Lord  Protector 
will  have  to  deal  with,  all  his  life  long.  This  he  must  wisely 
damp  down,  as  he  may.  Wisely  :  for  he  knows  what  is  noble 
in  the  matter,  and  what  is  base  in  it ;  and  would  not  sweep 
the  fuel  and  the  soot  both  out  of  doors  at  once. 

Tuesday,  Uth  February,  1653-4.  "At  the  Ship-Tavern 
in  the  Old  Bailey,  kept  by  Mr.  Thomas  Amps,"  we  come 
upon  the  second  life-long  Plot-department :  Eleven  truculent, 
rather  threadbare  persons,  sitttng  over  small  drink  there,  on 
the  Tuesday  night,  considering  how  the  Protector  might 
be  assassinated.  Poor  broken  Royalist  men;  payless  Old- 
Captains,  most  of  them,  or  such  like ;  with  their  steeple-hats 
worn  very  brown,  and  jackboots  slit,  —  and  projects  that 
cannot  be  executed.  Mr.  Amps  knows  nothing  of  them, 
except  that  they  came  to  him  to  drink;  nor  do  we.  Probe 
them  with  questions ;  clap  them  in  the  Tower  for  a  while : l 
Guilty,  poor  knaves;  but  not  worth  hanging:  —  disappear 
again  into  the  general  mass  of  Royalist  Plotting,  and  ferment 
there. 

The  Royalists  have  lain  quiet  ever  since  Worcester;  waiting 
what  issue  matters  would  take.  Dangerous  to  meddle  with 
a  Rump  Parliament,  or  other  steadily  regimented  thing; 
i  if  you  can  find  it  fallen  out  of  rank;  hopefulest  of  all, 
when  it  collects  itself  into  a  Single  Head.  The  Royalists 
judge,  with  some  reason,  that  if  they  could  kill  Oliver  Pro- 
tector, this  Commonwealth  were  much  endangered.  In  these 
Easter  weeks,  too,  or  Whitsuu  weeks,  there  comes  "  from  our 
('..nit  [C)i;irl«'s  Stuart's  Court]  at  Paris,"  great  encourage- 
nieut  to  all  men  of  spirit  in  straitened  circumstances.  A 
1  Newspapers  (in  CromwellitMO,  p.  135). 


384  PART  VTTT.     FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  14  Fetx 

Royal  Proclamation  "By  the  King,"  drawn  up,  say  some,  by 
Secretary  Clarendon ;  setting  forth  that  "  Whereas  a  certain 
base  mechanic  fellow,  by  name  Oliver  Cromwell,  has  usurped 
our  throne,"  much  to  our  and  other  people's  inconvenience, 
whosoever  will  kill  the  said  mechanic  fellow  "  by  sword,  pistol 
or  poison,"  shall  have  £500  a  year  settled  upon  him,  with 
colonelcies  in  our  Army,  and  other  rewards  suitable,  and  be 
a  made  man,  —  "on  the  word  and  faith  of  a  Christian  King."1 
A  Proclamation  which  cannot  be  circulated  except  in  secret; 
but  is  well  worth  reading  by  all  loyal  men.  And  so  Royalist 
Plots  also  succeed  one  another,  thick  and  threefold  through 
Oliver's  whole  life ;  —  but  cannot  take  effect.  Vain  for  a 
Christian  King  and  his  cunningest  Chancellors  to  summon 
all  the  Sinners  of  the  Earth,  arid  whatsoever  of  necessitous 
Truculent-Flunkyism  there  may  be,  and  to  bid,  in  the  name 
of  Heaven  and  of  Another  place,  for  the  Head  of  Oliver 
Cromwell :  once  for  all,  they  cannot  have  it,  that  Head  of 
Cromwell ;  —  not  till  he  has  entirely  done  with  it,  and  can 
make  them  welcome  to  their  benefit  from  it !  We  shall  come 
upon  these  Royalist  Plots,  Rebellion  Plots  and  Assassin  Plots, 
in  the  order  of  time ;  and  have  to  mention  them,  though  with 
brevity.  Oliver  Protector,  I  suppose,  understands  and  under- 
stood his  Protectorship  moderately  well,  and  what  Plots  and 
other  Hydra-coils  were  inseparable  from  it;  and  contrives 
to  deal  with  these  too,  like  a  conscientious  man,  and  not  like 
a  hungry  slave. 

Secretary  Thurloe,  once  St.  John's  Secretary  in  Holland, 
has  come  now,  ever  since  the  Little-Parliament  time,  into 
decided  action  as  Oliver's  Secretary,  or  the  State  Secretary ; 
one  of  the  expertest  Secretaries,  in  the  real  meaning  of  the 
word  Secretary,  any  State  or  working  King  could  have.  He 
deals  with  all  these  Plots ;  it  is  part  of  his  function,  supervised 
by  his  Chief.  Mr.  John  Milton,  we  all  lament  to  know,  has 
fallen  blind  in  the  Public  Service;  lives  now  in  Bird-cage 
Walk,  still  doing  a  little  when  called  upon  ;  bating  no  jot  of 
heart  or  hope.  Mr.  Milton's  notion  is,  That  this  l^otectorate 

1  Thurloe,  ii.  248.  "Given  at  Paris,  3d  May  (23d  April  by  old  style). 
1654." 


ir,B4.  ORDIXANVi.s     f'lirmi   GOVERNMENT.         385 

of  his  Highness  Oliver  was  a  thing  called  for  by  the  Neces- 
sities and  the  Everlasting  Laws ;  and  that  his  Highness  ought 
now  to  quit  himself  like  a  Christian  Hero  in  it,  as  in  other 
smaller  things  he  has  been  used  to  do.1 

March  20th,  1C53-4.  By  the  Instrument  of  Government,  the 
Lord  Protector  with  his  Council,2  till  once  the  First  Parliament 
were  got  together,  was  empowered  not  only  to  raise  moneys 
for  the  needful  supplies,  but  also  "to  make  Laws  and  Ordi- 
nances for  the  peace  and  welfare  of  these  Nations:"  whii-h 
latter  faculty  he  is  by  no  means  slack  to  exercise.  Of  his 
"  Sixty  Ordinances  "  passed  ic  this  manner  before  the  Parlia- 
ment met,  which  are  well  approved  of  by  good  judges,  we 
cannot  here  afford  to  say  much  :  but  there  is  one  bearing  date 
as  above,  which  must  not  be  omitted.  First  Ordinance  relat- 
ing to  the  Settlement  of  a  Gospel  Ministry  in  this  Nation ; 
Ordinance  of  immense  interest  to  Puritan  England  at  that 
time.  An  object  which  has  long  teen  on  the  anvil,  this  same 
"Settlement;"  much  labored  at,  and  striven  for,  ever  since 
the  Long  Parliament  began  :  and  still,  as  all  confess,  no  toler- 
able result  has  been  attained.  Yet  is  it  not  the  greatest 
object ;  properly  the  soul  of  all  these  struggles  and  confused 
wrestlings  and  battlings,  since  we  first  met  here?  For  the 

1  Deftnsio  Sfcunda. 

2  Fifteen  in  number,  which  he  may  enlarge  to  twenty-one,  if  he  see  good. 
Not  removable  any  of  thorn,  except  by  himself  with  advice  of  the  rest.     A 
very  remarkable  Majesty'-  Ministry;  —  of  which,  for  its  owu  sake  and  the 
Majr  t\'-,  f:iko  this  List,  as  it  stood  in  1G54  :  — 

Philip  Viscount  Lisle  ( Algernon  Sidney's  TCrother) ;  Fleetwood  ;  Lambert  ; 
Montague  (of  Hinchinbrook)  ;  Desborow  (Protector's  Brother  in-law) ;  Ashley 
CIN.JHT  (F,arlof  Shaftesbnry  afterwards)  ;  Walter  Strickland  (Memlier  for 
Minehead  in  the  Long  Parliament,  once  Ambassador  in  Holland)  ;  Colonel 
Henry  Lawreuce  (for  Westmoreland  in  the  Long  Parliament,  of  whom  wo 
have  transiently  heard,  —  became  President  of  the  Council) ;  Mayor  (of  Hnrs- 
loy)  ;  Francis  Rouse  (our  old  friend);  pious  old  Major-General  Skippon  ; 
Col* meld  Philip  Jones  and  Sydonham,  Sirs  (iilhert  Pickering  and  Charles 
W'.l.-i-lr\,  of  whom  my  readers  do  not  know  much.  Fifteen  Councilors  in 
all.  To  whom  Nathaniel  1  ieime*  (son  of  Lord  Say  and  Sdi;)  was  afterwards 
added;  with  the  Karl  of  Mulgrave  ;  and  another,  Colonel  Mackworth,  \\lni 
H.M.H  died  (Tfiurlof,  iii  :•»!).  Thurloe  is  Secretary ;  aud  blind  Milton,  now 
with  assistants,  u  Latiu  Secretary. 

VOL.  xvui.  25 


386  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  20  March, 

thing  men  are  taught,  or  get  to  believe,  that  is  the  thing  they 
will  infallibly  do ;  the  kind  of  "  Gospel "  you  settle,  kind  of 
"Ministry"  you  settle,  or  do  not  settle,  the  root  of  all  is 
there !  Let  us  see  what  the  Lord  Protector  can  accomplish  in 
this  business. 

Episcopacy  being  put  down,  and  Presbytery  not  set  up,  and 
Church-Government  for  years  past  being  all  a  Church-Anarchy, 
the  business  is  somewhat  difficult  to  deal  with.  The  Lord 
Protector,  as  we  find,  takes  it  up  in  simplicity  and  integrity, 
intent  upon  the  real  heart  or  practical  outcome  of  it;  and 
makes  a  rather  satisfactory  arrangement.  Thirty -eight  chosen 
Men,  the  acknowledged  Flower  of  English  Puritanism,  are 
nominated  by  this  Ordinance  of  the  20th  of  March,1  nominated 
a  Supreme  Commission  for  the  Trial  of  Public  Preachers. 
Any  person  pretending  to  hold  a  Church-living,  or  levy  tithes 
or  clergy-dues  in  England,  has  first  to  be  tried  and  approved 
by  these  men.  Thirty-eight,  as  Scobell  teaches  us  :  nine  are 
Laymen,  our  friend  old  Francis  Rouse  at  the  head  of  them ; 
twenty-nine  are  Clergy.  His  Highness,  we  find,  has  not  much 
inquired  of  what  Sect  they  are ;  has  known  them  to  be  Inde- 
pendents, to  be  Presbyterians,  one  or  two  of  them  to  be  even 
Anabaptists ;  —  has  been  careful  only  of  one  characteristic, 
That  they  were  men  of  wisdom,  and  had  the  root  of  the  mat- 
ter in  them.  Owen,  Goodwin,  Sterry,  Marshall,  Manton,  and 
others  not  yet  quite  unknown  to  men,  were  among  these 
Clerical  Triers :  the  acknowledged  Flower  of  Spiritual  Eng- 
land at  that  time ;  and  intent,  as  Oliver  himself  was,  with  an 
awful  earnestness,  on  actually  having  the  Gospel  taught  to 
England. 

This  is  the  First  branch  or  limb  of  Oliver's  scheme  for 
Church-Government,  this  Ordinance  of  the  20th  March,  1653-4. 
A  second,  which  completes  what  little  he  could  do  in  the 
matter  at  present,  developed  itself  in  August  following.  By 
this  August  Ordinance,2  a  Body  of  Commissioners,  distin- 
guished Puritan  Gentry,  distinguished  Puritan  Clergy,  are 
nominated  in  all  Counties  of  England,  from  Fifteen  to  Thirty 
in  each  County ;  who  are  to  inquire  into  "  scandalous,  ignorant, 

1  Scobell,  ii.  279-280-  2  28th  August,  1654  (Scobell,  ii.  335-347) 


1654.  ORDINANCES:   CHURCH   GOVERNMENT.          387 

insufficient,"  and  otherwise  deleterious  alarming  Ministers  of 
the  Gospel ;  to  be  a  tribunal  for  judging,  for  detecting,  eject- 
ing them  (only  in  case  of  ejection,  if  they  have  wives,  let 
some  small  modicum  of  living  be  allowed  them) :  and  to  sit 
there,  judging  and  sifting,  till  gradually  all  is  sifted  clean, 
and  can  be  kept  clean.  This  is  the  Second  branch  of  Oliver's 
form  of  Church-Government :  this,  with  the  other  Ordinance, 
makes  at  last  a  kind  of  practicable  Ecclesiastical  Arrangement 
for  England. 

A  very  republican  arrangement,  such  as  could  be  made  on 
the  sudden;  contains  in  it,  however,  the  germ  or  essence  of 
all  conceivable  arrangements,  that  of  worthy  men  to  judge  of 
the  worth  of  men ;  and  was  found  in  practice  to  work  well. 
As,  indeed,  any  arrangement  will  work  well,  when  the  men  in 
it  have  the  root  of  the  matter  at  heart ;  and,  alas,  all  arrange- 
ments, when  the  men  in  them  have  not,  work  ill  and  not  well ! 
Of  the  Lay  Commissioners,  from  fifteen  to  thirty  in  each 
County,  it  is  remarked  that  not  a  few  are  political  enemies 
of  Oliver's :  friends  or  enemies  of  his,  Oliver  hopes  they  are 
men  of  pious  probity,  and  friends  to  the  Gospel  in  England. 
My  Lord  General  Fairfax,  the  Presbyterian;  Thomas  Scott, 
of  the  Long  Parliament,  the  fanatical  Republican ;  Lords 
Wharton,  Say,  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  Colonel  Robert  Blake, 
Mayor  of  Hursley,  Duiich  of  Pusey,  Montague  of  Hinchin- 
brook,  and  other  persons  known  to  us,  —  are  of  these  Com- 
missioners. Richard  Baxter,  who  seldom  sat,  is  one  of  the 
Clergy  for  his  County:  he  testifies,  not  in  the  willingest 
manner,  l»eing  no  friend  to  Oliver,  That  these  Commissioners, 
of  one  sort  and  the  other,  with  many  faults,  did  sift  out  the 
deleterious  alarming  Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  put  in  the 
salutary  in  their  stead,  with  very  considerable  success, — 
giving  us  "  able,  serious  Preachers,  who  lived  a  godly  life,  of 
what  tolerable  opinion  soever  they  were;"  so  that  "many 
thousands  of  souls  blessed  God"  for  what  they  had  done; 
and  grieved  sore  wlu-n,  with  the  return  of  the  Nell-Gwyun 
iM'i-nili-i-.  and  his  Four  Surplices  or  what  remained  of  them, 
it  was  undone  again.1  And  so  with  these  Triers  and  these 

ife,  part  i.  p.  72. 


388  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  14  April, 

Expurgators  both  busy,  and  a  faithful  eye  to  watch  their 
procedure,  we  will  hope  the  Spiritual  Teaching-Apparatus  of 
England  stood  now  on  a  better  footing  than  usual,  and  actually 
succeeded  in  teaching  somewhat. 

Of  the  Lord  Protector's  other  Ordinances;  Ordinance  "de- 
claring the  Law  of  Treason/3  Ordinances  of  finance,  of  Amnesty 
for  Scotland,  of  Union  with  Scotland,  and  other  important 
matters,  we  must  say  nothing.  One  elaborate  Ordinance, 
"  in  sixty-seven  Articles,"  for  "  Reforming  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery," will  be  afterwards  alluded  to  with  satisfaction,  by  the 
Lord  Protector  himself.  Elaborate  Ordinance;  containing 
essential  improvements,  say  some ;  —  which  has  perhaps  saved 
the  Court  of  Chancery  from  abolition  for  a  while  longer !  For 
the  rest,  "  not  above  Two  Hundred  Hackney-coaches  "  shall 
henceforth  be  allowed  to  ply  in  this  Metropolis  and  six  miles 
round  it ;  the  ever-increasing  number  of  them,  blocking  up  our 
thoroughfares,  threatens  to  become  insupportable.1 

April  14^A,  1654.  This  day,  let  it  be  noted  for  the  sake  of 
poor  Editors  concerned  with  undated  Letters,  and  others,  his 
Highness  removed  from  his  old  Lodging  in  the  Cockpit,  into 
new  properly  Royal  Apartments  in  Whitehall,  now  ready  for 
him,2  and  lived  there  henceforth,  usually  going  out  to  Hampton 
Court  on  the  Saturday  afternoon.  He  has  "assumed  somewhat 
of  the  state  of  a  King ; "  due  ceremonial,  decent  observance 
beseeming  the  Protector  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England ; 
life-guards,  ushers,  state-coaches,  — in  which  my  erudite  friend 
knows  well  what  delight  this  Lord  Protector  had !  Better 
still,  the  Lord  Protector  has  concluded  good  Treaties ;  received 
congratulatory  Embassies,  —  France,  Spain  itself  have  sent 
Embassies.  Treaty  with  the  Dutch,  with  Denmark,  Sweden, 
Portugal:8  all  much  to  our  satisfaction.  Of  the  Portuguese 
Treaty  there  will  perhaps  another  word  be  said.  As  for  the 
Swedish,  this,  it  is  well  known,  was  managed  by  our  learned 
friend  Bulstrode  at  Upsal  itself;  whose  Narrative  of  that 

1  Scobell,  ii.  313  ;  Newspapers  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  139). 
3  Newspapers  (iu  Cromwelliana,  p.  139). 

*  Dutch  Treaty  signed,  5th  April,  1654  ;  Swedish,  28th  April ;  Portuguese, 
10th  July ;  Danish  Claims  settled,  31st  July  (Godwin,  iv.  49-56). 


1664.  LETTER  CXCII.    WHITEHALL.  389 

formidable  Embassy  exists,  a  really  curious  life-picture  by  our 
Pedant  friend  5  whose  qualities  are  always  fat  aud  good  j  — 
whose  parting  from  poor  Mrs.  Whitlocke  at  Chelsea,  in  those 
interesting  circumstances,  may  be  said  to  resemble  that  of 
Hector  from  Andromache,  in  some  points. 

And  now  for  our  Four  small  Letters,  for  our  First  Protecto- 
rate Parliament,  without  waste  of  another  word ! 


LETTER  CXCII. 

"  For  my  loving  Brother  Richard  Mayor,  Esquire,  at  Hursley,  in 
Hampshire:  These. 

"  [WHITEHALL,]  4th  May,  1654. 

"  DEAR  BROTHER,  —  I  received  your  loving  Letter ;  for  which 
I  thank  you :  and  surely  were  it  fit  to  proceed  in  that  Business, 
you  should  not  in  the  least  have  been  put  upon  anything  but 
the  trouble ;  for  indeed  the  land  in  Essex,  with  some  money 
in  my  hand,  should  have  gone  towards  it. 

"  But  indeed  I  am  so  unwilling  to  be  a  seeker  after  the  world, 
having  had  so  much  favor  from  the  Lord  in  giving  me  so  much 
without  seeking;  and  [am]  so  unwilling  that  men  should  think 
me  so,  which  they  will  though  you  only  appear  in  it  (for  they 
will,  by  one  means  or  other,  know  it),  —  that  indeed  I  dare  not 
meddle  nor  proceed  therein.  Thus  I  have  told  you  my  plain 
thoughts. 

"  My  hearty  love  I  present  to  you  and  my  Sister,  my  bless- 
ing and  love  to  dear  Doll  and  the  little  one.  With  love  to  all, 

I  rest, 

"  Your  loving  brother, 

"  OLIVER  P."  > 

A  "  business  "  seemingly  of  making  an  advantageous  pur- 
chase of  land  for  Richard;  which  Mayor  will  take  all  the 
trouble  of,  and  even  advance  the  money  for ;  but  which  Oliver 
P.,  for  good  reasons  given,  "dare  not  meddle  with."  No  man 
can  now  guess  what  laud  it  was,  —  nor  need  much.  In  the 

1  Noble,  i.  330 ;  llurrie,  p.  515  :  —  uue  of  tho  1'usoy  Lcllcni. 


390  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  May, 

Pamphletary  dust-mountains  is  a  confused  story  of  Cornet 
Joyce's,1  concerning  Fawley  Park  in  Hampshire ;  which,  as  the 
dim  dateless  indications  point  to  the  previous  winter  or  summer, 
and  to  the  "  Lord  General  Cromwell "  as  looking  towards  that 
property  for  his  Son  Eichard,  —  may  be  the  place,  for  aught 
we  know !  The  story  sets  forth,  with  the  usual  bewildered 
vivacity  of  Joyce  :  How  Joyce,  the  same  who  took  the  King  at 
Holmby,  and  is  grown  now  a  noisy  Anabaptist  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  —  how  Joyce,  I  say,  was  partly  minded  and  fully  en- 
titled to  purchase  Fawley  Park,  and  Richard  Cromwell  was 
minded  and  not  fully  entitled :  how  Richard's  Father  there- 
upon dealt  treacherously  with  the  said  Joyce ;  spake  softly  to 
him,  then  quarrelled  with  him,  menaced  him  (owing  to  Fawley 
Park) ;  nay  ended  by  flinging  him  into  prison,  and  almost 
reducing  him  to  his  needle  and  thimble  again,  —  greatly  to 
the  enragement  and  distraction  of  the  said  Joyce.  All  owing 
to  Fawley  Park,  thinks  Joyce  and  prints ;  —  so  that  my  Lord 
Protector,  if  this  Park  be  the  place,  is  very  wise  "not  to 
meddle  or  proceed  therein."  And  so  we  leave  it. 


LETTER  CXCm. 

MONK,  in  these  summer  months,  has  a  desultory  kind  of 
Rebellion  in  the  Highlands,  Glencairn's  or  Middleton's  Rebel- 
lion, to  deal  with  ;  and  is  vigorously  coercing  and  strangling 
it.  Colonel  Alured,  an  able  officer,  but  given  to  Anabaptist 
notions,  has  been  sent  into  Ulster  to  bring  over  certain  forces 
to  assist  Monk.  His  loose  tongue,  we  find,  has  disclosed  de- 
signs or  dispositions  in  him  which  seem  questionable.  The 
Lord  Protector  sees  good  to  revoke  his  Commission  to  Alured, 
and  order  him  up  to  Town. 

1  True  Narrative  of  the  Causes  of  the  Lord-  General  Cromwell's  anger  and  tn- 
dignation  ar/ainst  Lieutenant-Colonel  George  Joyce:  reprinted  (without  date)  in 
Hnrlpinn  Miscellany,  v.  557,  &c.  —  Joyce  "is  t»  jail,"  19th  September*  1653 
(Thurloe,  i.  470). 


LETTER  CXCIII.    WHITEHALL.  391 


[2b  the  Lord  Fleetwood,  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland :  These."] 

"[WHITEHALL,]  IGthMay,  1654. 

"  SIR,  —  By  the  Letter  I  received  from  you,  and  by  the  in- 
formation of  the  Captain  you  sent  to  me,  I  am  sufficiently 
satisfied  of  the  evil  intentions  of  Colonel  Alured ;  and  by  some 
other  considerations  amongst  ourselves,  tending  to  the  mak- 
ing up  a  just  suspicion,  —  by  the  advice  of  friends  here,  I  do 
revoke  Colonel  Alured  from  that  Employment. 

"  Wherefore  I  desire  you  to  send  for  him  to  return  to  you 
to  Dublin ;  and  that  you  cause  him  to  deliver  up  the  Instruc- 
tions and  Authorities  into  your  hands,  which  he  hath  in  refer- 
ence to  that  Business ;  as  also  such  moneys  and  accounts  con- 
cerning the  same,  —  according  to  the  Letter,  herein  enclosed, 
directed  to  him,  which  I  entreat  you  to  deliver  when  he  comes 
to  you. 

"  I  desire  [you]  also,  to  the  end  the  Service  may  not  be 
neglected,  nor  [for]  one  day  stand,  it  being  of  so  great  con- 
cernment, To  employ  some  able  Officer  to  assist  in  Colonel 
Alured's  room,  until  the  men  be  shipped  off  for  their  design. 
We  purpose  also,  God  willing,  to  send  one  very  speedily  who, 
we  trust,  shall  meet  them  at  the  place,  to  command  in  chief. 
As  for  provision  of  victual  and  other  necessaries,  we  shall 
hasten  them  away ;  desiring  that  these  Forces  may  by  no  means 
stay  in  Ireland ;  because  we  purpose  they  shall  meet  their  pro- 
vision in  the  place  they  are  designed  [for]. 

"If  any  further  discovery  be  with  you  about  any  other  pas- 
sages on  Colonel  Alured's  part,  I  pray  examine  them,  and  speed 
tin-in  to  us;  and  send  Colonel  Alured  over  hither  with  the 
first  opportunity.  Not  having  more  upon  this  subject  at  pres- 
ent, I  rest, 

"  Your  loving  father, 

"OL1VEK    1'. 

"  [T*.S.]  I  desire  you  that  the  Officer,  whom  you  appoint 
to  assist  the  shippm.;  ui  the  Forces,  may  have  the  money  in 
Colonel  Alured's  hands,  for  carrying  on  the  Service ;  and  also 


302  PAliT  VIII.    FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  16  May, 

that   he   may  leave  what  remains   at  Carrickfergus   for  the 
Com uiander-in-ch ie f ,  who  shall  call  for  it  there." l 


This  is  the  Enclosure  above  spoken  of :  — 

LETTER  CXCIV. 

[To  Colonel  Alured :  These.] 

"  [WHITEHALL,]  16th  May,  1654. 

"Sin,  —  I  desire  you  to  deliver  up  into  the  hands  of 
Lieutenant-General  Fleetwood  such  Authorities  and  Instruc- 
tions as  you  had  for  the  prosecution  of  the  Business  of  the 
Highlands  in  Scotland;  and  [that]  you  forthwith  repair  to 
me  to  London  ;  the  reason  whereof  you  shall  know  when  you 
come  hither,  which  I  would  have  you  do  with  all  speed.  I 
would  have  you  also  give  an  account  to  the  Lieutenant- 
General,  before  you  come  away,  how  far  you  have  proceeded 
in  this  Service,  and  what  money  you  have  in  your  hands, 
which,  you  are  to  leave  with  him.  I  rest, 

"  Your  loving  friend, 

"OLIVER  P."1 

This  Colonel  Alured  is  one  of  several  Yorkshire  Alureds 
somewhat  conspicuous  in  these  wars ;  whom  we  take  to  be 
Nephews  or  Sons  of  the  valuable  Mr.  Alured  or  Ald'red  who 
wrote  "  to  old  Mr.  Chamberlain,"  —  in  the  last  generation,  one 
morning,  during  the  Parliament  of  1628,  when  certain  honpr- 
able  Gentlemen  held  their  Speaker  down,  —  a  Letter  which 
we  thankfully  read.8  One  of  them,  John,  was  Member  in 
this  Long  Parliament ;  a  Colonel  too,  and  King's  Judge  ;  who 
is  now  dead.  Here  is  another,  Colonel  Matthew  Alured,  a 
distinguished  soldier  and  republican ;  who  is  not  dead ;  but 
whose  career  of  usefulness  is  here  ended.  "  Repairing  forth- 
with to  London,"  to  the  vigilant  Lord  Protector,  he  gives 

1  Thnrloe,  ii.  285.  2  Ibid.  ii.  286. 

8  Vol.  xvii.  p.  59  et  seq. 


1654.  LETTER  CXCIV.    WHITEHALL.  393 

what  account  he  can  of  himself;  none  that  will  hold  water,  I 
pri reive;  lingers  long  under  a  kind  of  arrest  "at  the  Mews" 
or  elsewhere  ;  soliciting  either  freedom  and  renewed  favor,  or 
a  fair  trial  and  punishment;  gets  at  length  committal  to  the 
Tower,  trial  by  Court  Martial,  —  dismissal  from  the  service.1 
A  fate  like  that  of  several  others  in  a  similar  case  to  his. — 
Poor  Alured  !  But  what  could  be  done  with  him  ?  He  had 
Republican  Anabaptist  notions;  he  had  discontents,  enthu- 
siasms, which  might  even  ripen  into  tendencies  to  correspond 
with  Charles  Stuart.  Who  knows  if  putting  him  in  a  stone 
waistcoat,  and  general  strait- waistcoat  of  a  mild  form,  was  not 
the  mercifulest  course  that  could  be  taken  with  him  ? 

lie  must  stand  here  as  the  representative  to  us  of  one  of 
the  fatalest  elements  in  the  new  Lord  Protector's  position : 
the  Republican  discontents  and  tendencies  to  plot,  fermenting 
in  his  own  Army.  Of  which  we  shall  perhaps  find  elsewhere 
room  to  say  another  word.  Republican  Overton,  Milton's 
friend,  whom  we  have  known  at  Hull  and  elsewhere;  Okey, 
the  fierce  dragoon  Colonel  and  zealous  Anabaptist;  Alured, 
whom  we  see  here ;  Ludlow,  sitting  sulky  in  Ireland :  all  these 
.uc  already  summoned  up,  or  about  being  summoned,  to  give 
account  of  themselves.  Honorable,  brave  and  faithful  men : 
it  is,  as  Oliver  often  says,  the  saddest  thought  of  his  heart 
that  he  must  have  old  friends  like  them  for  enemies !  But 
he  cannot  help  it ;  they  will  have  it  so.  They  must  go  their 
way,  he  his. 

Much  need  of  vigilance  in  this  Protector !  Directly  on  the 
back  of  these  Republican  commotions  oomeout  Royalist  oin>s  ; 
with  which,  however,  the  Protector  is  less  straitened  to  deal. 
Lord  Deputy  Fleetwood  has  not  yet  received  his  Letter  at 
Dublin,  when  here  in  London  emerges  a  Royalist  Plot;  the 
first  of  any  gravity ;  known  in  the  old  Books  and  State-Trials 
as  Vowel  and  Gerard's  Plot,  or  Somerset  Forts  Plot.  Plot  for 
assassinatini,'  the  Protector,  as  usual.  Easy  to  do  it,  as  he 
goes  to  Hampton  Court  on  a  Saturday,  —  Saturday,  the  20th 
of  May,  for  example.  Provide  thirty  stout  men ;  and  do  it 

i  WhitWk*-.  pp.  4W,  510;  Thnrloe,  ii.  2»4,  313,  414;  Burton'a  Diary 
(Louduu.  1.-2-J,  iii  40;  Common*  Journal*,  vii.  678. 


394  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  July, 

then.  Gerard,  a  young  Royalist  Gentleman,  connected  with 
Royalist  Colonels  afterwards  Earls  of  Macelesfield,  —  he  will 
provide  five-and-twenty ;  some  Major  Henshaw,  Colonel  Finch, 
or  I  know  not  who,  shall  bring  the  other  five.  "Vowel  a 
Schoolmaster  at  Islington,  who  taught  many  young  gentle- 
men," strong  for  Church  and  King,  cannot  act  in  the  way 
of  shooting;  busies  himself  consulting,  and  providing  arms. 
"  Billingsley  the  Butcher  in  Smithfield,"  he,  aided  by  Vowel, 
could  easily  "seize  the  Troopers'  horses  grazing  in  Islington 
fields ; "  while  others  of  us  unawares  fall  upon  the  soldiers  at 
the  Mews  ?  Easy  then  to  proclaim  King  Charles  in  the  City ; 
after  which  Prince  Rupert  arriving  with  "  ten  thousand  Irish, 
English  and  French,"  and  all  the  Royalists  rising,  —  the  King 
should  have  his  own  again,  and  we  were  all  made  men ;  and 
Oliver  once  well  killed,  the  Commonwealth  itself  were  as 
good  as  dead !  Saturday,  the  20th  of  May ;  then,  say  our 
Paris  expresses,  then !  — 

Alas,  in  the  very  birthtime  of  the  hour,  "  five  of  the  Con- 
spirators  are  seized  in  their  beds ; "  Gerard,  Vowel,  all  the 
leaders  are  seized ;  Somerset  Fox  confesses  for  his  life ; 
whosoever  is  guilty  can  be  seized :  and  the  Plot  is  like  water 
spilt  upon  the  ground ! l  A  High  Court  of  Justice  must 
decide  upon  it ;  and  with  Gerard  and  Vowel  it  will  probably 
go  hard. 


LETTER  CXCV- 

• 

REFERS  to  a  small  private  or  civic  matter :  the  Vicarage  of 
Christ-Church,  Newgate  Street,  the  patronage  of  which  be- 
longs to  "  the  Mayor,  Commonalty  and  Citizens  of  London  as 
Governors  of  the  Royal  Hospital  of  St.  Bartholomew "  ever 
since  Henry  the  Eighth's  time.2  The  former  Incumbent,  it 
would  seem,  had  been  removed  by  the  Council  of  State ; 
some  Presbyterian  probably,  who  was,  not  without  cause, 

1  French  Le  Bas  dismissed  for  his  share  in  it :  Appendix,  No.  28. 

2  Elmes's  Topographical  Dictionary  of  London,  in  voce. 


1G54.  LETTER  CXCV.    WHITEHALL.  395 

offensive  to  them.  If  now  the  Electors  and  the  State  could 
both  agree  on  Mr.  Turner,  —  it  would  "  silence  "  several  ques 
tions,  thinks  the  Lord  Protector.  Whether  they  did  agree  ? 
Who  "  Mr.  Turner,"  of  such  "  repute  for  piety  and  learning/' 
was  ?  These  are  questions. 

"  To  the  Right  Hnnomble  Sir  Thomas  Vyner,  Knight,  Lord  Mayor 
of  London:   These. 

"  [WniTEnau,,!  5th  July,  1654. 

"My  LORD  MAYOR,  —  It  is  not  my  custom  now,  nor  shall 
be,  without  some  special  cause  moving,  to  interpose  anything 
to  the  hindrance  of  any  in  the  free  course  of  their  presenting 
persons  to  serve  in  the  Public  Ministry. 

"  But,  well  considering  how  much  it  concerns  the  public 
peace,  and  what  an  opportunity  may  be  had  of  promoting  the 
interest  of  the  Gospel,  if  some  eminent  and  fit  person  of  a 
pious  and  peaceable  spirit  and  conversation  were  placed  in 
Christ-Church, — and  though  I  am  not  ignorant  what  interest 
the  State  may  justly  challenge  to  supply  that  place,  which 
by  an  Order  of  State  is  become  void,  notwithstanding  any 
resignation  that  is  made  : 

u  Yet  forasmuch  as  your  Lordship  and  the  rest  of  the 
Governors  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  are  about  to  pre- 
sent thereunto  a  person  of  known  nobility  and  integrity 
before  you,  namely  Mr.  Turner,  I  am  contented,  if  you  think 
good  so  to  improve  the  present  opportunity  as  to  present  ////// 
to  the  place,  to  have  all  other  questions  silenced;  —  which 
will  not  alone  be  the  fruit  thereof;  but  I  believe  also  the  true 
good  of  the  Parish  therein  concerned  will  be  thereby  much 
furthered.  I  rest, 

"  Your  assured  friend, 

"  OLIVER  P. 

"  [P.S.]  I  can  assure  you  few  men  of  his  time  in  Eng- 
land have  a  better  repute  for  piety  and  learning  than  Mr. 
Turner."1 

1  I*uMlowiM>  MS8  1  •_'.•;«•,.  ful  104  The  Signature  al«m-  »f  the  Letter  in 
Oliver'*  l<ii>  lie  lia.-»  added  tin-  Postscript  in  hi*  uwu  liuiul. 


396  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  5  July, 

I  am  apt  to  think  the  Mr.  Turner  in  question  may  have 
been  Jerom  Turner,  of  whom  there  is  record  in  Wood  : 1  a 
Somersetshire  man,  distinguished  among  the  Puritans  ;  who 
takes  refuge  in  Southampton,  and  preaches  with  zeal,  learning, 
piety  and  general  approbation  during  the  Wars  there.  He 
afterwards  removed  "to  Neitherbury,  a  great  country  Parisb 
in  Dorsetshire,"  and  continued  there,  "  doing  good  in  his  zeal- 
ous way."  If  this  were  he,  the  Election  did  not  take  effect 
according  to  Oliver's  program  ;  —  perhaps  Jerom  himself  de- 
clined it  ?  He  died,  still  at  Neitherbury,  next  year ;  hardly 
yet  past  middle  age.  "He  had  a  strong  memory,  which  he 
maintained  good  to  the  last  by  temperance,"  says  old  Antony  : 
"He  was  well  skilled  in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  was  a  fluent 
preacher,  but  too  much  addicted  to  Calvinism,"  —  which  is 
to  be  regretted.  "  Pastor  vigilantissimus,  doctrind  et  pietate 
insignis : "  so  has  his  Medical  Man  characterized  him ;  one 
"Dr.  Loss  of  Dorchester,"  who  kept  a  Note-book  in  those 
days.  Requiescat,  requiescant. 

The  High  Court  of  Justice  has  sat  upon  Vowel  and  Gerard  ; 
found  them  both  guilty  of  High  Treason ;  they  lie  under  sen- 
tence of  death,  while  this  Letter  is  a-writing;  are  executed 
five  days  hence,  10th  July,  1654 ;  and  make  an  edifying  end.3 
Vowel  was  hanged  at  Charing  Cross  in  the  morning  ;  strong 
for  Church  and  King.  The  poor  young  Gerard,  being  of  gen- 
tle blood  and  a  soldier,  petitioned  to  have  beheading;  and 
had  it,  the  same  evening,  in  the  Tower.  So  ends  Plot  First. 
Other  Royalists,  Plotters  or  suspect  of  Plotting,  —  Ashburn- 
ham,  who  rode  with  poor  Charles  First  to  the  Isle  of  Wight 
on  a  past  occasion  ;  Sir  Richard  Willis,  who,  I  think,  will  be 
useful  to  Oliver  by  and  by,  —  these  and  a  list  of  others 8  were 
imprisoned ;  were  questioned,  dismissed ;  and  the  Assassin 
Project  is  rather  cowed  down  for  a  while. 

Writs  for  the  New  Parliament  are  out,  and  much  election- 
eering interest  over  England :  but  there  is  still  an  anecdote 
connected  with  this  poor  Gerard  and  the  10th  of  July,  detailed 

1  Athence,  iii.  404.  2  State  Trials  (London,  1810),  v.  516*539. 

8  Newspapers,  lst-8th  June,  1654  (in  Cromwelliana,  p.  143). 


1654.  SPEECH  II.  397 

at  great  length  in  the  old  Books,  which  requires  to  be  mentioned 
here.  Al)out  an  hour  after  Gerard,  there  died,  in  the  same 
place,  by  the  same  judicial  axe,  a  Portuguese  Nobleman,  Don 
Pautaleon  Sa,  whose  story,  before  this  tragic  end  of  it,  was 
already  somewhat  twisted  up  with  Gerard's.  To  wit,  on  the 
23d  of  November  last,  this  same  young  Major  Gerard  was 
walking  in  the  crowd  of  Exeter  'Change,  where  Don  Pantaleon, 
Brother  of  the  Portuguese  Ambassador,  chanced  also  to  be. 
Some  jostling  of  words,  followed  by  drawing  of  rapiers,  took 
place  between  them ;  wherein  as  Don  Pantaleon  had  rather 
the  worse,  he  hurried  home  to  the  Portuguese  Embassy ; 
armed  some  twenty  of  his  followers,  in  headpieces,  breast- 
pieces,  with  sword  and  pistol,  and  returned  to  seek  revenge. 
Gerard  was  gone ;  but  another  man,  whom  they  took  for  him, 
these  rash  Portugals  slew  there ;  and  had  to  be  repressed, 
after  much  other  riot,  and  laid  in  custody,  by  the  watch  or 
soldiery.  Assize-trial,  in  consequence,  for  Don  Pantaleon ; 
clear  Trial  in  the  "  Upper  Bench  Court,"  jury  half  foreigners  ; 
and  rigorous  sentence  of  death ;  —  much  to  Don  Pantaleon's 
amazement,  who  pleaded  and  got  his  Brother  to  plead  the 
rights  of  Ambassadors,  all  manner  of  rights  and  consider- 
ations ;  all  to  no  purpose.  The  Lord  Protector  would  not  and 
could  not  step  between  a  murderer  and  the  Law :  poor  Don 
Pantaleon  perished  on  the  same  block  with  Gerard ;  two 
Tragedies,  once  already  in  contact,  had  their  fifth-act  together. 
Don  Pantaleon's  Brother,  all  sorrow  and  solicitation  being 
fruitless,  signed  the  Portuguese  Treaty  that  very  day,  and 
instantly  departed  for  his  own  country,  with  such  thoughts  as 
we  may  figure.1 


SPEECH  II. 

r  now  the  New  Parliament  has  got  itself  elected;  not 
without  mnoh  interest:  —  tho  first  Election  there  has  l>een  in 
1  iii-l  for  foul-toon  years  past.  Parliament  of  four  hun- 
l,  thirty  Scotch,  thirty  Irish;  freely  chosen  according  to 

>  Whitlorko.  pp.  550.  577. 


398  PART  VIIT.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept. 

the  Instrument,  according  to  the  Bill  that  was  in  progress 
when  the  Rump  disappeared.  What  it  will  say  to  these  late 
inarticulate  births  of  Providence,  and  high  transactions  ? 
Something  edifying,  one  may  hope. 

Open  Malignants,  as  we  know,  could  not  vote  or  be  voted 
for,  to  this  Parliament ;  only  active  Puritans  or  quiet  Neutrals, 
who  had  clear  property  to  the  value  of  £200.  Probably  as 
fair  a  Representative  as,  by  the  rude  method  of  counting 
heads,  could  well  be  got  in  England.  The  bulk  of  it,  I  sup- 
pose, consists  of  constitutional  Presbyterians  and  use-and-wont 
Neutrals  ;  it  well  represents  the  arithmetical  account  of  heads 
in  England :  whether  the  real  divine  and  human  value  of 
thinking-souls  in  England,  —  that  is  a  much  deeper  question  ; 
upon  which  the  Protector  and  this  First  Parliament  of  his 
may  much  disagree.  It  is  the  question  of  questions,  neverthe- 
less ;  and  he  that  can  answer  it  best  will  come  best  off  in  the 
long-run.  It  was  not  a  successful  Parliament  this,  as  we  shall 
find.  The  Lord  Protector  and  it  differed  widely  in  certain 
fundamental  notions  they  had  !  — 

We  recognize  old  faces,  in  fair  proportion,  among  those 
four  hundred  ;  —  many  new  withal,  who  never  become  known 
to  us.  Learned  Bulstrode,  now  safe  home  from  perils  in 
Hyperborean  countries,  is  here  ;  elected  for  several  places,  the 
truly  valuable  man.  Old-Speaker  Lenthall  sits,  old  Major- 
General  Skippon,  old  Sir  William  Masham,  old  Sir  Francis 
Rouse.  My  Lord  Herbert  (Earl  of  Worcester's  son)  is  here ; 
Owen,  Doctor  of  Divinity,  for  Oxford  University  ;  —  a  certain 
not  entirely  useless  Guibon  Goddard,  for  the  Town  of  Lynn, 
to  whom  we  owe  some  Notes  of  the  procedure.  Leading 
Officers  and  high  Official  persons  have  been  extensively 
elected ;  several  of  them  twice  and  thrice  :  Fleetwood,  Lam- 
bert, the  Claypoles,  Dunches,  both  the  young  Cromwells ; 
Montague  for  his  County,  Ashley  Cooper  for  his.  On  the 
other  hand,  my  Lord  Fairfax  is  here  ;  nay  Bradshaw,  Haselrig, 
Robert  Wallop,  Wildraan,  and  Republicans  are  here.  Old  Sir 
Harry  Vane  ;  not  young  Sir  Harry,  who  sits  meditative  in  the 
North.  Of  Scotch  Members  we  mention  only  Laird  Swinton, 
and  the  Earl  of  Hartfell ;  of  the  Irish.,  Lord  Broghil  and 


1684.  SPEECH    II.  390 

Commissary-General  Reynolds,  whom  we  once  saw  fighting 
well  in  that  country.1  —  And  now  hear  the  authentic  Bui- 
strode  ;  and  then  the  Protector  himself. 

"September  3d,  1654. — The  Lord's  day,  yet  the  day  of  the 
Parliament's  meeting.  The  Members  met  in  the  afternoon  at 
sermon,  in  the  Abbey  Church  at  Westminster :  after  sermon 
they  attended  the  Protector  in  the  Painted  Chamber;  who 
made  a  Speech  to  them  of  the  cause  of  their  summons,"  Speech 
u HIT- ported;  "after  which,  they  went  to  the  House,  and  ad- 
journed to  the  next  morning. 

"  Monday,  September  4th.  —  The  Protector  rode  in  state  from 
Whitehall  to  the  Abbey  Church  in  Westminster.  Some  hun- 
dreds of  Gentlemen  and  Officers  went  before  him  bare ;  with 
tin  Life-guard ;  and  next  before  the  coach,  his  pages  and 
lackeys  richly  clothed.  On  the  one  side  of  his  coach  went 
Strickland,  one  of  his  Council,  and  Captain  of  his  Guard,  with 
the  Master  of  the  Ceremonies;  both  on  foot.  On  the  other 
side  went  Howard,*  Captain  of  the  Life-guard.  In  the  coach 
with  him  were  his  son  Henry,  and  Lambert ;  both  sat  bare. 
All  IT  him  came  Claypole,  Master  of  the  Horse ;  with  a  gallant 
led  horse  richly  trapped.  Next  came  the  Commissioners  of 
the  Great  Seal,"  Lisle,  Widdrington,  and  I ;  "  Commissioners 
of  the  Treasury,  and  divers  of  the  Council  in  coaches;  last 
the  ordinary  Guards. 

"  He  alighting  at  the  Abbey  Church  door,"  and  entering, 
"the  Officers  of  the  Army  and  the  Gentlemen  went  first ;  next 
them  four  maces ;  then  the  Commissioners  of  the  Seal,  Whit- 
currying  the  Purse;  after,  Lambert  carrying  the  Sword 
' :  the  rest  followed.  His  Highness  was  seated  over  against 
the  Pulpit ;  the  Members  of  the  Parliament  on  both  sides. 

"After  the  sermon,  which  was  preached  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Goodwin,  his  Highness  went,  in  the  same  equipage,  to  the 
Painted  Chamber.  Where  he  took  seat  in  a  chair  of  state  set 
upon  steps,"  raised  chair  with  a  canopy  over  it,  under  which 
his  Highness  sat  covered,  "and  the  Members  upon  benches 
round  about  sat  all  bare.  All  being  silent,  his  Highness/' 

*  Letter  OVII.  vol.  xvil.  p.  4f,7. 

•  Colonel  Charles,  ancestor  of  the  Earl  of  Carlisle. 


400  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept, 

rising,  "  put  off  his  hat,  and  made  a  large   and  subtle  speech 
to  them." l 

Here  is  a  report  of  the  Speech,  "  taken  by  one  who  stood 
very  near,"  and  "  published 2  to  prevent  mistakes."  As  we, 
again,  stand  at  some  distance,  —  two  centuries  with  their 
chasms  and  ruins,  —  our  hearing  is  nothing  like  so  good ! 
To  help  a  little,  I  have,  with  reluctance,  admitted  from  the 
latest  of  the  Commentators  a  few  annotations ;  and  interca- 
lated them  the  best  I  could  ;  suppressing  very  many.  Let  us 
listen  well ;  and  again  we  shall  understand  somewhat. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  You  are  met  here  on  the  greatest  occasion 
that,  I  believe,  England  ever  saw ;  having  upon  your  shoulders 
the  Interests  of  Three  great  Nations  with  the  territories  belong- 
ing to  them ;  —  and  truly,  I  believe  I  may  say  it  without  any 
hyperbole,  you  have  upon  your  shoulders  the  Interest  of  all 
the  Christian  People  in  the  world.  And  the  expectation  is, 
that  I  should  let  you  know,  as  far  as  I  have  cognizance  of  it, 
the  occasion  of  your  assembling  together  at  this  time. 

"It  hath  been  very  well  hinted  to  you  this  day,8  that  you 
come  hither  to  settle  the  Interests  above  mentioned :  for  your 
work  here,  in  the  issue  and  consequences  of  it,  will  extend  so 
far  [even  to  all  Christian  people].  In  the  way  and  manner  of 
my  speaking  to  you,  I  shall  study  plainness  ;  and  to  speak  to 
you  what  is  truth,  and  what  is  upon  my  heart,  and  what  will 
in  some  measure  reach  to  these  great  concernments. 

"After  so  many  changes  and  turnings,  which  this  Nation 
hath  labored  under,  —  to  have  such  a,  day  of  hope  as  this  is, 
and  such  a  door  of  hope  opened  by  God  to  us,  truly  I  believe, 
some  months  since,  would  have  been  beyond  all  our  thoughts  ! 
—  I  confess  it  would  have  been  worthy  of  such  a  meeting  as 
this  is,  To  have  remembered  *  that  which  was  the  rise  [of], 
and  gave  the  first  beginning  to,  all  these  Troubles  which  have 
been  upon  this  Nation  :  and  to  have  given  you  a  series  of  the 
Transactions,  —  not  of  men,  but  of  the  Providence  of  God,  all 

1  Whitlocke,  p.  582. 

2  By  G.  Sawbrklge,  at  the  Bible  on  Ludgate  Hill,  London,  1C54, 

3  in  the  Sermon  we  have  juat  heard.  *  commemorated. 


3054.  SPEECH   II.  401 

along  unto  our  late  changes  :  as  also  the  ground  of  our  first 
undertaking  to  oppose  that  usurpation  and  tyranny1  which 
was  upon  us,  both  in  civils  and  spirituals ;  and  the  several 
grounds  particularly  applicable  to  the  several  changes  that 
have  been.  But  I  have  two  or  three  reasons  which  divert  me 
from  such  a  way  of  proceeding  at  this  time. 

"  If  I  should  have  gone  in  that  way,  [then]  that  which  lies 
upon  my  heart  [as  to  these  things], — which  is  [so]  written 
there  that  if  I  would  blot  it  out  I  could  not,  —  would  [itself] 
have  spent  this  day :  the  providences  and  dispensations  of  God 
have  been  so  stupendous.  As  David  said  in  the  like  case, 
I'snlm  xl.  5,  '  Many,  0  Lord  my  God,  are  thy  wonderful  works 
which  thou  hast  done,  and  thy  thoughts  which  are  to-us-ward  : 
they  cannot  be  reckoned  up  in  order  unto  thee :  if  I  would 
declare  and  speak  of  them,  they  are  more  than  can  be  num- 
bered.'—  Truly,  another  reason,  unexpected  by  me,  you  had 
to-day  in  the  Sermon  : 2  you  had  much  recapitulation  of  Provi- 
ilt-nce;  much  allusion  to  a  state  and  dispensation  in  respect 
of  disci pline  and  correction,  of  mercies  and  deliverances  [to  a 
state  and  dispensation  similar  to  ours],  —  to,  in  truth,  the  only 
parallel  of  God's  dealing  with  us  that  I  know  in  the  world, 
which  was  largely  and  wisely  held  forth  to  you  this  day :  To 
Israel's  bringing  out  of  Egypt  through  a  wilderness  by  many 
signs  and  wonders,  towards  a  Place  of  Rest,  —  I  say  towards 
it.*  And  that  having  been  so  well  remonstrated  to  you  this 
day,  is  another  argument  why  I  shall  not  trouble  you  with  a 
recapitulation  of  those  things ;  —  though  they  are  things  which 
I  hope  will  never  be  forgotten,  because  written  in  better  Books 
than  those  of  paper ;  written,  I  am  persuaded,  in  the  heart  of 
y  good  man ! 

"  [But]  a  third  reason  was  this  :  What  I  judge  to  be  the 
end  of  your  meeting,  the  great  end,  which  was  likewise  remem- 
bered to  you  this  day ;  *  to  wit,  Healing  and  Settling.  The 

1  of  Charles,  Wentworth,  Land  and  Company. 

*  This  Sermon  of  Goodwin's  in  not  in  the  collected  Edition  of  his  Works ; 
not  arnonpj  the  Kind's  Pamphlets  ;  not  in  the  Bodleian  Library.     We  gather 
wli.it  thr  <ulij«Tt  was,  from  this  Speech,  and  know  nothing  of  it  otherwise. 

*  not  yet  at  it ;  no/a  bent.  *  in  the  Sermon. 
TOL.  XTIII.                                         26 


402  PART  VIII     FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept 

remembering  of  Transactions  too  particularly,  perhaps  instead 
of  healing,  —  at  least  in  the  hearts  of  many  of  you,  —  might 
set  the  wound  fresh  a-bleeding.  [And]  I  must  profess  this 
unto  you,  whatever  thoughts  pass  upon  me  :  That  if  this  day, 
if  this  meeting,  prove  not  healing,  what  shall  we  do !  But,  as 
I  said  before,  I  trust  it  is  in  the  minds  of  you  all,  and  much 
more  in  the  mind  of  God,  to  cause  healing.  It  must  be  first  in 
His  mind  :  — and  He  being  pleased  to  put  it  into  yours,  this 
will  be  a  Day  indeed,  and  such  a  Day  as  generations  to  come 
will  bless  you  for !  —  I  say,  for  this  and  the  other  reasons,  I 
have  forborne  to  make  a  particular  remembrance  and  enumer- 
ation of  things,  and  of  the  manner  of  the  Lord's  bringing  us 
through  so  many  changes  and  turnings  as  have  passed  upon  us. 

"  Howbeit,  I  think  it  will  be  more  than  necessary  to  let  you 
know,  at  least  so  well  as  I  may,  in  what  condition  this  Nation, 
or  rather  these  Nations  were,  when  the  present  Government l 
was  undertaken.  And  for  order's  sake  :  It 's  very  natural  to 
consider  what  our  condition  was,  in  Civils  ;  [and  then  also]  in 
Spirituals. 

"  What  was  our  condition !  Every  man's  hand  almost  was 
against  his  brother ;  —  at  least  his  heart  [was] ;  little  regarding 
anything  that  should  cement,  and  might  have  a  tendency  in  it 
to  cause  us  to  grow  into  one.  All  the  dispensations  of  God ; 
His  terrible  ones,  when  He  met  us  in  the  way  of  His  judg- 
ment 2  in  a  Ten-years  Civil  War  ;  and  His  merciful  ones  :  they 
did  not,  they  did  not  work  upon  us  ! 8  [No.]  But  we  had  our 
humors  and  interests ;  and  indeed  I  fear  our  humors  went  for 
more  with  us  than  even  our  interests.  Certainly,  as  it  falls  out 
in  such  cases,  our  passions  were  more  than  our  judgments.  — 
Was  not  everything  almost  grown  arbitrary  ?  Who  of  us  knew 
where  or  how  to  have  right  [done  him],  without  some  obstruc- 
tion or  other  intervening  ?  Indeed  we  were  almost  grown  arbi- 
trary in  everything. 

"What  was  the  face  that  was  upon  our  affairs  as  to  the 

1  Protectorate.  2  punishment  for  our  sins. 

*  Reiteration  of  the  word  is  not  an  uncommon  mode  of  emphasis  with 
Oliver. 


1054.  SPEECH  II.  403 

Interest  of  the  Nation  ?  As  to  the  Authority  in  the  Nation  ; 
to  the  Magistracy ;  to  the  Ranks  and  Orders  of  men,  —  where- 
by England  hath  been  known  for  hundreds  of  years?  [The 
Levellers  /]  A  nobleman,  a  gentleman,  a  yeoman  [the  distinc- 
tion of  these]  :  that  is  a  good  interest  of  the  Nation,  and  a 
great  one !  The  [natural]  Magistracy  of  the  Nation,  was  it 
not  almost  trampled  under  foot,  under  despite  and  contempt, 
by  men  of  Levelling  principles?  I  beseech  you,  For  the 
orders  of  men  and  ranks  of  men,  did  not  that  Levelling  prin- 
ciple tend  to  the  reducing  of  all  to  an  equality  ?  Did  it  [con- 
sciously] think  to  do  so ;  or  did  it  [only  unconsciously]  practise 
towards  that  for  property  and  interest  ?  [At  all  events,] 
what  was  the  purport  of  it  but  to  make  the  Tenant  as  liberal 
a  fortune  as  the  Landlord?  Which,  I  think,  if  obtained, 
would  not  have  lasted  long !  The  men  of  that  principle,  after 
they  had  served  their  own  turns,  would  then  have  cried  up 
property  and  interest  fast  enough  !  —  This  instance  is  instead 
ol  many.  And  that  the  thing  did  [and  might  well]  extend 
fur,  is  manifest;  because  it  was  a  pleasing  voice  to  all  Poor 
Men,  and  truly  not  unwelcome  to  all  Bad  Men.  [far-extended 
/V//N.SCS,  these  two  bolhl~\  To  my  thinking,  this  is  a  considera- 
tion which,  in  your  endeavors  after  settlement,  you  will  be  so 
well  minded  of,  that  I  might  have  spared  it  here :  but  let  that 
pass.  — 

"  [Now  as  to  Spirituals.]  Indeed  in  Spiritual  things  the  case 
was  more  sad  and  deplorable  [still] ;  —  and  that  was  told  to 
you  tins  day  eminently.  The  prodigious  blasphemies ;  con- 
trmpt  of  God  and  Christ,  denying  of  Him,  contempt  of  Him 
;ui«l  His  ordinances,  and  of  the  Scriptures:  a  spirit  visibly 
a. -ting1  those  things  foretold  by  Peter  and  Jude;  yea  those 
things  spoken  of  by  Paul  to  Timothy  !  Paul  declaring  some 
things  to  be  worse  than  the  Antiehristian  state  (of  which  he 
li.nl  spoken  in  the  First  to  Timothy,  Chapter  fourth,  verses 
first  and  second  [under  the  title  of  the  Latter  times]),  tells  us 
\vh;it  should  IK-  the  lot  and  portion  of  the  Ltist  Times.  He 
Bays  (Second  to  Timothy,  Chapter  third,  versus  second,  third, 

1  a  general  IUIII|M.T  vi.-iMy  l>rinj;iii^  out  in  practice. 


404  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept 

fourth),  ( In  the  Last  Days  perilous  times  shall  come ;  men 
shall  be  lovers  of  their  own  selves,  covetous,  boasters,  proud, 
blasphemers,  disobedient  to  parents,  unthankful,'  and  so  on. 
But  in  speaking  of  the  Antichristian  state,  he  told  us  (First 
to  Timothy,  Chapter  fourth,  verses  first  and  second),  that  '  in 
the  latter  days '  that  state  shall  come  in  [not  the  last  days  but 
the  latter],  wherein  'there  shall  be  a  departing  from  the 
faith,  and  a  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits  and  doctrines  of 
devils,  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy,'  and  so  on.  This  is  only 
his  description  of  the  latter  times,  or  those  of  Antichrist ;  and 
we  are  given  to  understand  that  there  are  last  times  coming, 
which  will  be  worse  ! *  —  And  surely  it  may  be  feared,  these 
are  our  times.  For  when  men  forget  all  rules  of  Law  and 
Nature,  and  break  all  the  bonds  that  fallen  man  hath  on  him ; 
[obscuring]  the  remainder  of  the  image  of  God  in  their  nature, 
which  they  cannot  blot  out,  and  yet  shall  endeavor  to  blot 
out, '  having  a  form  of  godliness  without  the  power,'  —  [surely] 
these  are  sad  tokens  of  the  last  times  ! 

"  And  indeed  the  character  wherewith  this  spirit  and  prin- 
ciple is  described  in  that  place  [of  Scripture],  is  so  legible  and 
visible,  that  he  who  runs  may  read  it  to  be  amongst  us.  For 
by  such  'the  grace  of  God  is  turned  into  wantonness,'  and 

1  There  is  no  express  mention  of  Antichrist  either  here  or  elsewhere  in  the 
Text  of  Timothy  at  all ;  but,  I  conclude,  a  full  conviction  on  the  part  of  Crom- 
well and  all  sound  Commentators  that  Antichrist  is  indubitably  shadowed 
forth  there.  Antichrist  means,  with  them  and  him,  the  Pope ;  to  whom  Laud, 
&c.,  with  his  "  four  surplices  at  Allhallowtide  "  and  other  clothweb  and  cob- 
web furniture,  are  of  kindred.  "  We  have  got  rid  of  Antichrist,"  he  seems  to 
intimate,  "we  have  got  pretty  well  done  with  Antichrist:  and  are  we  now 
coming  to  something  worse?  To  the  Levellers,  namely !  The  Latter  times 
are  over,  then  ;  and  we  are  coming  now  into  the  Last  times  ?  "  It  is  on  this 
contrast  of  comparative  and  superlative,  Latter  and  Last,  that  Oliver's  logic 
seems  to  ground  itself :  Paul  says  nothing  of  Antichrist,  nor  anything  directly 
of  the  one  time  being  worse  or  better  than  the  other ;  only  the  one  time  is 
"  latter,"  the  other  is  "  last."  —  This  paragraph  is  not  important ;  but  to  gain 
any  meaning  from  it  whatever,  some  small  changes  have  been  necessary.  I 
do  not  encumber  the  reader  witli  double  samples  of  what  at  best  is  grown  ob- 
solete to  him  :  such  as  wish  to  see  the  original  unadulterated  unintelligibility, 
will  find  it,  in  clear  print,  p.  321,  vol.  xx.  of  Parliamentary  History,  and  satisfy 
themselves  whether  I  have  read  well  or  ill. 


1654.  SPEECH   II.  405 

Christ  and  the  Spirit  of  God  made  a  cloak  for  all  villany 
and  spurious  apprehensions.  [Threatening  to  go  a  strange 
course)  those  Antinomian,  Levelling,  (lay-dreaming  Delasionists 
ofours!~\  And  though  nobody  will  own  these  things  publicly 
as  to  practice,  the  things  being  so  abominable  and  odious; 
yet  [the  consideration]  how  this  principle  extends  itself,  and 
whence  it  had  its  rise,  makes  me  to  think  of  a  Second  sort  of 
Men  [tending  in  the  same  direction] ;  who  it 's  true,  as  I 
said,  will  not  practise  nor  own  these  things,  yet  can  tell  the 
Magistrate  'That  he  hath  nothing  to  do  with  men  holding 
such  notions  :  These  [forsooth]  are  matters  of  conscience  and 
opinion :  they  are  matters  of  Religion ;  what  hath  the  Magis- 
trate to  do  with  these  things  ?  He  is  to  look  to  the  outward 
man,  not  to  the  inward '  —  [and  so  forth].  And  truly  it  so 
happens  that  though  these  things  do  break  out  visibly  to  all, 
yet  the  principle  wherewith  these  things  are  carried  on  so 
forbids  the  Magistrate  to  meddle  with  them,  that  it  hath 
hitherto  kept  the  offenders  from  punishment.1 

"Such  considerations,  and  pretensions  to  'liberty  of  con- 
science '  [what  are  they  leading  us  towards]  !  Liberty  of  Con- 
science, and  Liberty  of  the  Subject,  —  two  as  glorious  things 
to  be  contended  for,  as  any  that  God  hath  given  us ;  yet  both 
these  abused  for  the  patronizing  of  villanies  !  Insomuch  that  it 
hath  been  an  ordinary  thing  to  say,  and  in  dispute  to  affirm, 
'  That  the  restraining  of  such  pernicious  notions  was  not  in  the 
Magistrate's  power;  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Not  so 
much  as  the  printing  of  a  Bible  in  the  Nation  for  the  use  of 
the  People  [was  competent  to  the  Magistrate],  lest  it  should 
l>e  imposed  upon  the  consciences  of  men,'  —  for  '  they  would 
receive  the  same  traditionally  and  implicitly  from  the  Magis- 

i  The  latest  of  the  Commentators  says :  "  This  drossy  paragraph  has  not 
mnch  Politic!  Philosophy  in  it,  according  to  our  modern  established  Litany 
of  'toWa'ioM,'  '  fn-«-d'im  of  opinion,'  'no  man  responsible  for  what  opinions 
In-  may  f-Tiii.'  ,<ic.  &«•. ;  hut  it  has  some  honest  human  sagacity  in  it,  of  a 
mnrh  "n,,,n-  |,.-n-m.ial  and  valuable  character.  Worth  looking  hack  upon, 
p  towards,  —  a*  the  blue  skies  and  stars  might  be,  if  through 
thr  Kn-at  ilrcp  clcint  nt  nf  '  t.-m]M.r:iry  London  K"ir '  tlu-n-  «'-n-  any  rham  c 
of  •erin;'  thi-iii'  —  Sirai, :•••  .-\hulaiions  have-  ri  "ii  u|«Jii  us,  and  the  Fog  is 
rery  deep  •>  indubitably  the  stars  .-till  u;c." 


406  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept 

trate,  if  it  were  thus  received  ! '     The  afore-mentioned  abomi- 
nations did  thus  swell  to  this  height  among  us. 

"  [So  likewise]  the  axe  was  laid  to  the  root  of  the  Ministry.1 
It  was  Antichristian,  it  was  Babylonish  [said  they].  It  suf- 
fered under  such  a  judgment,  that  the  truth  is,  as  the  extremity 
was  great  according  to  the  former  system,2 1  wish  it  prove  not 
as  great  according  to  this.  The  former  extremity  [we  suffered 
under]  was,  That  no  man,  though  he  had  never  so  good  a  testi- 
mony, though  he  had  received  gifts  from  Christ,  might  preach, 
unless  ordained.  So  now  [I  think  we  are  at  the  other  ex- 
tremity, when]  many  affirm,  That  he  who  is  ordained  hath  a 
nullity,  or  Antichristianism,  stamped  [thereby]  upon  his  call- 
ing ;  so  that  he  ought  not  to  preach,  or  not  be  heard.  —  I  wish 
it  may  not  be  too  justly  said,  That  there  was  severity  and 
sharpness  [in  our  old  system]  !  Yea,  too  much  of  an  imposing 
spirit  in  matters  of  conscience  ;  a  spirit  unchristian  enough  in 
any  times,  most  unfit  for  these  [times]  ;  —  denying  liberty  [of 
conscience]  to  men  who  have  earned  it  with  their  blood ;  who 
have  earned  civil  liberty,  and  religious  also,  for  those  [Stifled 
murmurs  from,  the  Presbyterian  Sect]  who  would  thus  impose 
upon  them  !  — 

"  We  may  reckon  among  these  our  Spiritual  evils,  an  evil 
that  hath  more  refinedness  in  it,  more  color  for  it,  and  hath 
deceived  more  people  of  integrity  than  the  rest  have  done  ;  — 
for  few  have  been  catched  by  the  former  mistakes  except  such 
as  have  apostatized  from  their  holy  profession,  such  as,  being 
corrupt  in  their  consciences,  have  been  forsaken  by  God,  and 
left  to  such  noisome  opinions.  But,  I  say,  there  is  another 
error  of  more  refined  sort ;  [which]  many  honest  people  whose 
hearts  are  sincere,  many  of  them  belonging  to  God  [have 
fallen  into] .  and  that  is  the  mistaken  notion  of  the  Fifth 
Monarchy  — 

[Yes,  your  Highness  !  —  But  will  his  Highness  and  the  old 
Parliament  be  pleased  here  to  pause  a  little,  till  a  faithful 
Editor  take  the  great  liberty  of  explaining  somewhat  to  the 

1  Preaching  Clergy. 

8  "  on  that  hand  "  in  orig.     He  alludes  to  the  Presbyterian  system. 


1664. 


SPEECH    II.  407 


modern  part  of  the  audience  ?  Here  is  a  Note  saved  from  de- 
struction; not  without  difficulty.  To  his  Highness  and  the 
old  Parliament  it  will  be  inaudible ;  to  them,  standing  very 
impassive,  —  serene,  immovable  in  the  fixedness  of  the  old 
Eternities,  —  it  will  be  no  hardship  to  wait  a  little  !  And  to 
us  who  still  live  and  listen,  it  may  have  its  uses. 

"  The  common  mode  of  treating  Universal  History,"  says 
our  latest  impatient  Commentator,  "  not  yet  entirely  fallen  ob- 
solete in  this  country,  though  it  has  been  abandoned  with  much 
ridicule  everywhere  else  for  half  a  century  now,  was  to  group 
the  Aggregate  Transactions  of  the  Human  Species  into  Four 
Monarchies :  the  Assyrian  Monarchy  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and 
(  'ompany  ;  the  1'ersian  of  Cyrus  and  ditto  ;  the  Greek  of  Alex- 
ander; and  lastly  the  Roman.  These  I  think  were  they,  but 
am  no  great  authority  on  the  subject.  Under  the  dregs  of  this 
last,  or  Roman  Empire,  which  is  maintained  yet  by  express 
name  in  Germany,  D<is  heiliye  liomischc  licich,  we  poor  moderns 
still  live.  But  now  say  Major-General  Harrison  and  a  number 
of  men,  founding  on  Bible  Prophecies,  Now  shall  be  a  Fifth. 
Monarchy,  by  far  the  blessedest  and  the  only  real  one,  — the 
Monarchy  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  Saints  reigning  for  Him  here 
on  Earth,  —  if  not  lie  himself,  which  is  probable  or  possible, 
—  for  a  thousand  years,  &c.  &c.  —  0  Heavens,  there  are  tears 
for  human  destiny ;  and  immortal  Hope  itself  is  beautiful 
because  it  is  steeped  in  Sorrow,  and  foolish  Desire  lies  van- 
quished under  its  feet !  They  who  merely  laugh-  at  Harrison 
but  a  small  portion  of  his  meaning  with  them.  Thou, 
with  some  tear  for  the  valiant  Harrison,  if  with  any  thought 
oi  him  at  all,  tend  thou  also  valiantly,  in  thy  day  and  genera- 
tion, whither  he  was  tending;  and  know  that,  in  far  wider  and 
diviner  figure  than  that  of  Harrison,  the  Prophecy  is  very  sure, 
—  that  it  shall  be  sure  while  one  brave  man  survives  among 
the  dim  bewildered  ]>opulations  of  this  world.  Good  shall 
ivign  on  this  Earth  :  has  not  the  Most  High  said  it  ?  To  ap- 
prove Harrison,  to  justify  Harrison,  will  avail  little  for  thee ; 
g«»  and  <l<>  tiki-wise.  Go  and  do  better,  thou  that  disapprovest 
him.  SIM-MI!  thou  thy  life  for  the  Eternal  :  wo  will  call  thee 
brave,  and  rememUT  thru  for  a  while  !  " 


408  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept. 

So  much  for  "  that  mistaken  notion  of  the  Fifth  Monarchy  : " 
and  now  his  Highness,  tragically  audible  across  the  Centuries, 
continues  again :] 

—  Fifth  Monarchy.  A  thing  pretending  more  spirituality 
than  anything  else.  A  notion  I  hope  we  all  honor,  and  wait, 
and  hope  for  [the  fulfilment  of]  :  That  Jesus  Christ  will  have 
a  time  to  set  up  His  Reign  in  our  hearts ;  by  subduing  those 
corruptions  and  lusts  and  evils  that  are  there  ;  which  now  reign 
more  in  the  world  than,  I  hope,  in  due  time  they  shall  do. 
And  when  more  fulness  of  the  Spirit  is  poured  forth  to  subdue 
iniquity,  and  bring  in  everlasting  righteousness,  then  will  the 
approach  of  that  glory  be.  [Most  trite  ;  —  and  not  till  then  /] 
The  carnal  divisions  and  contentions  among  Christians,  so 
common,  are  not  the  symptoms  of  that  Kingdom  !  • —  But  for 
men,  on  this  principle,  to  be  title  themselves,  that  they  are  the 
only  men  to  rule  kingdoms,  govern  nations,  and  give  laws  to 
people,  and  determine  of  property  and  liberty  and  everything 
else,  —  upon  such  a  pretension  as  this  is :  —  truly  they  had 
need  to  give  clear  manifestations  of  God's  presence  with  them, 
before  wise  men  will  receive  or  submit  to  their  conclusions  ! 
Nevertheless,  as  many  of  these  men  have  good  meanings, 
which  I  hope  in  my  soul  they  have,  it  will  be  the  wisdom  of 
all  knowing  and  experienced  Christians  to  do  as  Jude  saith. 
[Jude,]  when  he  reckoned  up  those  horrible  things,  done 
upon  pretences,  and  haply  by  some  upon  mistakes :  '  Of 
some/  says  he,  '  have  compassion,  making  a  difference ;  others 
save  with  fear,  pulling  them  out  of  the  fire.'1  I  fear  they 
will  give  too  often  opportunity  for  this  exercise  !  But  I  hope 
the  same  will  be  for  their  good.  If  men  do  but  [so  much 
as]  pretend  for  justice  and  righteousness,  and  be  of  peace- 
able spirits,  and  will  manifest  this,  let  them  be  the  subjects 
of  the  Magistrate's  encouragement.  And  if  the  Magistrate, 
by  punishing  visible  miscarriages,  save  them  by  that  dis- 
cipline, God  having  ordained  him  for  that  end,  —  I  hope  it 
will  evidence  love  and  not  hatred,  [so]  to  punish  where  there 
is  cause.  [Hear!'] 

1  Jade  22,  23.     A  passage  his  Highness  frequently  refers  to. 


1W4.  SPEECH  II.  409 

"  Indeed  this  is  that  which  doth  most  declare  the  danger l 
of  that  spirit.  For  if  these  were  but  notions,  —  I  mean  these 
instances  I  have  given  you  of  dangerous  doctrines  both  in 
Civil  things  and  Spiritual ;  if,  I  say,  they  were  but  notions, 
they  were  best  let  alone.  Notions  will  hurt  none  but  those 
that  have  them.  But  when  they  come  to  such  practices  as 
telling  us  [for  instance],  That  Liberty  and  Property  are  not 
the  badges  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ ;  when  they  tell  us,  not 
that  we  are  to  regulate  Law,  but  that  Law  is  to  be  abrogated, 
indeed  subverted ;  and  perhaps  wish  to  bring  in  the  Juduical 
Law  — 

[Latest  Commentator  loquitur :  "  This,  as  we  observed,  was 
the  cry  that  Westminster  raised  when  the  Little  Parliament 
set  about  reforming  Chancery.  What  countenance  this  of  the 
Mosaic  Law  might  have  had  from  Harrison  and  his  minority, 
one  does  not  know.  Probably  they  did  find  the  Mosaic  Law, 
in  some  of  its  enactments,  more  cognate  to  Eternal  Justice 
and  '  the  mind  of  God '  than  Westminster-Hall  Law  was  ;  and 
so  might  reproachfully  or  admonitorily  appeal  to  it  on  occa- 
sion, as  they  had  the  clearest  title  and  call  to  do:  but  the 
clamor  itself,  as  significant  of  any  practical  intention,  on  the 
part  of  that  Parliament,  or  of  any  considerable  Sect  in  Eng- 
land, to  bring  in  the  Mosaic  Law,  is  very  clearly  a  long-wigged 
one,  rising  from  the  Chancery  regions,  and  is  descriptive  of 
nothing  but  of  the  humor  that  prevailed  there.  His  Highness 
alludes  to  it  in  passing ;  and  from  him  it  was  hardly  worth 
•  •vni  that  allusion."] 

—  Judaical  Law ;  instead  of  our  known  laws  settled  among  us : 
this  is  worthy  of  every  Magistrate's  consideration.  Especially 
win-re  every  stouo  is  turned  to  bring  in  confusion.  I  think, 
I  say,  this  will  be  worthy  of  the  Magistrate's  consideration. 
[Slmll  he  step  beyond  his  province,  then,  your  Highness?  And 
Int,  i- fere  with  freedom  of  opinion?  —  "/  think,  I  say,  it  will  be 
worth  his  while  to  consider  about  it  I ""] 

1  This  fact,  that  they  come  so  oftc-n  to  "risible  miscarriages,"  these  Fifth 
MouarchiftU  and  S|HH-ulativo  LvveUera,  who  "  have  good  meaniogM." 


410  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept. 

"  Whilst  these  things  were  in  the  midst  of  us ;  and  whilst 
the  Nation  was  rent  and  torn  in  spirit  and  principle  from  one 
end  to  the  other,  after  this  sort  and  manner  I  have  now  told 
you;  family  against  family,  husband  against  wife,  parents 
against  children ;  and  nothing  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men 
but  '  Overturn,  overturn,  overturn ! '  (a  Scripture  phrase  very 
much  abused,  and  applied  to  justify  unpeaceable  practices  by 
all  men  of  discontented  spirits),  —  the  common  Enemy  sleeps 
not :  our  adversaries  in  civil  and  religious  respects  did  take 
advantage  of  these  distractions  and  divisions,  and  did  practise 
accordingly  in  the  three  Nations  of  England,  Scotland  and 
Ireland.  We  know  very  well  that  Emissaries  of  the  Jesuits 
never  came  in  such  swarms  as  they  have  done  since  those 
things 1  were  set  on  foot.  And  I  tell  you  that  divers  Gen- 
tlemen here  can  bear  witness  with  me  How  that  they  [the 
Jesuits]  have  had  a  Consistory  abroad  which  rules  all  the 
affairs  of  things  ["Affairs  of  things  : "  rough  and  ready  /]  in 
England,  from  an  Archbishop  down  to  the  other  dependents 
upon  him.  And  they  had  fixed  in  England  —  of  which  we 
are  able  to  produce  the  particular  Instruments  in  most  of  the 
limits  of  their  Cathedrals  [or  pretended  Dioceses]  —  an  Epis- 
copal Power  [Regular  Episcopacy  of  their  own!^  with  Arch- 
deacons, &c.  And  had  persons  authorized  to  exercise  and 
distribute  those  things  [/  begin  to  love  that  rough-and-ready 
method,  in  comparison  with  some  others  /] ;  who  pervert  and 
deceive  the  people.  And  all  this,  while  we  were  in  that  sad, 
and  as  I  said  deplorable  condition. 

"  And  in  the  mean  time  all  endeavors  possible  were  used  to 
hinder  the  work  [of  God]  in  Ireland,  and  the  progress  of  the 
work  of  God  in  Scotland ;  by  continual  intelligences  and  cor- 
respondences, both  at  home  and  abroad,  from  hence  into  Ire- 
land, and  from  hence  into  Scotland.2  Persons  were  stirred  up, 
from  our  divisions  and  discomposure  of  affairs,  to  do  all  they 
could  to  ferment  the  War  in  both  these  places.  To  add  yet  to 
our  misery,  whilst  we  were  in  this  condition,  we  were  in  a 

1  Speculations  of  the  Levellers,  Fifth-Monarchists,  &c.  &c. 
3  Middletoii-(jloiica.ini  Revolts,  ami  what  not. 


i  «54.  SPEECH  n.  411 

[foreign]  War.  Deeply  engaged  in  War  with  the  Portuguese  ; l 
whereby  our  Trade  ceased :  the  evil  consequences  by  that  War 
were  manifest  and  very  considerable.  And  not  only  this,  but 
we  had  a  War  with  Holland ;  consuming  our  treasure  ;  occasion- 
ing a  vast  burden  upon  the  people.  A  War  that  cost  this  Nation 
full  as  much  as  the  [whole]  Taxes  came  unto;  the  Navy  being 
a  hundred  and  sixty  ships,  which  cost  this  Nation  al>ove 
£100,000  a  month ;  besides  the  contingencies,  which  would 
make  it  £120,000.  That  very  one  War  [sic]  did  engage  us 
to  so  great  a  charge.  —  At  the  same  time  also  we  were  in  a 
\Y;ir  with  France.  \_A  Bickering  and  Skirmishing  and  Liability 
to  War;9 — Mazarin  as  yet  thinking  our  side  weaker.]  The 
advantages  that  were  taken  of  the  discontents  and  divisions 
among  ourselves  did  also  ferment  that  War,  and  at  least  hinder 
us  of  an  honorable  peace ;  every  man  being  confident  we  could 
not  hold  out  long.  And  surely  they  did  not  calculate  amiss, 
if  the  Lord  had  not  been  exceedingly  gracious  to  us  !  I  say, 
at  the  same  time  we  had  a  War  with  France.  [Yes,  ymtr 
Highness  said  sn,  —  and  we  admit  it/"]  And  besides  the  suffer- 
ings in  respect  to  the  Trade  of  the  Nation,  it 's  most  evident 
that  the  Purse  of  the  Nation  could  not  have  been  able  much 
longer  to  bear  it,  — by  reason  of  the  advantages  taken  by  other 
States  to  improve  their  own,  and  spoil  our  Manufacture  of 
Cloth,  and  hinder  the  vent  thereof;  which  is  the  great  st:i]>l«» 
commodity  of  this  Nation.  [And  has  continued  to  be!~\  Such 
was  our  condition :  spoiled  in  our  Trade,  and  we  at  this  vast 
expense;  thus  dissettled  at  home,  and  having  these  engage- 
ments abroad. 

"  Things  being  so,  —  and  I  am  persuaded  it  is  not  hard  to 
convince  every  person  here  they  were  so,  —  what  a  heap  of 
(••  mfusions  were  ujjon  these  poor  Nations  I  And  cither  tliin-; 
must,  h.ivr  lii-iMi  h'ft  to  sink  into  the  miseries  these  premises 
would  suppose,  or  else  a  remedy  must  be  applied.  [yf/y«/r- 
ently  f]  A  remedy  hath  been  ajiplird;  that  hath  been  this 

1  Wli<>  protected  Uii|H-rt  in  hi*  qaani-|iiraci("<,  :in<l  <li.|  require  chastisement 
from  OB. 

*  S«e  Apj>oiiJix,  No.  28. 


412  PART  VIIT.    FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept. 

Government ; *  a  thing  I  shall  sny  little  unto.  The  thing  is 
open  and  visible  to  be  seen  and  read  by  all  men ;  and  there- 
fore let  it  speak  for  itself.  [Even  so,  your  Highness  ;  there  is  a 
silence  prouder  and  nobler  than  any  speech  one  is  used  to  hear.] 
Only  let  me  say  this, — because  I  can  speak  it  with  comfort 
and  confidence  before  a  Greater  than  you  all :  That  in  the 
intention  of  it,  as  to  the  approving  of  our  hearts  to  God,  let 
men  judge  as  the}''  please,  it  was  calculated  [with  our  best 
wisdom]  for  the  interest  of  the  People.  For  the  interest  of 
the  People  alone,  and  for  their  good,  without  respect  had  to 
any  other  interest.  And  if  that  be  not  true  [  With  animation  /], 
I  shall  be  bold  to  say  again,  Let  it  speak  for  itself.  Truly  I 
may  —  I  hope,  humbly  before  God,  and  modestly  before  you 
—  say  somewhat  on  the  behalf  of  the  Government.  [Recite  a 
little  what  it  "  speaks  for  itself,''  after  all  ?]  Not  that  I  would 
discourse  of  the  particular  heads  of  it,  but  acquaint  you  a  little 
with  the  effects  it  has  had :  and  this  not  for  ostentation's  sake, 
but  to  the  end  I  may  at  this  time  deal  faithfully  with  you,  and 
acquaint  you  with  the  state  of  things,  and  what  proceedings 
have  been  entered  into  by 2  this  Government,  and  what  the 
state  of  our  affairs  is.  This  is  the  main  end  of  my  putting  you 
to  this  trouble. 

"  The  Government  hath  had  some  things  in  desire  ;  and  it 
hath  done  some  things  actually.  It  hath  desired  to  reform 
the  Laws.  I  say  to  reform  them  \_jffearf]: — and  for  that 
end  it  hath  called  together  Persons,  without  offence  be  it 
spoken,  of  as  great  ability  and  as  great  interest  as  are  in  these 
Nations,3  to  consider  how  the  Laws  might  be  made  plain  and 
short,  and  less  chargeable  to  the  People ;  how  to  lessen  expense, 
for  the  good  of  the  Nation.  And  those  things  are  in  prepara- 
tion, and  Bills  prepared ;  which  in  due  time,  I  make  no  ques- 
tion, will  be  tendered  to  you.  [In  the  mean  while]  there  hath 
been  care  taken  to  put  the  administration  of  the  Laws  into  the 

1  He  means,  and  his  hearers  understand  him  to  mean, "  Form  of  Govern- 
ment "  mainly  ;  but  he  diverges  now  and  then  into  our  modern  acceptation  of 
the  word  "  Government,"  —  Administration  or  Supreme  Authority. 

2  "  been  upon  "  in  orig. 

8  Ordinance  for  the  Reform  of  Chancery :  antea,  p.  388. 


1654.  SPEECH   II.  413 

hands  of  just  men  [Matthew  Hale,  for  instance] ;  men  of  the 
most  known  integrity  and  ability.  The  Chancery  hath  been 
reformed  — 

[FROM  THE  MODERNS  :  "  Only  to  a  very  small  extent  and 
in  a  very  temporary  manner,  your  Highness  !  His  Highness 
returns  upon  the  Law,  on  subsequent  occasions,  and  finds  the 
reform  of  it  still  a  very  pressing  matter.  Difficult  to  sweep 
the  intricate  foul  chimneys  of  Law  his  Highness  found  it,  — 
as  we  after  two  centuries  of  new  soot  and  accumulation  now 
acknowledge  on  all  hands,  with  a  sort  of  silent  despair,  a 
silent  wonder  each  one  of  us  to  himself,  'What,  in  God's 
name,  is  to  become  of  all  that  ? '  "  ] 

—  hath  been  reformed  ;  I  hope,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  good 
men  :  and  as  for  the  things  [or  causes]  depending  there,  which 
made  the  burden  and  work  of  the  honorable  Persons  intrusted 
in  those  services  too  heavy  for  their  ability,  it1  hath  referred 
many  of  them  to  those  places  where  Englishmen  love  to  have 
their  rights  tried,  the  Courts  of  Law  at  Westminster. 

"  This  Government  hath  [farther]  endeavored  to  put  a  stop 
to  that  heady  way  (likewise  touched  of  [in  our  Sermon]  this 
day)  of  every  man  making  himself  a  Minister  and  Preacher. 
[Commission  of  Triers  ;  Yeaf]  It  hath  endeavored  to  settle 
a  method  for  the  approving  and  sanctioning  of  men  of  piety 
and  ability  to  discharge  that  work.  And  I  think  I  may  say  it 
hath  committed  the  business  to  the  trust  of  Persons,  both  of 
the  Presbyterian  and  Independent  judgments,  of  as  known 
ability,  piety  and  integrity,  as  any,  I  believe,  this  Nation 
hath.  And  I  believe  also  that,  in  that  care  they  have  taken, 
they  have  labored  to  approve  themselves  to  Christ,  to  the 
Nation  and  to  their  own  consciences.  And  indeed  I  think,  if 
there  be  anything  of  quarrel  against  thorn,  —  though  I  am  not 
here  to  justify  the  proceedings  of  any, — it  is  that  they  [in 
fact]  go  ui>on  such  a  character  as  the  Scripture  warrants:  To 
put  men  into  that  great  Employ  mriit.  and  to  approve  men  inr 

1     Tllf   (JilVlTIIIIK'l.l 


414  PART  VIII.    FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept. 

it,  who  are  men  that  have  '  received  gifts  from  Him  that 
ascended  up  on  high,  and  gave  gifts'  for  the  work  of  the 
Ministry,  and  for  the  edifying  of  the  Body  of  Christ.  The 
Government  hath  also  taken  care,  we  hope,  for  the  expulsion 
[Commission  of  Expurgation,  too,"]  of  all  those  who  may  be 
judged  any  way  unfit  for  this  work ;  who  are  scandalous,  and 
the  common  scorn  and  contempt  of  that  function. 

"  One  thing  more  this  Government  hath  done :  it  hath  been 
instrumental  to  call  a  free  Parliament ;  —  which,  blessed  be 
God,  we  see  here  this  day !  I  say,  a  free  Parliament.  [Mark 
the  iteration  /]  And  that  it  may  continue  so,  I  hope  is  in  the 
heart  and  spirit  of  every  good  man  in  England,  —  save  such 
discontented  persons  as  I  have  formerly  mentioned.  It 's  that 
which  as  I  have  desired  above  my  life,  so  I  shall  desire  to 
keep  it  above  my  life.  [  Verily  ?~\  — 

"  I  did  before  mention  to  you  the  plunges  we  were  in  with 
respect  to  Foreign  States  ;  by  the  War  with  Portugal,  France, 
the  Dutch,  the  Danes,  and  the  little  assurance  we  had  froih 
any  of  our  neighbors  round  about.  I  perhaps  forgot,  but 
indeed  it  was  a  caution  upon  my  mind,  and  I  desire  now  it 
may  be  so  understood,  That  if  any  good  hath  been  done,  it 
was  the  Lord,  not  we  His  poor  instruments.  — 

[Pity  if  this  pass  entirely  for  "  cant,"  my  esteemed  modern 
friends  !  It  is  not  cant,  nor  ought  to  be.  O  Higginbotham, 
there  is  a  Selbsttodtung,  a  killing  of  Self,  as  my  friend  Novalis 
calls  it,  which  is,  was,  and  forever  will  be,  "the  beginning 
of  all  morality,"  of  all  real  work  and  worth  for  man  under 
this  Sun.] 

—  I  did  instance  the  Wars ;  which  did  exhaust  your  treasure ; 
and  put  you  into  such  a  condition  that  you  must  have  sunk 
therein,  if  it  had  continued  but  a  few  months  longer  :  this  I 
can  affirm,  if  strong  probability  may  be  a  fit  ground.  And 
now  you  have,  though  it  be  not  the  first  in  time  — Peace  with 
Swedeland ;  an  honorable  peace  ;  through  the  endeavors  of  an 
honorable  Person  here  present  as  the  instrument.  [  WMtlocke 
seen  Hushing!]  I  say  you  have  an  honorable  peace  with  a 


1654.  SPEECH  II.  415 

Kingdom  which,  not  many  years  since,  was  much  a  friend  to 
France,  and  lately  perhaps  inclinable  enough  to  the  Spaniard. 
And  I  believe  you  expect  not  much  good  from  any  of  your 
Catholic  neighbors  [JVb  /  we  are  not  exactly  their  darlings  /]  ; 
nor  yet  that  they  would  be  very  willing  you  should  have  a 
good  understanding  with  your  Protestant  friends.  Yet,  thanks 
l)e  to  God,  that  Peace  is  concluded ;  and  as  I  said  before,  it  is 
an  honorable  Peace. 

"  You  have  a  Peace  with  the  Danes,  —  a  State  that  lay  con- 
fi pilous  to  that  part  of  this  Island  which  hath  given  us  the 
most  trouble.  [Your  Montroses,  Middletons  came  a/irnys,  inth 
their  Moss-troopers  and  Harpy  hoste,  out  of  the  Danish  quarter. ~\ 
And  certainly  if  your  enemies  abroad  be  able  to  annoy  you,  it 
is  likely  they  will  take  their  advantage  (where  it  best  lies)  to 
give  you  trouble  from  that  country.  But  you  have  a  Peace 
there,  and  an  honorable  one.  Satisfaction  to  your  Merchants' 
ships ;  not  only  to  their  content,  but  to  their  rejoicing.1  I 
l>elieve  you  will  easily  know  it  is  so  [an  honorable  peace]. 
You  have  the  Sound  open ;  which  used  to  be  obstructed.  That 
which  was  and  is  the  strength  of  this  Nation,  the  Shipping, 
will  now  be  supplied  thence.  And  whereas  you  were  glad  to 
have  anything  of  that  kind  a  at  second-hand,  you  have  now  all 
manner  of  commerce  there,  and  at  as  much  freedom  as  the 
Dutch  themselves  [who  used  to  be  the  carriers  and  venders 
of  it  to  us]  ;  and  at  the  same  rates  and  tolls ;  —  and  I  think, 
by  that  Peace,  the  said  rates  now  fixed  upon  cannot  be  raised 
to  you  [in  future]. 

"  You  have  a  Peace  with  the  Dutch :  a  Peace  unto  which  I 
shall  say  little,  seeing  it  is  so  well  known  in  the  benefit  and 
consequences  thereof.  And  I  think  it  was  as  desirable,  and  as 
acceptable  to  the  spirit  of  this  Nation,  as  any  one  thing  that. 
lay  l*fore  us.  And,  as  I  believe  nothing  so  much  gratified  our 

1  "  Danish  claims  settled,"  as  was  already  §aid  somewhere,  "on  the  31st  of 
July :  "  Dutch  and  English  Commissioners  did  it,  in  Goldsmiths'  Hall ;  "ft 
on  the  27th  of  June  ;  if  the  business  were  not  done  when  August  began,  they 
were  then  to  be  "shut  up  without  fire,  candle,  meat  or  drink,"  — and  to  <!•>  it 
out  very  speedily  !  Tht-y  allowi-d  -,ur  M.-r.-liants  -£98,OO<>  for  damages  against 
the  IHIHM  (Codwin,  iv.  4<J,  —  who  cities  Dutnout,  Trait£24.) 

*  Baltic  1'ruduce,  namely 


416  PART  VIIT.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept. 

enemies  as  to  see  us  at  odds  [with  that  Commonwealth]  ;  so 
I  persuade  myself  nothing  is  of  more  terror  or  trouble  to  them 
than  to  see  us  thus  reconciled.  [Truly]  as  a  Peace  with  the 
Protestant  States  hath  much  security  in  it,  so  it  hath  as  much 
of  honor  and  of  assurance  to  the  Protestant  Interest  abroad ; 
without  which  no  assistance  can  be  given  thereunto.  I  wish 
it  may  be  written  upon  our  hearts  to  be  zealous  for  that  Inter- 
est !  For  if  ever  it  were  like  to  come  under  a  condition  of 
suffering,  it  is  now.  In  all  the  Emperor's  Patrimonial  Terri- 
tories, the  endeavor  is  to  drive  the  Protestant  part  of  the 
people  out,  as  fast  as  is  possible;  and  they  are  necessitated 
to  run  to  Protestant  States  to  seek  their  bread.  And  by  this 
conjunction  of  Interests,  I  hope  you  will  be  in  a  more  fit 
capacity  to  help  them.  And  it  begets  some  reviving  of  their 
spirits,  that  you  will  help  them  as  opportunity  shall  serve. 
\_We  will!] 

"  You  have  a  Peace  likewise  with  the  Crown  of  Portugal ; 
which  Peace,  though  it  hung  long  in  hand,  yet  is  lately  con- 
cluded. It  is  a  Peace  which,  your  Merchants  make  us  believe, 
is  of  good  concernment  to  their  trade ;  the  rate  of  insurance 
to  that  Country  having  been  higher,  and  so  the  profit  which 
could  bear  such  rate,1  than  to  other  places.  And  one  thing 
hath  been  obtained  in  this  treaty,  which  never  [before]  was, 
since  the  Inquisition  was  set  up  there :  That  our  people  which 
trade  thither  have  Liberty  of  Conscience  [liberty  to  worship 
in  Chapels  of  their  own]. 

"  Indeed,  Peace  is,  as  you  were  well  told  to-day,  desirable 
with  all  men,  as  far  as  it  may  be  had  with  conscience  and 
honor!  We  are  upon  a  Treaty  with  France.  And  we  may 
say  this,  That  if  God  give  us  honor  in  the  eyes  of  the  Nations 
about  us,  we  have  reason  to  bless  Him  for  it,  and  so  to  own  it. 
And  I  dare  say  that  there  is  not  a  Nation  in  Europe  but  is  very 
willing  to  ask  a  good  understanding  with  you. 

"  I  am  sorry  I  am  thus  tedious  :  but  I  did  judge  that  it  was 
somewhat  necessary  to  acquaint  you  with  these  things.  And 
things  being  so,  —  I  hope  you  will  not  be  unwilling  to  hear  a 

1  "  their  assurance  being  greater,  and  so  their  profit  iu  trade  thither,"  in 
orig 


1B54.  SPEECH   IT.  417 

little  again  of  the  Sharp  as  well  as  of  the  Sweet !  And  I  should 
not  be  faithful  to  you,  nor  to  the  interest  of  these  Nations  which 
you  and  I  serve,  if  I  did  not  let  you  know  all. 

"As  I  said  before,  when  this  Government  was  undertaken, 
we  were  in  the  midst  of  those  [domestic]  divisions  and  ani- 
mosities and  scatterings;  engaged  also  with  those  [foreign] 
(Mi'-mies  round  about  us,  at  such  a  vast  charge,  —  £120.ooo 
a  month  for  the  very  Fleet.  Which  sum  was  the  very  utmost 
penny  of  your  Assessments.  Ay ;  and  then  all  your  treasure 
was  exhausted  and  spent  when  this  Government  was  under- 
taken :  all  accidental  ways  of  bringing  in  treasure  [were],  to  a 
very  inconsiderable  sum,  consumed,  —  the  [forfeited]  Lands 
sold,  the  sums  on  hand  spent ;  Rents,  Fee-farms,  Delinquents' 
Lands,  King's,  Queen's,  Bishops',  Dean-and-Chapters'  Lands, 
sold.  These  were  spent  when  this  Government  was  under- 
taken. I  think  it 's  my  duty  to  let  you  know  so  much.  And 
that's  the  reason  why  the  Taxes  do  yet  lie  so  heavy  upon  the 
People; — of  which  we  have  abated  £30,000  a  month  for  the 
next  three  months.  Truly  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  let  you 
know,  That  though  God  hath  dealt  thus  [bountifully]  with 
you,1  yet  these  are  but  entrances  and  doors  of  hope.  Whereby, 
through  the  blessing  of  God,  you  may  enter  into  rest  and  pear«>. 
Hut  you  are  not  yet  entered  !  [Looking  up,  with  a  mournful  toss 
of  the  head,  I  think.  —  "  Ah,  no,  your  Highness  ;  not  yet !  "] 

"You  were  told  to-day  of  a  People  brought  out  of  Egypt 
towards  the  Land  of  Canaan ;  but  through  unbelief,  murmuring, 
iv I nning,  and  other  temptations  and  sins  wherewith  God  was 
provoked,  they  were  fain  to  come  back  again,  and  linger  many 
years  in  the  Wilderness  before  they  came  to  the  Place  of  Rest. 
1 1  ;ire  thus  far,  through  the  mercy  of  God.  We  have  cause 
t«>  t:tki-  iK'tin-  of  it,  That  we  are  not  brought  into  misery  [not 
totally  wrecked]  ;  but  [have]  as  I  said  before,  a  door  of  hope 
•  •|.»-ii.  And  I  may  say  this  to  you  :  If  tho  Lord's  blessing  and 
Hi-  j.p-senee  go  along  with  the  management  of  affairs  at  this 
Mi-fting,  you  will  be  enabled  to  put  the  topstnne  to  the  work, 
and  make  the  Nation  happy.  Hut  this  must  be  by  know- 
ing the  true  state  <•!  affairs  !  [Hear  /]  You  are  yet,  like  tho 

1  In  ri'irnnl  t<>  .ur  Sue-cease*  aud  Treaties,  &c.  enumerated  above. 
VOL.  xvin.  27 


418  PART  VIII.    FIRST  PARLIAMENT.  4  Sept. 

People  under  Circumcision,  but  raw.1  Your  Peaces  are  but 
newly  made.  And  it 's  a  maxim  not  to  be  despised,  '  Though 
peace  be  made,  yet  it 's  interest  that  keeps  peace  ; '  —  and  I 
hope  you  will  not  trust  such  peace  except  so  far  as  you  see 
interest  upon  it.  [But  all  settlement  grows  stronger  by  m<-r<> 
continuance.]  And  therefore  I  wisli  that  you  may  go  forward, 
and  not  backward ;  and  [in  brief]  that  you  may  have  the  bless- 
ing of  God  upon  your  endeavors  !  It 's  one  of  the  great  ends 
of  calling  this  Parliament,  that  the  Ship  of  the  Commonwealth 
may  be  brought  into  a  safe  harbor;  which,  I  assure  you,  it  will 
not  be,  without  your  counsel  and  advice. 

"  You  have  great  works  upon  your  hands.  You  have  Ireland 
to  look  unto.  There  is  not  much  done  to  the  Planting  thereof, 
though  some  things  leading  and  preparing  for  it  are.  It  is 
a  great  business  to  settle  the  Government  of  that  Nation  upon 
fit  terms,  such  as  will  bear  that  work 2  through.  —  You  have  had 
laid  before  you  some  considerations,  intimating  your  peace  with 
several  foreign  States.  But  yet  you  have  not  made  peace  with. 
all.  And  if  they  should  see  we  do  not  manage  our  affairs 
with  that  wisdom  which  becomes  us,  —  truly  we  may  sink 
under  disadvantages,  for  all  that's  done.  [Truly,  your  High 
ness  /]  And  our  enemies  will  have  their  eyes  open,  and  be 
revived,  if  they  see  animosities  amongst  us  ;  which  indeed  will 
be  their  great  advantage. 

"  I  do  therefore  persuade  you  to  a  sweet,  gracious  and  holy 
understanding  of  one  another,  and  of  your  business.  [Alas  /] 
Concerning  which  you  had  so  good  counsel  this  day ;  Avhich  as 
it  rejoiced  my  heart  to  hear,  so  I  hope  the  Lord  will  imprint 
it  upon  your  spirits,  —  wherein  you  shall  have  my  Prayers. 
[Prayers,  your  Highness?  —  If this  be  not  "cant"  what  «  noble 
thing  is  it,  O  reader  !  Worth  thinking  of,  for  a  moment. ~\ 

"  Having  said  this,  and  perhaps  omitted  many  other  material 
things  through  the  frailty  of  my  memory,  I  shall  exercise  plain- 
ness and  freeness  with  you ;  and  say,  That  I  have  not  spoken 

1  See,  in  Joshua,  v.  2-8,  the  whole  Jewish  Nation  circumcised  at  once.     So, 
too,  your  Settlements  of  Discord  are  yet  but  indifferently  cicatrized. 

2  Of  planting  Ireland  with  persons  that  will  plough  and  pray,  instead  of 
quarrel  and  blarney. 


1654.  SPEECH   IT.  419 

these  things  as  one  who  assumes  to  himself  dominion  over  you  ; 
but  as  one  who  doth  resolve  to  be  a  fellow-servant  with  you  to 
the  interest  of  these  groat  affairs,  and  of  the  People  of  these 
Nations.  I  shall  trouble  you  no  longer ;  but  desire  you  to 
repair  to  your  House,  and  to  exercise  your  own  liberty  in  the 
choice  of  a  Speaker,  that  so  you  may  lose  no  time  in  carrying 
on  your  work."  1 

At  this  Speech,  say  the  old  Newspapers,  "all  generally 
seemed  abundantly  to  rejoice,  by  extraordinary  expressions 
ami  hums  at  the  conclusion,"  —  Hum-m-m!3  "His  Highness 
withdrew  into  the  old  House  of  Lords,  and  the  Members  of 
Parliament  into  the  Parliament  House.  His  Highness,  so 
soon  as  the  Parliament  were  gone  to  their  House,  went  back 
to  Whitehall,  privately  in  his  barge,  by  water." 

This  Report  of  Speech  Second,  "taken  by  one  that  stood 
n<-ar,"  and  "published  to  prevent  mistakes,"  may  be  con- 
sidered as  exact  enough  in  respect  of  matter,  but  in  manner 
and  style  it  is  probably  not  so  close  to  the  Original  Deliver 
ance  as  the  foregoing  Speech  was.  He  "  who  stood  near  "  on 
this  occasion  seems  to  have  had  some  conceit  in  his  abilities 
as  a  Reporter;  has  pared  off  excrescences,  peculiarities, — 
somewhat  desirous  to  present  the  Portrait  of  his  Highness 
without  the  warts.  He,  or  his  Parliamentary-History  Editor 
and  he,  have,  for  one  thing,  very  arbitrarily  divided  tho 
Discourse  into  little  fractional  paragraphs;  which  a  good 
deal  obstruct  the  sense  here  and  there;  and  have  accordingly 
Keen  disregarded  in  our  Transcript.  Our  changes,  which, 
as  before,  have  been  insignificant,  are  indicated  wherever 
tln-y  seem  to  have  importance  or  physiognomic  character, — 
indicated  too  often,  perhaps,  for  the  reader's  convenience. 
o  the  meaning,  I  have  not  anywhere  remained  in  doubt, 
after  due  study.  The  rough  Speech  when  read  faithfully 

1  Old  Pamphlet  cited  abore:  reprinted  in  Parliammlnry  History,  xx.  318- 

na 

*  Cramvxlliana,  p.  147  ;  see  also  Gnibon  Goddard,  Member  for  Lynn  (ii> 
Burton,  i.  I  lit  rod  p.  xriii.). 


420  PART  VIII.    FIRST  PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept 

becomes  transparent,  every  word  of  it;  credible,  calculated 
to  produce  conviction,  every  word  of  it;  — and  that  I  suppose 
is  or  should  be,  as  our  impatient  Commentator  says,  "the 
definition  of  a  good  Speech.  Other  '  good  speeches,' "  continues 
he,  "  ought  to  be  spoken  in  Bedlam ;  —  unless,  indeed,  you 
will  concede  them  Drury  Lane,  and  admittance  one  shilling. 
Spoken  in  other  localities  than  these,  without  belief  on  the 
speaker's  part,  or  hope  or  chance  of  producing  belief  on  the 
hearer's —  Ye  Heavens,  as  if  the  good-speeching  individual 
were  some  frightful  Wood-and-leather  Man,  made  at  Niiruberg, 
and  tenanted  by  a  Devil ;  set  to  increase  the  Sum  of  Human 
Madness,  instead  of  lessening  it  — !"  But  we  here  cut  short 
our  impatient  Commentator. —  The  Reporter  of  Cromwell, 
we  may  say  for  ourselves,  like  the  painter  of  him,  has  not  to 
suppress  the  warts,  the  natural  rugged  physiognomy  of  the 
man;  which  only  very  poor  tastes  would  exchange  for  any 
other.  He  has  to  wash  the  natural  face  clean,  however ;  that 
men  may  see  it,  and  not  the  opaque  mass  of  mere  soot  and 
featureless  confusions  which,  in  two  Centuries  of  considerable 
Stupidity  in  regard  to  that  matter,  have  settled  there. 


SPEECH  IIL 

THIS  First  Protectorate  Parliament,  we  said,  was  not  suc- 
cessful. It  chose,  judiciously  enough,  old  Leuthall  for 
Speaker;  appointed,  judiciously  enough,  a  Day  of  general 
Fasting:  —  but  took,  directly  after  that,  into  constitutional 
debate  about  Sanctioning  the  Form  of  Government  (which 
nobody  was  specially  asking  it  to  "  sanction ") ;  about  Par- 
liament and  Single  Person;  powers  of  Single  Person  and  of 
Parliament;  Co-ordination,  Subordination;  and  other  bottom- 
less subjects;  —  in  which  getting  always  the  deeper  the  more 
it  puddled  in  them,  inquiry  or  intimation  of  inquiry  rose  not 
obscurely  in  the  distance,  Whether  this  Government  should 
be  by  a  Parliament  and  Single  Person?  These  things  the 
honorable  gentlemen,  with  true  industry,  debated  in  Grand 


1664.  M'KKCH    III. 

Committee,  "from  eight  in  the  morning  till  eight  at  night, 
with  an  hour  for  refreshment  about  noon,"  debates  waxing 
ever  hotter,  question  ever  more  abstruse,  —  through  Friday, 
Saturday,  Monday ;  ready,  if  Heaven  spared  them,  to  debate 
it  farther  for  unlimited  days.  Constitutional  Presbyterian  j)er- 
sons,  Use-aud-wont  Neuters;  not  without  a  spicing  of  sour 
Republicans,  as  Bradshaw,  Haselrig,  Scott,  to  keep  the  batch 
in  leaven. 

His  Highness  naturally  perceived  that  this  would  never  do, 
not  this;  —  sent  therefore  to  the  Lord  Mayor,  late  on  Monday 
night  I  think,  to  look  after  the  peace  of  the  City ;  to  Speaker 
Lenthall,  that  he  must  bring  his  people  to  the  Painted 
Chamber  before  going  farther :  and  early  on  Tuesday  morning, 
poor  Mr.  Guibon  Goddard,  Member  for  Lynn,  just  about  to 
proceed  again,  from  the  Eastern  parts,  towards  his  sublime 
constitutional  day's-work,  is  overwhelmed  by  rumors,  "That 
the  Parliament  is  dissolved ;  that,  for  certain,  the  Council  of 
State,  and  a  Council  of  War,  had  sat  together  all  the  Sabbath- 
day  before,  and  had  then  contrived  this  Dissolution ! " 

"Notwithstanding,"  continues  Guibon,  "I  was  resolved  to 
go  to  Westminster,  to  satisfy  myself  of  the  truth;  and  to 
take  my  share  of  what  I  should  see  or  learn  there.  Going 
by  water  to  Westminster,  I  was  told  that  the  Parliament- 
doors  were  locked  up,  and  guarded  with  soldiers,  and  that 
the  Barges  were  to  attend  the  Protector  to  the  Painted 
Chamber.  As  I  went,  I  saw  two  Barges  at  the  Privy  Stairs. 
River  and  City  in  considerable  emotion.  Being  come  to  the 
Hall,  I  was  confirmed  in  what  I  had  heard.  Nevertheless 
I  did  purpose  not  to  take  things  merely  upon  trust;  but 
would  receive  an  actual  repulse,  to  confirm  my  faith.  Accord- 
ingly, I  attempted  up  the  Parliament  stairs;  but  a  guard  of 
Soldiers  was  there,  who  told  me,  'There  was  no  passage  that 
way ;  the  House  was  locked  up,  and  command  given  to  give 
no  admittance  to  any;  —  if  I  were  a  Member,  I  might  go 
into  the  Painted  Chamber,  where  the  Protector  would  pres- 
ently be.'  The  Mace  had  been  taken  away  by  Commissary- 
Cmeral  Whallry.  Tin-  S|M-.ik«-r  and  all  the  Members  were 
walking  up  and  down  the  Hall,  th«  Court  of  Requests,  and 


422  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept. 

the  Painted  Chamber ;  expecting  the  Protector's  coining.     The 
passages  there  likewise  were  guarded  with  soldiers."  l 

No  doubt  about  it,  therefore,  my  honorable  friend!  Dis- 
solution, or  something,  is  not  far.  Between  nine  and  ten, 
the  Protector  arrived,  with  due  escort  of  Officers,  halberds, 
Life-guards;  toot  his  place,  covered,  under  "the  state"  as 
before,  we  all  sitting  bareheaded  on  our  benches  as  before ; 
and  with  fit  salutation  spake  to  us; — as  follows.  "Speech 
of  an  hour  and  a  half  long;"  taken  in  characters  by  the 
former  individual  who  "  stood  near ;  "  audible  still  to  modern 
men.  Tuesday  morning,  12th  September,  1654 ;  a  week  and 
a  day  since  the  last  Speech  here. 

In  this  remarkable  Speech,  the  occasion  of  which  and  the 
Speaker  of  which  are  very  extraordinary,  an  assiduous  reader, 
or  "modern  hearer,"  will  find  Historical  indications,  signifi- 
cant shadowings-forth  both  of  the  Protectorate  and  the  Pro- 
tector ;  which,  considering  whence  they  come,  he  will  not  fail 
to  regard  as  documentary  in  those  matters.  Nay  perhaps, 
here  for  the  first  time,  if  he  read  with  real  industry,  there 
may  begin  to  paint  itself  for  him,  on  the  void  Dryasdust  Abyss, 
hitherto  called  History  of  Oliver,  some  dim  adumbration  of 
How  this  business  of  Assuming  the  Protectorate  may  actually 
have  been.  It  was,  many  years  ago,  in  reading  these  Speeches, 
with  a  feeling  that  they  must  have  been  credible  when  spoken, 
and  with  a  strenuous  endeavor  to  find  what  their  meaning 
was,  and  try  to  believe  it,  that  to  the  present  Editor  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  Puritan  Rebellion  generally,  first  began  to 
be  conceivable.  Such  was  his  experience.  — 

But  certainly  the  Lord  Protector's  place,  that  September 
Tuesday,  1G54,  is  not  a  bed  of  roses !  His  painful  assevera- 
tions, appeals  and  assurances  have  made  the  Modern  part  of 
his  audience  look,  more  than  once,  with  questioning  eyes. 
On  this  point,  take  from  a  certain  Commentator  sometimes 
above  cited  from,  and  far  oftener  suppressed,  the  following 
rough  words  :  — 

"  '  Divers  persons  who  do  know  whether  I  lie  in  that,'  says 
the  Lord  Protector.  What  a  position  for  a  hero,  to  be  reduced 

1  Ayscough  MSS-,  printed  iu  Burton's  Diary,  i.  Introd.  p.  xxxiii. 


SPEECH  III.  423 

continually  to  say  He  does  not  lie !  —  Consider  well,  never- 
theless, What  else  could  Oliver  do  ?  To  get  on  with  this  new 
Parliament  was  clearly  his  one  chance  of  governing  peace- 
ably. To  wrap  himself  up  in  stern  pride,  and  refuse  to  give 
any  explanation  :  would  that  have  been  the  wise  plan  of  deal- 
ing with  them  '(  Or  the  stately  and  not-so-wise  plan?  Alas, 
tin  wise  plan,  when  all  lay  yet  as  an  experiment,  with  so  dread 
issues  in  it  to  yourself  and  the  whole  world,  was  not  very 
<li  < overable.  Perhaps  not  quite  reconcilable  with  the  stately 
plan,  even  if  it  had  been  discovered  !  " 

And  again,  with  regard  to  the  scheme  of  the  Protectorship, 
wliic-h  his  Highness  says  was  done  by  "the  Gentlemen  that 
undertook  to  frame  this  Government,"  after  divers  days  con- 
sulting, and  without  the  least  privity  of  his  :  "  You  never 
guessed  what  they  were  doing,  your  Highness  ?  Alas,  his 
Highness  guessed  it, — and  yet  must  not  say,  or  think,  he 
guessed  it.  There  is  something  sad  in  a  brave  man's  being 
reduced  to  explain  himself  from  a  barrel-head  in  this  manner  ! 
Yet  what,  on  the  whole,  will  he  do  ?  Coriolanus  curled  his 
lip,  and  scowled  proudly  enough  on  the  sweet  voices :  but 
Coriolanus  had  likewise  to  go  over  to  the  Volscians ;  Coriola- 
nus had  not  the  slightest  chance  to  govern  by  a  free  Parliament 
in  Rome  !  Oliver  was  not  prepared  for  these  extremities  ;  if 
less  would  serve.  Perhaps  in  Oliver  there  is  something  of 
better  than  '  silent  pride '  ?  Oliver  will  have  to  explain  him- 
self before  God  Most  High,  ero  long ;  —  and  it  will  not  stead 
liim  there,  that  he  went  wrong  because  his  pride,  his  '  personal 
dignity,'  his  &c.  &c.  were  concerned.  —  Who  would  govern 
mm  !  'Oh,  it  were  better  to  be  a  poor  fisherman,'  exclaimed 
I):inton,  'than  to  meddle  with  governing  of  men!'  'I  would 
rutlier  keep  a  flock  of  sheep!'  said  Oliver.  And  who  but  a 
Flunky  would  not,  if  his  real  trade  lay  in  keeping  sheep  ? "  — 

<  >n  the  whole,  concludes  our  Commentator :  "  As  good  an 
explanation  as  the  case  admits  of,  —  from  a  barrel-head,  or 
'raised  platform  under  a  state.'  Where  so  much  that  is  true 
cannot  be  said  ;  and  yet  nothing  that  is  f;ii  »  shall  be  said,  — 
under  penalties  forgotten  in  our  Time  !  With  regard  to  those 
asseverations  and  reiterated  appeals,  note  this  also :  An  oath 


424  PART  V11I.     FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  12 Sept 

was  an  oath  then ;  not  a  solemn  piece  of  blasphemous  cant,  as 
too  often  since.  No  contemporary  that  I  have  met  with,  who 
had  any  opportunity  to  judge,  disbelieved  Oliver  in  these  pro- 
testations; though  many  believed  that  he  was  unconsciously 
deceiving  himself.  Which,  of  course,  we  too,  where  needful, 
must  ever  remember  that  he  was  liable  to  do ;  nay,  if  you  will, 
that  he  was  continually  doing.  But  to  this  Commentator,  at 
this  stage  in  the  development  of  things,  '  Apology '  seems  not 
the  word  for  Oliver  Cromwell;  —  not  that,  but  a  far  other 
word  !  The  Modern  part  of  his  Highness's  audience  can  listen 
now,  I  think,  across  the  Time-gulfs,  in  a  different  mood ;  — 
with  candor,  with  human  brotherhood,  with  reverence  and 
grateful  love.  Such  as  the  noble  never  claim  in  vain  from 
those  that  have  any  nobleness.  This  of  tasking  a  great  soul 
continually  to  prove  to  us  that  he  was  not  a  liar,  is  too  un- 
washed a  way  of  welcoming  a  Great  Man  !  Scrubby  Appren- 
tices of  tender  years,  to  them  it  might  seem  suitable ;  — 
still  more  readily  to  Apes  by  the  Dead  Sea ! "  Let  us  have 
done  with  it,  my  friend ;  and  listen  to  the  Speech  itself,  of 
date,  Painted  Chamber,  12th  September,  1654,  the  best  we 
can ! 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  It  is  not  long  since  I  met  you  in  this  place, 
upon  an  occasion  which  gave  me  much  more  content  and  com- 
fort than  this  doth.  That  which  I  have  now  to  say  to  you 
will  need  no  preamble,  to  let  me  into  my  discourse  :  for  the 
occasion  of  this  meeting  is  plain  enough.  I  could  have  wished 
with  all  my  heart  there  had  been  no  cause  for  it. 

"  At  our  former  meeting  I  did  acquaint  you  what  was  the 
first  rise  of  this  Government,  which  hath  called  you  hither, 
and  by  the  authority  of  which  you  have  come  hither.  Among 
other  things  which  I  then  told  you  of,  I  said,  You  were  a  Free 
Parliament.  And  [truly]  so  you  are,  —  whilst  you  own  the 
Government  and  Authority  which  called  you  hither.  But  cer- 
tainly that  word  [Free  Parliament]  implied  a  reciprocity,1  or 
it  implied  nothing  at  all !  Indeed  there  was  a  reciprocity  im- 
plied and  expressed ;  and  I  think  your  actions  and  carriages 

1  "  reciprocation  "  in  orig. 


1654.  SPEECH  III.  425 

ought  to  be  suitable !  But  I  see  it  will  be  necessary  for  me 
now  a  little  to  magnify  my  Office.  Which  I  have  not  been  apt 
to  do.  I  have  been  of  this  mind,  I  have  been  always  of  this 
mind,  since  I  iirst  entered  upon  my  Office,  If  God  will  not 
bear  it  up,  let  it  sink  !  [  Yea  /]  But  if  a  duty  be  incumbent 
upon  me  to  bear  my  testimony  unto  it  (which  in  modesty  I 
have  hitherto  forborne),  I  am  in  some  measure  necessitated 
thereunto.  And  therefore  that  will  be  the  prologue  to  my 
discourse. 

"  I  called  not  myself  to  this  place.  I  say  again,  I  called  not 
myself  to  this  place !  Of  that  God  is  witness  :  —  and  I  have 
many  witnesses  who,  I  do  believe,  could  lay  down  their  lives 
bearing  witness  to  the  truth  of  that.  Namely,  That  I  called 
not  myself  to  this  place  !  [His  Highness  is  growing  emphatic.'] 
And  being  in  it,  I  bear  not  witness  to  myself  [or  my  office  ] ; 
but  God  and  the  People  of  these  Nations  have  also  borne  tes- 
timony to  it  [and  me].  If  my  calling  be  from  God,  and  my 
testimony  from  the  People,  —  God  and  the  People  shall  take 
it  from  me,  else  I  will  not  part  with  it.  [Do  you  mark  that, 
and  the  air  and  manner  of  it,  my  honorable  friends  /]  I  should 
be  false  to  the  trust  that  God  hath  placed  in  me,  and  to  the 
interest  of  the  People  of  these  Nations,  if  I  did. 

"  '  That  I  called  not  myself  to  this  place,'  is  my  first  asser- 
tion. '  That  I  bear  not  witness  to  myself,  but  have  many 
witnesses,'  is  my  second.  These  two  things  I  shall  take  the 
liberty  to  speak  more  fully  to  you  of.  —  To  make  plain  and 
d.-.ir  what  I  have  here  asserted,  I  must  take  liberty  to  look 
[a  little]  back. 

"  I  was  by  birth  a  Gentleman ;  living  neither  in  any  con- 
siderable height,  nor  yet  in  obscurity.  I  have  been  called  to 
several  employments  in  the  Nation  :  To  serve  in  Parliament 
[and  others] ;  and  —  not  to  be  over-tedious  —  I  did  endeavor 
to  discharge  the  duty  of  an  honest  man,  in  those  services,  to 
God  and  His  People's  Interest,  and  to  the  Commonwealth; 
li.ivin^,  when  time  was,  a  competent  acceptation  in  the  hearts 
of  men,  and  some  evidences  thereof.  I  resolve,  not  to  recite 
tin-  times  and  occasions  and  opportunities,  which  have  been 
appointed  mo  by  God  to  serve  Him  in  j  uor  the  presence  and 


426  PART  VITT.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept. 

blessings  of  God  therein  bearing  testimony  to  me.  [  Well  said, 
and  well  forborne  to  be  said!~\ 

"Having  had  some  occasions  to  see,  together  with  my 
brethren  and  countrymen,  a  happy  period  put  to  our  sharp 
Wars  and  contests  with  the  then  common  Enemy,  I  hoped, 
in  a  private  capacity,  to  have  reaped  the  fruit  and  benefit, 
together  with  my  brethren,  of  our  hard  labors  and  hazards  : 
the  enjoyment,  to  wit,  of  Peace  and  Liberty,  and  the  privi- 
leges of  a  Christian  and  a  Man,  in  some  equality  with  others, 
according  as  it  should  please  the  Lord  to  dispense  unto  nie. 
And  when,  I  say,  God  had  put  an  end  to  our  Wars,  or  at  least 
brought  them  to  a  very  hopeful  issue,  very  near  an  end,  — 
after  Worcester  Fight,  —  I  came  up  to  London  to  pay  my  ser- 
vice and  duty  to  the  Parliament  which  then  sat :  hoping  that 
all  minds  would  have  been  disposed  to  answer  what  seemed  to 
be  the  mind  of  God,  namely,  To  give  peace  and  rest  to  His 
People,  and  especially  to  those  who  had  bled  more  than  others 
in  the  carrying  on  of  the  Military  affairs,  —  I  was  much  dis- 
appointed of  my  expectation.  For  the  issue  did  not  prove  so. 
[Suppressed  murmurs  from  Bradshaw  and  Company.]  What- 
ever may  be  boasted  or  misrepresented,  it  was  not  so,  not  so ! 

"  I  can  say,  in  the  simplicity  of  my  soul,  I  love  not,  I  love 
not,  —  I  declined  it  in  my  former  Speech,1  —  I  say,  I  love  not 
to  rake  into  sores,  or  to  discover  nakednesses !  The  thing  I 
drive  at  is  this  :  I  say  to  you,  I  hoped  to  have  had  leave  [for 
my  own  part]  to  retire  to  a  private  life.  I  begged  to  be  dis- 
missed of  my  charge ;  I  begged  it  again  and  again ;  —  and 
God  be  Judge  between  me  and  all  men  if  I  lie  in  this  matter  ! 
[Groans  from  Dryasdust,  scarcely  audible,  in  the  deep  silence.'} 
That  I  lie  not  in  matter  of  fact  is  known  to  very  many 
["  Hum-m-m  !  "  Look  of  "  Yea  !  "  from  the  Military  Party]  : 
but  whether  I  tell  a  lie  in  my  heart,  as  laboring  to  represent  to 
you  what  was  not  upon  my  heart,  I  say  the  Lord  be  Judge.2 
Let  uncharitable  men,  who  measure  others  by  themselves, 
judge  as  they  please.  As  to  the  matter  of  fact.  I  say,  It  is 
true.  As  to  the  ingenuity  and  integrity  of  my  heart  in  that 

1  Antea,  Speech  I.  p.  298. 

a  He :  Believe  you  alxmt  that  as  you  see  good. 


if?r,j.  SPEECH  HI.  427 

desire,  —  I  do  appeal  as  before  upon  the  truth  of  that  also!  — 
But  I  could  not  obtain  [what  I  desired]  what  my  soul  longed 
for.  And  the  plain  truth  is,  I  did  afterwards  apprehend  some 
were  of  opinion  (such  the  difference  of  their  judgment  from 
mine),  That  it  could  not  well  be.1 

"  I  confess  I  am  in  some  strait  to  say  what  I  could  say,  and 
what  is  true,  of  what  then  followed.  I  pressed  the  Parliament, 
as  a  Member,  To  period  themselves;  —  once  and  again,  nnd 
:!"ain,  and  ten,  nay  twenty  times  over.  I  told  them,  —  for 
1  knew  it  better  than  any  one  man  in  the  "Parliament  could 
1  now  it;  because  of  my  manner  of  life,  which  had  led  me 
everywhere  np  and  down  the  Nation,3  thereby  giving  me  to 
s«-«.  and  know  the  temper  and  spirits  of  all  men,  and  of  the 
lit-st  of  men,  —  that  the  Nation  loathed  their  sitting.  [Hasel- 
riy,  faott  and  others  looking  very  rjrim.~\  I  knew  it.  And,  so 
far  as  I  could  discern,  when  they  were  dissolved,  there  was 
not  so  much  ns  the  barking  of  a  dog,  or  any  general  and  visi- 
ble repining  at  it!  \1Iow  nslmihltl-nrj  t1i<>re  should  not  have 
l>i-i-it  /]  You  are  not  a  few  here  present  who  can  assert  this 
as  well  as  myself. 

"And  that  there  was  high  cause  for  their  dissolution,  is 
most  evident  :  not  only  in  regard  there  was  a  just  fear  of  that 
Parliament's  perpetuating  themselves,  but  because  it  [actu- 
ally] was  their  design.  [Yes]  had  not  their  heels  been  trod 
upon  by  importunities  from  abroad,  even  to  threats,  I  believe 
there  never  would  have  been  [any]  thoughts  of  rising,  or  of 
going  out  of  that  lloom,  to  the  world's  end.  I  myself  was 
sounded,  and,  by  no  mean  persons  [07*,  Sir  Tfnrry  Vant  >/], 
ti-mpted;  and  proposals  were  made  me  to  that  very  end: 
That  the  Parliament  *  might  be  thus  perpetuated;  that  the 
if,  jil.H-i  s  uii^ht  be  supplied  by  new  elections  ;  —  and  so 
riiiif.iime  from  generation  to  generation. 

"I  have  declined.  1  have  deelined  v»-ry  much,  to  open  these 
to  you.  [//'//•/£  noble,  man  ivould  not,  your  JHyhness?] 


1  That  I  ruuM  n<  it  !>«•  -|i:tn-<l  from  my  port. 

2  \Vliii.-  .-.  .Mii-riii",  &c.  :  the  origiual  has,  "  which  was  to  run  op  and  down 

•ion." 
«  "ifiuorig. 


428  PART  VIIT.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept 

But,  having  proceeded  thus  far,  I  must,  tell  you  [this  also]  . 
That  poor  men,  under  this  arbitrary  power,  were  driven,  like 
flocks  of  sheep,  by  forty  in  a  morning ;  to  the  confiscation  of 
goods  and  estates ;  without  any  man  being  able  to  give  a  rea- 
son why  two  of  them  had  deserved  to  forfeit  a  shilling ! l  I 
tell  you  the  truth.  And  my  soul,  and  many  persons'  whom 
I  see  in  this  place,  were  exceedingly  grieved  at  these  things ; 
and  knew  not  which  way  to  help  them,  except  by  our  mourn- 
ings, and  giving  our  negatives  when  occasion  served.  —  I  have 
given  you  but  a  taste  of  miscarriages  [that  then  were].  I  am 
confident  you  have  had  opportunities  to  hear  much  more  of 
them  ;  for  nothing  was  more  obvious.  It 's  true  this  will  be 
said,  That  there  was  a  remedy  endeavored  :  To  put  an  end  to 
this  Perpetual  Parliament,  by  giving  us  a  future  Representa- 
tive. How  that  was  gotten,  by  what  importunities  that  was 
obtained,  and  how  unwillingly  yielded  unto,  is  well  known. 

"  [But]  what  was  this  remedy  ?  It  was  a  seeming  willing- 
ness to  give  us  Successive  Parliaments.  And  what  was  [the 
nature  of]  that  Succession  ?  It  was,  That  when  one  Parlia- 
ment had  left  its  seat,  another  was  to  sit  down  immediately 
in  the  room  thereof,  without  any  caution  to  avoid  what  was 
the  real  danger,  namely,  Perpetuating  of  the  same  [men  in] 
Parliaments.  Which  is  a  sore,  now,  that  will  ever  be  running, 
so  long  as  men  are  ambitious  and  troublesome,  —  if  a  remedy 
be  not  found. 

"  Nay,  at  best  what  will  such  a  remedy  amount  to  ?  It  is 
a  conversion  of  a  Parliament  that  would  have  been  and  was 
Perpetual,  to  a  Legislative  Power  Always  Sitting !  [  Which, 
however,  consists  of  different  men,  your  Highness  /]  And  so 
the  liberties  and  interests  and  lives  of  people  not  judged 
by  any  certain  known  Laws  and  Power,  but  by  an  arbitrary 
Power ;  which  is  incident  and  necessary  to  Parliaments. 
[$>  /]  By  an  arbitrary  Power,  I  say  :  2  to  make  men's 
estates  liable  to  confiscation,  and  their  persons  to  impris- 
onment,—  sometimes  [even]  by  laws  made  after  the  fact 
committed;  often  by  the  Parliament's  assuming  to  itself  to 

*  Antea,  p.  278. 

a  Such  as  the  Long  Parliament  did  continually  exert. 


1054. 


SPEECH  TIT.  429 


give  judgment  both  in  capital  and  criminal  things,  which  in 
former  times  was  not  known  to  exercise  such  a  judicature.1 
This,  I  suppose,  was  the  case  [then  before  us].  And,  in  my 
opinion,  the  remedy  was  fitted  to  the  disease  !  Especially  com- 
ing in  the  rear  of  a  Parliament  which  had  so  exercised  its 
power  and  authority  as  that  Parliament  had  done  but  imme- 
diately before. 

"  Truly  I  confess,  —  upon  these  grounds,  and  with  the  satis- 
faction of  divers  other  persons  who  saw  nothing  could  be  had 
otherwise,  —  that  Parliament  was  dissolved  [Not  a  doubt  of 
it  /]  :  and  we,  desiring  to  see  if  a  few  might  have  been  called 
together  for  some  short  time  who  might  put  the  Nation  into 
some  way  of  certain  settlement,  —  did  call  those  Gentlemen 
[  The  Little  Parliament  ;  we  remember  them  /]  out  of  the  sev- 
eral parts  of  the  Nation.  And  as  I  have  appealed  to  God 
before  you  already,2  —  though  it  be  a  tender  thing  to  make 
appeals  to  God,  yet  in  such  exigences  as  these  I  trust  it 
will  not  offend  His  Majesty ;  especially  to  make  them  before 
Persons  that  know  God,  and  know  what  conscience  is,  and 
what  it  is  to  '  lie  before  the  Lord ' !  I  say,  As  a  principal  end 
in  calling  that  Assembly  was  the  settlement  of  the  Nation, 
so  a  chief  end  to  myself  was  to  lay  down  the  Power  which 
was  iu  my  hands.  [Ifum-m-m  /]  I  say  to  you  again,  in  the 

1  Intricate  paragraphs,  this  and  the  foregoing ;  treating  of  a  subject  com- 
plex in  itself,  and  very  delicate  to  handle  before  such  an  audience.    His  Iligh- 
nem's  logic  perhaps  hobbles  somewhat :  but  this  strain  of  argument,  which  to 
us  has  fallen  so  dim  and  obsolete,  was  very  familiar  to  the  audience  ho  was 
now  addressing, —  the  staple  indeed  of  what  their  debates  for  the  last  throe 

!iad  been  (Burton,  i.  Introd.  pp.  25-3.3  ;  Whitlocke,  p.  587,  &<•.).  "  IVr- 
].' mating  of  the  same  men  in  Parliament :"  that  clearly  is  intolerable,  says 
the  first  Paragraph.  But  not  only  BO,  says  the  second  Paragraph,  "a  ! 
lativf>  Assembly  always  sitting,"  though  it  consist  of  new  men,  is  likewise  in- 
to]., r.-il.lf  :  any  Parliament,  as  the  Long  Parliament  has  too  fatally  taught  us, 
if  1.  ft  t..  it««'lf,  is,  by  its  nature,  arbitrary,  of  unlimited  power,  liable  to  grow 
tvr.iimi.us  ;  —  outfht  therefore  only  to  sit  at  due  intervals,  and  to  have  other 
-  iTrntrrtorafi-,  for  example)  ready  to  check  it  on  occasion.  AH  this 
tin-  :iu< -ii-nt  audience  understands  very  well ;  and  the  modern  needs  only  to 
iiijilt-rstaii'l  that  they  ninler»tood  it. 

2  "  I  know,  nn<l  I  ho|«    I  may  Hay  it,"  follows  in  orig.,  —  deleted  here,  for 
light's  tiake,  though  cliaracteristic. 


PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept 

Presence  of  that  God  who  hath  blessed,  and  been  with  me  in 
all  my  adversities  and  successes :  That  was,  as  to  myself,  my 
greatest  end  !  [  Your  Highness  —  ?  And  '  God  "  with  you 
ancients  is  not  a  fabulous  polite  Hearsay,  but  a  tremendous  nil- 
irradiating  Fact  of  Facts,  not  to  be  "  lied  before "  without  con- 
sequences ?]  A  desire  perhaps,  I  am  afraid,  sinful  enough, 
To  be  quit  of  the  Power  God  had  most  clearly  by  His  Provi- 
dence1 put  into  my  hands,  before  He  called  me  to  lay  it 
down ;  before  those  honest  ends  of  our  fighting  were  attained 
and  settled.  —  I  say,  the  Authority  I  had  in  my  hand  being 
so  boundless  as  it  was,  —  for,  by  Act  of  Parliament,  I  was 
General  of  all  the  Forces  in  the  three  Nations  of  England, 
Scotland  and  Ireland ;  in  which  unlimited  condition  I  did  not 
desire  to  live  a  day,  —  we  called  that  Meeting,  for  the  ends 
before  expressed. 

"What  the  event  and  issue  of  that  Meeting  was,  we  may 
sadly  remember.  It  hath  much  teaching  in  it,2  and  I  hope 
will  make  us  all  wiser  for  the  future !  But  [in  short]  that 
Meeting  not  succeeding,  as  I  already  said  unto  you,  .and  giv- 
ing such  a  disappointment  to  our  hopes,  I  shall  not  now  make 
any  repetition  thereof :  only  the  result  was,  That  they  came 
and  brought  to  me  a  Parchment,  signed  by  very  much  the 
major  part  of  them  ;  expressing  their  re-delivery  and  resigna- 
tion of  the  power  and  authority  that  had  been  committed 
them  back  again  into  my  hands.  And  I  can  say  it,  in  the 
presence  of  divers  persons  here,  who  do  know  whether  I  lie 
in  that  \Hum-m-m  /],  That  I  did  not  know  one  tittle  of  that 
Resignation  [of  theirs],  till  they  all  came  and  brought  it,  and 
delivered  it  into  my  hands.  Of  this  also  there  are  in  this 
presence  many  witnesses.  [  Yes,  many  are  convinced  of  it,  — 
some  not."]  I  received  this  Resignation;  having  formerly  used 
my  endeavors  and  persuasions  to  keep  them  together.  Ob- 
serving their  differences,  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  give  advice 
to  them,  that  so  I  might  prevail  with  them  for  union.  But 
it  had  the  effect  I  told  you ;  and  I  had  my  disappointment. 

1  "  most  providentially  "  in  orig. :  has  not  the  modern  meaning ;  means 
only  as  in  the  Text. 

9  Warning  us  not  to  quarrel,  and  get  into  insoluble  theories,  as  they  did- 


1054.  SPEECH   TIT.  431 

"When  this  proved  so,  we  worn  exceedingly  to  seek  how- 
to  settle  things  for  the  future.  My  [own]  Power  was  again, 
by  this  resignation,  [become]  as  boundless  and  unlimited 
as  before ;  all  things  being  subjected  to  arbitrariness ;  and 
myself  [the  only  constituted  authority  that  was  left]  a  per- 
son having  power  over  the  three  Nations,  without  bound  or 
limit  set; — and  all  Government,  upon  the  matter,  being  dis- 
solved ;  all  civil  administration  at  an  end,1  —  as  will  presently 
appear.  ["  A  grave  situation  :  but  who  brought  us  to  it  ? " 
•murmur  nit/  Loril  /.VW.sV/"//'  and  others.] 

"The  Gentlemen  that  undertook  to  frame  this  Government2 
did  consult  divers  days  together  (men  of  known  integrity  and 
ability),  How  to  frame  somewhat  that  might  give  us  settle- 
ment. They  did  consult ;  —  and  that  I  was  not  privy  to  their 
councils  they  know  it.  [Alas  /] — When  they  had  finished 
their  model  in  some  measure,  or  made  a  good  preparation  of 
it,  they  became  communicative.  [Ifum-m^m  /]  They  told  me 
that  except  I  would  undertake  the  Government,  they  thought 
things  would  hardly  come  to  a  composure  or  settlement,  but 
blond  and  confusion  would  break  in  upon  us.  \_A  plain  truth 
tin- >t  toldJ]  I  refused  it  again  and  again ;  not  compliment- 
inirly,  —  as  they  know,  and  as  God  knows!  I  confess,  after 
many  arguments,  they  urging  on  me,  '  That  I  did  not  hereby 
receive  anything  which  put  me  into  a  higher  capacity  than 
before  ;  but  that  it  limited  me ;  that  it  bound  my  hands  to 
act  IK. tiling  without  the  consent  of  a  Council,  until  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  then  limited  [me]  by  the  Parliament,  as  the  Act 
.overnment  expresseth,' —  I  did  accept  it.  I  might  repeat 
again  to  you,  if  it  were  needful,  but  I  think  it  hardly  is: 
1  w:is  arbitrary  in  power ;  having  the  Armies  in  the  three 
Nations  under  my  command; — and  truly  not  very  ill  be 
lovi-d  by  them,  nor  very  ill  beloved  by  the  People.  By  the 
good  People.  And  I  believe  I  should  have  been  more  beloved 
if  they  had  known  the  truth,  as  things  were,  before  God  and 
in  themselves,'  and  also  before  divers  of  those  Gentlemen 
whom  I  but  now  mentioned  unto  you.  [His  Highness  is 

1  Civil  Office-bearers  feeliug  their  commission  to  be  ended. 
*  Plan  ur  M»dcl  of  (ioveruiueut. 


432  PART  VITI.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept. 

rallying ;  getting  nut  of  the,  Unutterable  into  the  Utteralle,  /]  I 
did,  at  the  entreaty  of  divers  Persons  of  Honor  and  Quality, 
at  the  entreaty  of  very  many  of  the  chief  Officers  of  the 
Army  then  present,  —  [at  their  entreaty]  and  at  their  re- 
quest, I  did  accept  of  the  place  and  title  of  PROTECTOR  :  and 
was,  in  the  presence  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal, 
the  Judges,  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  City  of 
London,  the  Soldiery,  divers  Gentlemen,  Citizens,  and  divers 
other  people  and  persons  of  quality,  and  so  forth,  —  accom- 
panied to  Westminster  Hall ;  where  I  took  the  Oath  to  this 
Government.  [Indisputably:  draw  your  own  inferences  from 
it  /]  This  was  not  done  in  a  corner :  it  was  open  and  public  ! 
—  This  Government  hath  been  exercised  by  a  Council ;  *  with 
a  desire  to  be  faithful  in  all  things  :  —  and,  among  all  other 
trusts,  to  be  faithful  in  calling  this  Parliament. 

"  And  thus  I  have  given  you  a  very  bare  and  lean  Dis- 
course ; 2  which  truly  I  have  been  necessitated  to  [do],  —  and 
contracted  in  [the  doing  of],  because  of  the  unexpectedness 
of  the  occasion,  and  because  I  would  not  quite  weary  you 
nor  myself.  But  this  is  a  Narrative  that  discovers  to  you 
the  series  of  Providences  and  of  Transactions  leading  me 
into  the  condition  wherein  I  now  stand.  The  next  thing  I 
promised  [to  demonstrate  to]  you,  wherein,  I  hope,  I  shall 
be  briefer —  Though  I  am  sure  the  occasion  does  require 
plainness  and  freedom  !  —  [But  as  to  this  first  thing]  8  That 
I  brought  not  myself  into  this  condition :  surely  in  my  own 
apprehension  I  did  not !  And  whether  I  did  not,  the  things 
being  true  which  I  have  told  you,  I  shall  submit  to  your 

1  According  to  the  "  Instrument "  or  Program  of  it, 

2  Narration. 

3  This  paragraph  is  characteristic.     One  of  Oliver's  warts     His  Highness, 
in  haste  to  be  through,  is  for  breaking  off  into  the  "  next  thing,"  with  hope  of 
greater  "  brevity ;  "  but  then  suddenly  bethinks  him  that  he  has  not  yet  quite 
completely  winded  off  the  "first  thing,"  and  so  returns  to  that.     The  para- 
graph, stark  nonsense  in  the  original  (%vhere  they  that  are  patient  of  such  can 
read  it,  Parliamentary  History,  xx.  357),  indicates,  on  intense  inspection,  that 
tliis  is  the  purport  of   it      A  glimpse  afforded  us,  through  one  of  Oliver's 
confused  regurgitations  aud  incondite  .'n/.vutterances  of  speech,  into  the  real 
inner  man  of  him.     Of  which  there  will  be  other  instances  as  we  proceed. 


1654.  SPEECH   III.  483 

judgment.  And  there  shall  I  leave  it.  Let  God  do  what 
He  pleaseth. 

"  The  other  thing,  I  say,  that  I  am  to  speak  of  to  you  is, 
'  That  I  have  not  [borne],  and  do  not  bear,  witness  to  myself.' 
I  am  far  from  alluding  to  Him  that  said  so  !  *  Yet  truth,  con- 
cerning a  member  of  His,  He  will  own,  though  men  do  not.  — 
But  I  think,  if  I  mistake  not,  I  have  a  cloud  of  witnesses.  I 
think  so ;  let  men  be  as  froward  as  they  will.  \My  honorable 
/'/•Ir/tdsf]  I  have  witness  Within, — Without, — and  Above! 
lUit  I  shall  speak  of  my  witnesses  Without;  having  fully 
spoken  of  the  Witness  who  is  Above,  and  [who  is]  in  my  own 
conscience,  before.  Under  the  other  head  a  I  spoke  of  these ; 
because  that  subject  had  more  obscurity  in  it,  and  I  in  some 
sort  needed  appeals  ;  —  and,  I  trust,  might  lawfully  make  them 
(as  lawfully  as  take  an  oath),  where  the  things  were  not  so 
apt  to  be  made  evident  [otherwise.  —  In  such  circumstances, 
Yea  /]  —  I  shall  enumerate  my  witnesses  as  well  as  I  can. 

"  When  I  had  consented  to  accept  of  the  Government,  there 
was  some  Solemnity  to  be  performed.  And  that  was  accom- 
panied by  some  persons  of  considerableness  in  all  respects : 
there  were  the  persons  before  mentioned  to  you  ;  *  these  accom- 
panied me,  at  the  time  of  my  entering  upon  this  Government, 
to  Westminster  Hall  to  receive  my  Oath.  There  was  an 
express4  consent  on  the  part  of  these  and  other  interested 
persons.  And  [there  was  also]  an  implied  consent  of  many; 
showing  their  good  liking  and  approbation  thereof.  And,  Gen- 
tlemen, I  do  not  think  you  are  altogether  strangers  to  it  in 
your  countries.  Some  did  not  nauseate  it;  very  many  did 
approve  it. 

"  I  had  the  approbation  of  the  Officers  of  the  Army,  in  the 

1  "  Then  answered  Jesus,  and  said  unto  them,  —  If  I  bear  witness  of  my- 
-  If,  my  witness  is  not  true.    There  is  Another  that  beareth  witness  of  me." 
(./»/,«  r.  31,32.) 

2  "  upon  the  other  account "  in  orig. 
'  "  bof.irc  expressed  "  in  orig. 

*  "explicit"  and  "  implicit"  in  the  original;  but  we  must  say  "  express  " 
and  "implied."  —  the  word  "  implicit  "having  now  ;;.it  it-df  tacked  to  "  faith  " 
(mptidt-faith),  and  l>r*como  thereby  hopelessly  di-i^nnl-d  from  any  indepeu- 
»lfnt  meaiiiiic. 

TOL.    XVIII.  28 


434  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept 

three  Nations  of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland.  I  say,  of 
the  Officers :  I  had  that  by  their  [express]  Remonstrances,1 
and  under  signature.  But  there  went  along  with  that  express 
consent  of  theirs,  an  implied  consent  also  [of  a  body]  of  per- 
sons who  had  [had]  somewhat  to  do  in  the  world ;  who  had 
been  instrumental,  by  God,  to  fight  down  the  Enemies  of  God 
and  of  His  People  in  the  three  Nations.  [The  Soldiery  of  the 
Commonwealth.  Persons  of  "some  considerableness"  these  too  /] 
And  truly,  until  my  hands  were  bound,  and  I  [was]  limited 
(to  my  own  great  satisfaction,  as  many  can  bear  me  witness)  ; 
while  I  had  in  my  hands  so  great  a  power  and  arbitrariness, 

—  the  Soldiery  were  a  very  considerable  part  of  these  Nations, 
especially  all  Government  being  dissolved.     I  say,  when  all 
Government  was  thus  dissolved,  and  nothing  to  keep  things 
in  order  but  the  Sword  !     And  yet  they,  —  which  many  His- 
tories will  not  parallel,  —  even  they  were  desirous  that  things 
might  come  to  a  consistency ;  and  arbitrariness  be  taken  away ; 
and  the  Government  be  put  into  [the  hands  of]  a  person  lim- 
ited and  bounded,  as  in  the  Act  of  Settlement,  whom  they 
distrusted  the  least,  and  loved  not  the  worst.     [Hear  /]    There 
was  another  evidence  [of  consent,  implied  if  not  express]. 

"  I  would  not  forget  the  honorable  and  civil  entertainment, 
with  the  approbation  I  found  in  the  great  City  of  London ;  * 

—  which   the   City   knows  whether  I   directly   or   indirectly 
sought.     And  truly  I  do  not  think  it  folly  to  remember  this. 
For  it  was  very  great  and  high ;  and  very  public ;  and  [in- 
cluded] as  numerous  a  body  of  those  that  are  known  by  names 
and  titles,  —  the  several  Corporations  and  Societies  of  Citi- 
zens in  this  City,  —  as  hath  at  any  time  been  seen  in  England 
And  not  without  some  appearance  of  satisfaction  also.  —  And 
I  had  not  this  witness  only.     I  have  had  from  the  greatest 
County  in  England,  and  from  many  Cities  and  Boroughs  and 
Counties,  express  approbations.     [Express  approbations]  not 
of  men  gathered  here  and  there,  but  from  the  County  General 
Assizes ;  —  the  Grand  Jury,  in  name  of  the  Noblemen,  Gen- 

1  Means  "  Public  Letters  of  Adherence." 

•  Dinner,  with  all  manner  of  gala,  in  the  common  Royal  Style ;  8th  Febru- 
ary, 1653-4  (Whitlocke,  2d  edition,  p.  581), 


1654.  SPEECH  III.  435 

tlemen,  Yeomen  and  Inhabitants  of  that  County,  giving  very 
great  thanks  to  ine  for  undertaking  this  heavy  burden  at  such 
a  time ;  and  giving  very  great  approbation  and  encouragement 
to  me  to  go  through  with  it.1  These  are  plain ;  I  have  them 
to  show.  And  by  these,  in  some  measure,  it  will  appear  '  I  do 
not  bear  witness  to  myself.' 

"This  is  not  all.  The  Judges,  —  truly  I  had  almost  for- 
gotten it  [Another  little  window  into  his  IHyhness  /],  —  the 
Judges,  thinking  that  there  had  now  come  a  dissolution  to  all 
Government,  met  and  consulted  ;  and  did  declare  one  to  another, 
That  they  could  not  administer  justice  to  the  satisfaction  of 
their  consciences,  until  they  had  received  Commissions  from 
me.  And  they  did  receive  Commissions  from  me;  and  by 
virtue  of  those  Commissions  they  have  acted:  —  and  all  Jus- 
tices of  the  Peace  that  have  acted  have  acted  by  virtue  of 
like  Com  missions.  Which  was  a  little  more  than  an  implied 
approbation  !  And  I  believe  all  the  Justice  administered  in 
the  Nation  hath  been  by  this  authority.  Which  also  I  lay 
before  you ;  desiring  you  to  think,  Whether  all  those  persons 
now  mentioned  must  not  come  to  you  for  an  Act  of  Oblivion 
and  General  1 'union,  for  having  acted  under  and  testified  to 
this  Government,  if  it  be  disowned  by  you !  — 

"And  1  have  two  or  three  witnesses  more, — equivalent 
to  all  these  I  have  yet  mentioned,  if  I  be  not  mistaken,  and 
givatly  mistaken  !  If  I  should  say,  All  you  that  are  here  are 
my  witnesses,  —  I  should  say  no  untruth  !  I  know  that  you 
.in'  the  same  persons  here  that  you  were  in  your  countries* — 
Hut  I  will  reserve  this  for  a  little;  this  will  be  the  issue 
\  the  general  outcome  and  climax]  of  my  Proof.  [Another 
lit  tit"  ictiuloiv  :  —  al  must  a.  half-soliloquy  ;  you  see  t/te  Speech 
iji-ttiiKj  ri'niij  in  Uie  interior  of  his  Highness.']  I  say  1  have 
two  or  three  witnesses,  of  still  more  weight  than  all  I  have 

1  "  Humble  Petition  and  Representation  of  the  Grand  Jury  at  the  Assizes 
held  at  York,  Man  h,  1653  (1654),  in  name  of"&c.  &«.-..  N.-ws  papers;  Per- 
fect Diurnal,  3d-10lh  April,  1G54  (King's  Pamphlets,  large  4tu.no.  82,  §  12), 
and  others.  —  Similar  recognition  "  by  the  Mayor  "&*••  &c.  "  of  tin-  an*  lent 
City  of  York"  (ll.i.l  ). 

3  Where  you  had  to  acknowledge  Die  before  election,  lit-  moons,  but  doe« 
not  >et  »eo  good  to  nay. 


436  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  IS  Sept. 

counted  and  reckoned  yet.  All  the  People  in  England  are 
my  witnesses ;  and  many  in  Ireland  and  Scotland !  All  the 
Sheriffs  in  England  are  my  witnesses  :  and  all  that  have  come 
in  upon  a  Process  issued  out  by  Sheriffs  are  my  witnesses. 
[ My  honorable  friends,  how  did  YOU  come  in  ?]  Yea,  the  Re- 
turns of  the  Elections  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Crown,  —  not  a 
thing  to  be  blown  away  by  a  breath,  —  the  Return  on  behalf 
of  the  Inhabitants  in  the  Counties,  Cities  and  Boroughs,  all 
are  my  witnesses  of  approbation  to  the  Condition  and  Place 
I  stand  in. 

"And  I  shall  now  make  you  my  last  witnesses  !  \Here 
comes  it,  "the  issue  of  my  Proof!""]  And  shall  ask  you, 
Whether  you  came  not  hither  by  my  Writs  directed  to  the 
several  Sheriffs  [of  Counties],  and  through  the  Sheriffs  to  the 
other  Officers  of  Cities  and  Liberties  ?  To  which  [Writs] 
the  People  gave  obedience ;  having  also  had  the  Act  of  Gov- 
ernment communicated  to  them,  —  to  which  end  great  numbers 
of  copies  [thereof]  were  sent  down  to  be  communicated  to 
them.  And  the  Government 1  [was]  also  required  to  be  dis- 
tinctly read  unto  the  People  at  the  place  of  election,  to  avoid 
surprises  [or  misleadings  of  them  through  their  ignorance]  ; 

—  where  also  they  signed  the  Indenture,2  with  proviso,  '  That 
the  Persons  so  chosen  should  not  have  power  to  alter  the 
Government  as  now  settled  in  one  Single  Person  and  a  Par- 
liament ! '     \My  honorable  friends  —  ?]  —  And   thus   I   have 
made  good  my  second  Assertion,  '  That  I  bear  not  witness  to 
myself ; '  but  that  the  good  People  of  England  and  you  all  are 
my  witnesses. 

"  Yea,  surely !  — And  [now]  this  being  so,  —  though  I  told 
you  in  my  last  Speech  '  that  you  were  a  Free  Parliament,'  yet 
1  thought  it  was  understood  withal  that  I  was  the  Protector, 
and  the  Authority  that  called  you  !  That  I  was  in  possession 
of  the  Government  by  a  good  right  from  God  and  men !  And 
I  believe  if  the  learnedest  men  in  this  Nation  were  called  to 
show  a  precedent,  equally  clear,  of  a  Government  so  many 
ways  approved  of,  they  would  not  in  all  their  search  find  it. 

—  I  did  not  in  my  other  Speech  take  upon  me  to  justify  the 

1  Act  or  Instrument  of  Government.  2  Writ  of  Return. 


16M.  SPEECH  III.  437 

[Act  of]  Government  in  every  particular;  and  I  told  you  the 
reason,  which  was  plain  :  The  Act  of  Government  was  public, 
and  had  long  been  published,  [in  order]  that  it  might  be  under 
the  niQst  serious  inspection  of  all  that  pleased  to  peruse  it. 


"  This  is  what  I  had  to  say  at  present  for  approving  l  myself 
to  God  and  my  conscience  in  my  actions  throughout  this  under- 
taking ;  and  for  giving  cause  of  approving  myself  to  every  one 
of  your  consciences  in  the  sight  of  God.  —  And  if  the  fact  be 
so,  why  should  we  sport  with  it  ?  With  a  business  so  serious  ! 
May  not  this  character,  this  stamp  [Stamp  put  upon  a  man  by 
the  Most  Hi(jh  and  His  providences],  bear  equal  poise  with  any 
Hereditary  Interest  that  could  furnish,  or  hath  furnished,  in 
the  Common  Law  or  elsewhere,  matter  of  dispute  and  trial  of 
learning  ?  In  the  like  of  which  many  have  exercised  more 
wit,  and  spilt  more  blood,  than  I  hope  ever  to  live  to  see  or 
hear  of  again  in  this  Nation  !  [Red  and  White  Roses,  for  ex- 
ample ;  Henry  of  Bolingbroke,  and  the  last  "Protector."]  —  I 
say,  I  do  not  know  why  I  may  not  balance  this  Providence,  in 
the  sight  of  God,  with  any  Hereditary  Interest  [Nor  do  //]; 
as  a  thing  less  subject  to  those  cracks  and  flaws  which  that 
[other]  is  commonly  incident  unto  ;  the  disputing  of  which 
has  cost  more  blood  in  former  times  in  this  Nation  than  we 
have  leisure  to  speak  of  now  !  — 

"  Now  if  this  be  thus,  and  I  am  deriving  a  title  from  God 
and  men  upon  such  accounts  as  these  are  —  Although  some 
men  be  froward,  yet  that  your  judgments  who  are  Persons 
sent  from  all  parts  of  the  Nation  under  the  notion  of  appi-m-- 
ing  this  Government  —  [His  Highness,  bursting  with  meanimj, 
completes  neither  of  these  sentences  ;  but  pours  himself,  like  an 
irregular  torrent,  through  other  orifices  and  openings.']  —  For 
you  to  disown  or  not  to  own  it  :  for  you  to  act  with  Parlia- 
mentary Authority  especially  in  the  disowning  of  it  ;  contrary 
to  the  very  fundamental  things,  yea  against  the  very  root 
itself  of  this  Establishment  :  to  sit,  and  not  own  the  Authority 
by  which  you  sit,  —  is  that  which  I  believe  astonisheth  more 

1  "  By  what  I  have  .said,  I  have  approved,"  &c.  iu  orig.  :  but  rhetorical 
charity  required  ilic 


438  PART  Vlll.    FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  12  8ept 

men  than  myself;  and  doth  as  dangerously  disappoint  and 
discompose  the  Nation  as  anything  [that]  could  have  been 
invented  by  the  greatest  enemy  to  our  peace  and  welfare,  or 
[that]  could  well  have  happened.  [Sorrow,  anger  and  re- 
proach on  his  Highnesses  countenance  ;  the  voice  risen  somewhat 
into  ALT,  and  rolling  with  a  kind  of  rough  music  in  the  tones 
of  it  /] 

"  It  is  true,  as  there  are  some  things  in  the  Establishment 
which  are  Fundamental,  so  there  are  others  which  are  riot,  but 
are  Circumstantial.  Of  these  no  question  but  I  shall  easily 
agree  to  vary,  to  leave  out,  [according]  as  I  shall  be  convinced 
by  reason.  But  some  things  are  Fundamentals  !  About  which 
I  shall  deal  plainly  with  you :  These  may  not  be  parted  with ; 
but  will,  I  trust,  be  delivered  over  to  Posterity,  as  the  fruits 
of  our  blood  and  travail.  The  Government  by  a  Single  Person 
and  a  Parliament  is  a  Fundamental !  It  is  the  esse,  it  is  con- 
stitutive. And  as  for  the  Person,  —  though  I  may  seein  to 
plead  for  myself,  yet  I  do  not :  no,  nor  can  any  reasonable 
man  say  it.  If  the  things  throughout  this  Speech  be  true,  I 
plead  for  this  Nation,  and  for  all  honest  men  therein  who  have 
borne  their  testimony  as  aforesaid,  and  not  for  myself  !  And 
if  things  should  do  otherwise  than  well  (which  I  would  not 
fear),  and  the  Common  Enemy  and  discontented  persons  take 
advantage  of  these  distractions,  the  issue  will  be  put  up  before 
God :  let  Him  own  it,  or  let  Him  disown  it,  as  He  pleases  ! 

"  In  every  Government  there  must  be  Somewhat  Fundamen- 
tal [  Will  speak  now  of  Fundamentals],  Somewhat  like  a  Magna 
Charta,  which  should  be  standing,  be  unalterable.  Where 
there  is  a  stipulation  on  one  side,  and  that  fully  accepted,  as 
appears  by  what  hath  been  said,  —  surely  a  return *  ought  to 
be ;  else  what  does  that  stipulation  signify  ?  If  I  have,  upon 
the  terms  aforesaid,  undertaken  this  great  Trust,  and  exercised 
it;  and  by  it  called  you,  —  surely  it  ought  [by  you]  to  be 
owned.  —  That  Parliaments  should  not  make  themselves  per- 
petual is  a  Fundamental.  [  Tea  ;  all  know  it :  taught  by  the 
example  of  the  Rump  /]  Of  what  assurance  is  a  Law  to  pre- 
vent so  great  an  evil,  if  it  lie  in  the  same  Legislature  to  unl&w 

1  reciprocal  engagement. 


1054.  SPEECH  III.  439 

it  again  ?  [Must  have  a  Single  Person  to  check  your  Parlia- 
in<:itt.~\  Is  such  a  Law  like  to  be  lasting  ?  It  will  be  a  rope 
of  sand  j  it  will  give  no  security  j  for  the  same  men  may  un- 
build what  they  have  built. 

"  [Again,]  is  not  Liberty  of  Conscience  in  Religion  a  Fun- 
•  liiiuental  ?  So  long  as  there  is  Liberty  of  Conscience  for  the 
Stijireme  Magistrate  to  exercise  his  conscience  in  erecting 
\vliat  Form  of  Church-Government  he  is  satisfied  he  should 
pel  up  ["HE  is  to  decide  on  the  Form  of  Churrh-dovemment, 
!lu  n  '.'"  The  Moderns,  especially  the  Voluntary  /'n'/u-ijtle,  stare], 
—  why  should  he  not  give  the  like  liberty  to  others  ?  Liberty 
of  Conscience  is  a  natural  right ;  and  he  that  would  have  it, 
ought  to  give  it ;  having  [himself]  liberty  to  settle  what  he 
lilu-s  for  the  Public.  ["  Where,  then,  are  the  limits  of  Dissent  ?  " 
An  nbstruse  question,  my  Voluntary  friends  ;  vsj>ed<dly  with  a 
(ins/tnl  really  BKLIEVEU!]  Indeed  that  hath  been  one  of  the 
vanities  of  our  Contest.  Every  Sect  saith :  'Oh,  give  me  lib- 
erty ! '  But  give  it  him,  and  to  his  power  he  will  not  yield  it 
to  anybody  else.  Where  is  our  ingenuousness  ?  [Liberty  of 
Conscience]  — truly  that  is  a  thing  ought  to  be  very  recip- 
rocal !  The  Magistrate  hath  his  supremacy ;  he  may  settle 
Religion  [that  is,  Church-Government]  according  to  his  con- 
science. And  [as  for  the  People]  —  I  may  say  it  to  you,  I  can 

i  t :  All  the  money  of  this  Nation  would  not  have  tempted 
men  to  fight  upon  such  an  account  as  they  have  here  been  en- 

•d  in,  if  they  had  not  had  hopes  of  Liberty  [of  Conscience] 
better  than  Episcopacy  granted  them,  or  than  would  have  been 
afforded  by  a  Scots  Presbytery,  —  or  an  English  either,  if  it 
had  made  such  steps,  and  been  as  sharp  and  rigid,  as  it  threat- 
ened \\lieii  first  set  up!1  This,  I  say,  is  a  Fundamental.  It 
ought  to  be  so.  It  is  for  us  and  the  generations  to  come. 
And  if  there  be  an  absoluteness  in  the  Imposer  [As  you  seem 
to  argue'},  without  fitting  allowances  and  exceptions  from  the 
rule  ["  Fitting : "  that,  is  a  wide  word/'], — we  shall  have  the 

1  Liberty  of  Conscience  must  not  bo  refused  to  a  People  who  have  fought 
ami  couqnered  "  ujx>n  Midi  an  ;irr<>iint  "  :is  ours  was!  For  more  of  <  lliu-r'n 
notions  conriTiiiiiK  the  M:i  •••VIT  in  Chun-li  matters,  uee  hi*  Letter 

to  the  Scotch  Clergy,  J*tt« -r  ( 'XLVIII.,  ante*,  p   liti. 


440  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept 

People  driven  into  wildernesses.  As  they  were,  when  those 
poor  and  afflicted  people,  who  forsook  their  estates  and  inher- 
itances here,  where  they  lived  plentifully  and  comfortably, 
were  necessitated,  for  enjoyment  of  their  Liberty,  to  go  into 
a  waste-howling  wilderness  in  New  England  ;  —  where  they 
have,  for  Liberty's  sake,  stript  themselves  of  all  their  comfort ; 
embracing  rather  loss  of  friends  and  want  than  be  so  ensnared 
and  in  bondage.  [  Tea  /] 

"  Another  [Fundamental]  which  I  had  forgotten  is  the  Militia. 
That  is  judged  a  Fundamental  if  anything  be  so.  That  it  should 
be  well  and  equally  placed  is  very  necessary.  For,  put  the  ab- 
solute power  of  the  Militia  into  [the  hands  of]  one  [Person],  — 
without  a  check,  what  doth  it  serve  ?  [On  the  other  hand,] 
I  pray  you,  what  check  is  there  upon  your  Perpetual  Parlia- 
ments, if  the  Government  be  wholly  stript  of  this  of  the 
Militia  ?  [This  as  we  now  have  it]  is  *  equally  placed,  and 
men's  desires  were  to  have  it  so;  —  namely,  in  one  Person, 
and  in  the  Parliament  [along  with  him],  while  the  Parliament 
sits.  What  signified  a  provision  against  perpetuating  of  Par- 
liaments, if  this  power  of  the  Militia  be  solely  in  them?  Think, 
Whether  without  some  check,  the  Parliament  have  it  not  in 
their  power  to  alter  the  Frame  of  Government  altogether,  — 
into  Aristocracy,  Democracy,  into  Anarchy,  into  anything,  if 
this  [of  the  Militia]  be  fully  in  them !  Yea,  into  all  confu- 
sion ;  and  that  without  remedy  !  If  this  one  thing  be  placed 
in  one  [party],  that  one,  be  it  Parliament,  be  it  Supreme 
Governor,  hath  power  to  make  what  he  pleases  of  all  the  rest. 
["ffum-m-m  !  "  from  the  old  Parliament.'] — Therefore  if  you 
would  have  a  balance  at  all ;  if  you  agree  that  some  Funda- 
mentals must  stand,  as  worthy  to  be  delivered  over  to  Pos- 
terity, —  truly  I  think  it  is  not  unreasonably  urged  that  [this 
power  of]  the  Militia  should  be  disposed  as  we  have  it  in  the 
Act  of  Government ;  —  should  be  placed  so  equally  that  no  one 
party  neither  in  Parliament  nor  out  of  Parliament  have  the 
power  of  ordering  it.  [Well]  —  the  Council  are  the  Trustees 
of  the  Commonwealth,  in  all  intervals  of  Parliament ;  and  have 
as  absolute  a  negative  upon  the  Supreme  Officer  in  the  said 

1  "  It  is  "  in  orig. 


1854.  SPEECH  III  441 

intervals,  as  the  Parliament  hath  while  it  is  sitting.  [<Sb  that 
we  are  safe  —  or  sajish,  yum-  Highness  ?  No  one  party  has  poiver 
of  the  Militia  at  any  time.]  The  power  of  the  Militia  cannot 
be  made  use  of ;  not  a  man  can  be  raised,  nor  a  penny  charged 
upon  the  People,  nothing  can  be  done,  without  consent  of  Par 
liament ;  and  in  the  intervals  of  Parliament,  without  consent 
of  the  Council.  Give  me  leave  to  say.  There  is  very  little 
power,  none  but  what  is  co-ordinate,  [placed]  in  the  Supreme 
Officer ;  and  yet  enough  in  him  in  that  particular,  lie  is 
bound  in  strictness  by  the  Parliament,  and  out  of  Parliament 
by  the  Council,  who  do  as  absolutely  bind  him  as  the  Parlia- 
ment while  sitting  doth.  — 

"  As  for  that  of  Money  —  I  told  you  some  things  were  Cir- 
cumstantials  [  Comes  to  the  Circumstantials]  ;  —  as,  for  exam- 
ple, this  is:  That  we  should  have  £200,000  to  defray  Civil 
Offices,  —  to  pay  the  Judges  and  other  Officers  ;  to  defray  the 
charges  of  the  Council  in  sending  their  embassies,  in  keeping 
intelligence,  and  doing  what  is  necessary  ;  and  to  support  the 
Governor  in  Chief :  *  All  this  is,  by  the  Instrument,  supposed 
and  intended.  But  it  is  not  of  the  esse  so  much ;  nor  [is  it] 
limited  [so  strictly]  as  [even]  the  number  of  Soldiers  is,  — 
20,000  Foot  and  10,000  Horse.  [Guard  even  afar  off  against 
any  sinking  below  the  minimum  in  that  /]  Yet  if  the  spirits  of 
men  were  composed,  6,000  Horse  and  10,000  Foot  might  serve. 
These  things  are  [Circumstantial],  are  between  the  Chief 
Officer  and  the  Parliament,  to  be  moderated  [regulated]  as 
occasion  shall  offer. 

"  Of  this  sort  there  are  many  Circumstantial  things,  which 
an-  not  like  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  l'»  vsians.  Hut  the 
things  which  shall  be  necessary  to  deliver  over  to  Posterity, 
these  should  be  unalterable.  Else  every  succeeding  Parliament 
will  be  disputing  to  alter  the  Government;  ami  \vu  shall  be  as 
often  brought  into  confusion  as  we  have  Parliaments,  and  so 
make  our  remedy  our  disease.  The  Lord's  Providence,  evil 
jelTrcts]  appearing,  and  good  appearing,  and  better  judgment 
[in  ourselves],  will  give  occasion  for  ordering  of  things  to  the 
1  Instrument  of  Government,  Art.  27  (Somert  Tracts,  vi.  294). 


4-12  PART  V11I.     FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept. 

best  interest  of  the  People.  Those  [Circumstantial]  things  are 
the  matter  of  consideration  between  you  and  me. 

"  I  have  indeed  almost  tired  myself.  What  I  have  farther 
to  say  is  this  [Does  not  yet  say  il~\  —  I  would  it  had  not  been 
needful  for  me  to  call  you  hither  to  expostulate  these  things 
with  you,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  this  !  But  Necessity  hath 
no  law.  Feigned  necessities,  imaginary  necessities,  —  [cer- 
tainly these]  are  the  greatest  cozenage  that  men  can  put  upon 
the  Providence  of  God,  and  make  pretences  to  break  known 
rules  by.  [Yes ;]  but  it  is  as  legal  [contrary  to  God's  free 
Grace],  as  carnal,  and  as  stupid  [A  tone  of  anger],  to  think  that 
there  are  no  Necessities  which  are  manifest  [and  real],  because 
necessities  may  be  abused  or  feigned !  And  truly  that  were 
my  case  1  if  I  should  so  think  [here]  ;  and  I  hope  none  of  you 
so  think.  I  have  to  say  [Says  it  now']  :  The  wilful  throwing 
away  of  this  Government,  such  as  it  is,  so  owned  by  God,  so 
approved  by  men,  so  witnessed  to  (in  the  Fundamentals  of  it) 
as  was  mentioned  above  [were  a  thing  which],  — and  in  refer- 
ence [not  to  my  good,  but]  to  the  good  of  these  Nations  and 
of  Posterity,  —  I  can  sooner  be  willing  to  be  rolled  into  my 
grave  and  buried  with  infamy,  than  I  can  give  my  consent 
unto  !  [Never  !  — -  Do  you  catch  the  tone  of  that  voice,  reverber- 
ating like  thunder  from,  the  roof  of  the  Painted  Chamber,  over 
the  heads  of  Bradshaw,  Haselrig,  Scott  and  Company ;  the  as- 
pect of  that  face,  with  its  lion-mouth  and  mournful  eyes,  — 
kindled  now  and  radiant  all  of  it,  with  sorrow,  with  rebuke  and 
wrathful  defiance  ?  —  Bradshaw  and  Company  look  on  it  un- 
llanched  ;  but  will  be  careful  not  to  provoke  such  a  one.  There 
lie  penalties  in  him  /] 

"  You  have  been  called  hither  to  save  a  Nation,  —  Nations. 
You  had  the  best  People,  indeed,  of  the  Christian  world  put 
into  your  trust,  when  you  came  hither.  You  had  the  affairs 
of  these  Nations  delivered  over  to  you  in  peace  and  quiet ; 
you  were,  and  we  all  are,  put  into  an  undisturbed  possession, 
nobody  making  title  to  us.  Through  the  blessing  of  God,  our 
enemies  were  hopeless  and  scattered.  We  had  peace  at  home ; 
peace  with  almost  all  our  Neighbors  round  about,  — apt  [other- 

1  To  be  legal,  itud  carnal  mid  stupid. 


16M.  SPEECH  III-  443 

wise]  to  take  advantages  where  God  did  administer  them. 
[These  thiiigs  we  had,  few  days  ago,  when  you  came  hither. 
And  now  ?]  To  have  our  peace  and  interest,  whereof  those 
were  our  hopes  the  other  day,  thus  shaken,  and  put  under  such 
a  confusion;  and  ourselves  [Chiefly  "/"]  rendered  hereby 
almost  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  those  strangers  [Dutch  Am- 
bassadors and  the  llke^]  who  are  amongst  us  to  negotiate  their 
masters'  affairs  !  To  give  them  opportunity  to  see  our  naked 
ness  as  they  do:  'A  people  that  have  been  unhinged  this 
twelve-years  day,1  and  are  unhinged  still,'  —  as  if  scattering, 
division  and  confusion  came  upon  us  like  things  we  desired  : 
[these']  which  are  the  greatest  plagues  that  God  ordinarily  lays 
upon  Nations  for  sin ! 

"  I  would  be  loath  to  say  these  are  matters  of  our  desire.9 
But  if  not,  then  why  not  matters  of  our  care,  —  as  wisely  as 
by  our  utmost  endeavors  we  might,  to  avoid  them  !  Nay  if,  by 
such  actings  as  these  [now]  are,  these  poor  Nations  shall  be 
thrown  into  heaps  and  confusion,  through  blood,  and  ruin,  and 
trouble* —  And  upon  the  saddest  account  that  ever  was. 
if  breaking  [and  confusion]  should  come  upon  us;  —  all  be 
cause  we  would  not  settle  when  we  could,  when  God  put  it 
into  our  hands !  Your  affairs  now  almost  settled  everywhere : 
:u id  to  have  all  recoil  upon  us ;  and  ourselves  [to  be]  shaken 
in  our  affections,  loosened  from  all  known  and  public  interests : 
—  as  I  said  before,  who  shall  answer  for  these  things  to 
God  ? 

"  Who  can  answer  for  these  things  to  God  or  to  men  ?  [To 
IIHMI] — to  the  People  who  sent  you  hither;  who  looked  for 
,hment  from  you  ;  who  looked  for  nothing  but  peace  and 
(juietness,  and  rest  and  settlement?  When  we  come  to  give 
an  account  to  them,  we  shall  have  it  to  say,  'Oh,  we  quarrelled 
for  tin-  J.il»-rhi  of  EiKjlnul ;  we  contested,  and  [went  to  con- 
fusion] for  tint!'  —  [Now,]  Wherein,  I  pray  you,  for  tin 
'  Liberty  of  England  '  ?  I  appeal  to  the  Lord,  that  the  desires 

1  An  old  phra.se;  "day  "  emphatic. 

2  I'ulitely  ohliqiif  for  "  your  desire." 

*  "what  shall  w«j  then  nay  '  "  hi*  Highness  means,  but  does  not  complete 
the  lenience,  —  as  ia  noim-timr*  his  h:il>it. 


444  PART  VITT.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT  12  Sept. 

and  endeavors  we  have  had  —  Nay  the  things  will  speak  for 
themselves.  The  '  Liberty  of  England,'  the  Liberty  of  the 
People  j  the  avoiding  of  tyrannous  impositions  either  upon 
men  as  men,  or  Christians  as  Christians  ;  —  is  made  so  safe  by 
this  Act  of  Settlement,  that  it  will  speak  for  itself.  And  when 
it  shall  appear  to  the  world  what  [really]  hath  been  said  and 
done  by  all  of  us,  and  what  our  real  transactions  were —  For 
God  can  discover  ;  no  Privilege  [  What !  Not  even  Privilege  of 
Parliament  P]  will  hinder  the  Lord  from  discovering  !  No  Privi- 
lege, or  condition  of  man  can  hide  from  the  Lord ;  He  can  and 
will  make  all  manifest,  if  He  see  it  for  His  glory  ! 1  —  And  when 
these  [things,  as  I  say]  shall  be  manifested  ;  and  the  People  will 
come  and  ask,  '  Gentlemen,  what  condition  is  this  we  are  in  ? 
We  hoped  for  light ;  and  behold  darkness,  obscure  darkness  ! 
We  hoped  for  rest  after  ten-years  Civil  War,  but  are  plunged 
into  deep  confusion  again  ! '  —  Ay ;  we  know  these  conse- 
quences will  come  upon  us,  if  God  Almighty  shall  not  find  out 
some  way  to  prevent  them. 

"  I  had  a  thought  within  myself,  That  it  would  not  have 
been  dishonest  nor  dishonorable,  nor  against  true  Liberty,  no 
not  [the  Liberty]  of  Parliaments,  [if,]  when  a  Parliament  was 
so  chosen  [as  you  have  been],  in  pursuance  of  this  Instrument; 
of  Government,  and  in  conformity  to  it,  and  with  such  an 
approbation  and  consent  to  it,  —  some  Owning  of  your  Call  and 
of  the  Authority  which  brought  you  hither,  had  been  required 
before  your  entrance  into  the  House.  [Deep  silence  in  the 
audience.']  This  was  declined,  and  hath  not  been  done,  because 
I  am  persuaded  scarce  any  man  could  doubt  you  came  with 
contrary  minds.  And  I  have  reason  to  believe  the  people  that 
sent  you  least  of  all  doubted  thereof.  And  therefore  I  must 
deal  plainly  with  you  :  What  I  forbore  upon  a  just  confidence 
at  first,  you  necessitate  me  unto  now !  [Paleness  on  some 
faces.~\  Seeing  the  Authority  which  called  you  is  so  little 
valued,  and  so  much  slighted, — till  some  such  Assurance  be 
given  and  made  known,  that  the  Fundamental  Interest  shall 
be  settled  and  approved  according  to  the  proviso  in  the  [Writ 

1  "Privilege"  of  Parliament,  in  those  days,  strenuously  forbids  reporting; 
but  it  will  not  serve  iu  the  case  referred  to  ! 


1054.  SPEECH    III.  445 

of]  Return,  and  such  a  consent  testified  as  will  make  it  appear 
that  the  same  is  accepted,  I  HAVK  CAUSED  A  STOP  TO  BE  PUT 

TO    YOUR     ENTRANCE     INTO     THE     PARLIAMENT     HOUSE.       [  You 

understand  that,  my  honorable  friends  ?] 

"  I  am  sorry,  I  am  sorry,  and  I  could  be  sorry  to  the  death, 
that  there  is  cause  for  this  !  But  there  is  cause  :  and  if  things 
be  not  satisfied  which  are  reasonably  demanded,  I,  for  my 
part,  will  do  that  which  becomes  me,  seeking  my  counsel  from 
God.  —  There  is  therefore  Somewhat  [A  bit  of  written  Parch- 
ment /]  to  be  offered  to  you  ;  which  I  hope  will  answer,  being 
understood  with  the  qualifications  I  have  told  you,  —  [namely, 
of]  reforming  as  to  Circumstantials,  and  agreeing  in  the  Sub- 
stance and  Fundamentals,  [that  is  to  say,]  in  the  Form  of 
Government  now  settled,  which  is  expressly  stipulated  in  your 
Indentures  'not  to  be  altered.'  The  making  of  your  minds 
known  in  that  by  giving  your  assent  and  subscription  to  it,  is 
the  means  that  will  let  you  in,  to  act  those  things  as  a  Parlia- 
ment which  are  for  the  good  of  the  People.  And  this  thing, 
[The  Parchment!  —  when  once  it  is]  shown  to  you  and 
signed  as  aforesaid,  doth  determine  the  controversy;  and 
may  give  a  happy  progress  and  issue  to  this  Parliament. 
[Honorable  gentlemen  look  in  one  another  's  faces,  —  find  general 


"The  place  where  you  may  come  thus  and  sign,  as  many 
as  God  shall  make  free  thereunto,  is  in  the  Lobby  without  the 
Parliament  Door.  [My  honorable  friends,  you  know  the  way, 
don't  you  ?]  — 

"  The  [Instrument  of]  Government  doth  declare  that  you 
have  a  legislative  power  without  a  negative  from  me.  As 
the  Instrument  doth  express  it,  you  may  make  any  Laws; 
and  if  I  give  not  my  consent,  within  twenty  days,  to  the  pass- 
ing of  your  Laws,  they  are  ij,so  fiu-to  Laws,  whether  I  consent 
or  no,  —  if  not  contrary  to  the  [Frame  of]  Government.  You 
have  an  absolute  Legislative  Power  in  all  things  that  can 
possibly  concern  the  good  and  interest  of  the  public  ;  and  I 
think  you  may  make  these  Nations  happy  by  this  Settlement. 
Ami  I.  fur  my  part,  shall  b«>  willing  to  !>«•  Uuuid  more  than  I 
urn,  in  anything  concerning  which  I  can  become  convinced 


446  PAKT  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept. 

that  it  may  be  for  the  good  of  the  People,  or  tend  to  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  Cause  and  Interest  so  long  contended  for."  1 

Go  your  ways,  my  honorable  friends,  and  sign,  so  many  of 
you  as  God  hath  made  free  thereunto !  The  place,  I  tell  you, 
is  in  the  Lobby  without  the  Parliament  Door.  The  "  Thing," 
as  you  will  find  there,  is  a  bit  of  Parchment  with  these  w.ords 
engrossed  on  it :  "  I  do  hereby  freely  promise,  and  engage  myself, 
to  be  true  and  faithful  to  the  Lord  Protector  and  the  Common- 
wealth of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland;  and  shall  not  (accord- 
ing to  the  tenor  of  the  Indenture  whereby  I  am  returned  to  serve 
in  this  present  Parliament}  propose,  or  give  my  consent,  to  alter 
the  Government  as  it  is  settled  in  a  Single  Person  and  a  Par- 
liament." 2  Sign  that,  or  go  home  again  to  your  countries. 

Let  honorable  gentlemen  therefore  consider  what  they  will 
do !  —  "  About  a  hundred  signed  directly,  within  an  hour." 
Guibon  Goddard  and  all  the  Norfolk  Members  (except  one,  who 
was  among  the  direct  hundred)  went  and  "had  dinner- to- 
gether," to  talk  the  matter  over  ;  —  mostly  thought  it  would 
be  better  to  sign ;  and  did  sign,  all  but  some  two.  The 
number  who  have  signed  this  first  day,  we  hear,  is  a  hundred 
and  twenty,  a  hundred  and  thirty,  nay  a  hundred  and  forty.8 
Blank  faces  of  honorable  gentlemen  begin  to  take  meaning 
again,  —  some  mild,  some  grim.  To-morrow  being  Fast-day, 
there  is  an  adjournment.  The  recusants  are  treated  "  with  all 
tenderness  ; "  most  of  them  come  in  by  degrees  :  "  Three  hun- 
dred before  the  month  ends." 

Deep  Republicans,  Bradshaw,  Haselrig,  Thomas  Scott  and 
the  like,  would  not  come  in ;  still  less  would  shallow  noisy 
ones,  as  Major  Wildman ;  —  went  home  to  their  countries 
again,  their  blank  faces  settling  into  permanent  grim.  My 
Lord  Protector  molested  no  man  for  his  recusancy  ;  did  indeed 
take  that  absence  as  a  comparative  favor  from  the  parties. 
Harrison  and  other  suspect  persons  are  a  little  looked  after : 
the  Parliament  resumes  its  function  as  if  little  had  happened. 

1  Old  Pamphlet,  brother  to  the  foregoing ;  reprinted  in  Parliamentary 
History,  xx.  349-3'>9. 

»  Whitlocke,  p.  587  »  Goddard,  Whitlocke,  Letter  in  Thnrloe. 


1654.  SPEECH   III.  447 

With  a  singular  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the  Public,  write 
our  correspondents,  Dutch  and  other.  The  Public,  which  I 
have  known  rebel  against  crowned  Kings  for  twitching  the 
tippet  of  a  Parliament,  permits  this  Lord  Protector  to  smite  it 
on  the  cheek,  and  say,  "  Have  a  care,  wilt  thou  ! "  Perhaps 
this  Lord  Protector  is  believed  to  mean  better  than  the  King 
did  ?  There  is  a  difference  in  the  objects  of  men,  as  the  Pub- 
lic understands; — a  difference  in  the  men  too  for  rebelling 
against !  At  any  rate,  here  is  singular  submission  everywhere ; 
;md  my  Lord  Protector  getting  ready  a  powerful  Sea-Armament, 
neither  his  Parliament  nor  any  other  creature  can  yet  guess 
for  what.1 

Goddard's  report  of  this  Parliament  is  distinct  enough  ;  brief, 
and  not  without  some  points  of  interest  ;  "  the  misfortune  is," 
says  one  Commentator,  "  he  does  not  give  us  names."  Alas,  a 
much  greater  misfortune  is,  the  Parliament  itself  is  hardly 
worth  naming  !  It  did  not  prove  a  successful  Parliament;  — 
it  held  on  by  mere  Constitution-building ;  and  effected,  so  to 
fipeak,  nothing.  Respectable  Pedant  persons ;  never  doubting 
but  the  Ancient  sacred  Sheepskins  would  serve  for  the  New 
Time,  which  also  has  its  sacredness ;  thinking,  full  surely, 
constitutional  logic  was  the  thing  England  now  needed  of 
them  !  Their  History  shall  remain  blank,  to  the  end  of  the 
world.  I  have  read  their  Debates,  and  counsel  no  other  man 
to  do  it.  Wholly  upon  the  "  Institution  of  Government," 
modelling,  new-modelling  of  that :  endless  anxious  spider-webs 
of  constitutional  logic;  vigilant  checks,  constitutional  jeal- 
s,  &c.  &c.  To  be  forgotten  by  all  creatures. 

They  had  a  Committee  of  Godly  Ministers  sitting  in  tin 
•J'-rusalem  Chamber ;  a  kind  of  miniature  Assembly  of  Divines ; 
intent  upon  "Scandalous  Ministers  and  Schoolmasters,"  upon 
i'-nde.r  consciences,  and  the  like  objects:  but  there  were  only 
ity  in  this  Assembly;  they  could  hardly  ever  get  fairly 
uiuler  way  at  all ;  —  and  have  left  in  English  History  no  trace 
that  I  could  see  of  their  existence,  except  a  very  re;i.Min;ilile 
Petition,  noted  in  the  Record,  That  the  Parliament  would  be 

1   Duuh   Aml«H8adora,  French,  *••.  in  Thnrloe,  ii.  G06.6I3,  638  (15th.  18th 


448  PART  VIII.    FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  12  Sept. 

pleased  to  advance  them  a  little  money  towards  the  purchase 
of  fire  and  caudle,  —  in  these  cold  dark  months.  The  Parlia- 
ment, I  hope,  allowed  them  coals  and  a  few  tallow-lights  ;  but 
neither  they  nor  it  could  accomplish  anything  towards  the 
Settling  of  a  Godly  Ministry  in  England :  my  Lord  Protector 
and  his  Commissions  will  have  to  settle  that  too ;  an  object 
dear  to  all  good  men.  This  Parliament  spent  its  time  in  con- 
stitutional jangling,  in  vigilant  contrivance  of  balances,  checks, 
and  that  species  of  entities.  With  difficulty  could,  at  rare 
intervals,  a  hasty  stingy  vote,  not  for  the  indispensable  Sup- 
plies, but  for  some  promise  of  them,  be  wrung  from  it.  An 
unprofitable  Parliament. 

For  the  rest,  they  had  Biddle  the  Socinian  before  them ;  a 
poor  Gloucester  Schoolmaster  once,  now  a  very  conspicuous 
Heresiarch,  apparently  of  mild  but  entirely  obstinate  manners, 
—  poor  devil :  him  they  put  into  the  Gatehouse  ;  him  and 
various  others  of  that  kidney.  Especially  "  Theauro  John, 
who  laid  about  him  with  a  drawn  sword  at  the  door  of  the 
Parliament  House  one  day,"  1  —  a  man  clearly  needing  to  be 
confined.  "  Theauro  John  :  "  his  name  had  originally  been 
John  Davy,  if  I  recollect ;  but  the  Spirit,  in  some  preternatural 
hour,  revealed  to  him  that  it  ought  to  be  as  above.  Poor 
Davy  :  his  labors,  life-adventures,  financial  arrangements,  pain- 
ful biography  in  general,  are  all  unknown  to  us  ;  till,  on  this 
"  Saturday,  30th  December,  1G54,"  he  very  clearly  "  knocks  loud 
at  the  door  of  the  Parliament  House,"  as  much  as  to  say,  "  What 
is  this  you  are  upon  ?  "  and  "  lays  about  him  with  a  drawn 
sword ; "  —  after  which  all  again  becomes  unknown.  Seem- 
ingly a  kind  of  Quaker.  Does  the  reader  know  James  Nayler, 
and  the  devout  women  worshipping  him  ?  George  Fox,  in  his 
suit  of  leather,  independent  of  mankind,  looks  down  into  the 
soft  Vale  of  Belvoir,  native  "  Vale  of  Bever : "  Do  not  the 
whispering  winds  and  green  fields,  do  not  the  still  smoke- 
pillars  from  these  poor  cottages  under  the  eternal  firmaments, 
say  in  one's  heart,  "  George,  canst  thou  do  nothing  for  us  ? 
George,  wilt  thou  not  help  us  from  the  wrath  to  come  ? " 
George  finds  in  the  Vale  of  Bever  "  a  very  tender  people." 

1  Whitlocke,  p.  592.     See  Goddard  (in  Burton,  i.  Introd.  cxxvi.). 


1664.  SPEECH  TIT.  449 

In  fact,  most  singular  Quakerisms,  frightful  Socinianisms,  and 
other  portents,  are  springing  up  rife  in  England. 

Oliver  objected,  now  and  always,  to  any  very  harsh  punish- 
ment of  Biddle  and  Company,  much  as  he  abhorred  their  doc- 
trines. Why  burn,  or  brand,  or  otherwise  torment  them,  poor 
souls  ?  They,  wandering  as  we  all  do  seeking  for  a  door  of 
hope  into  the  Eternities,  have,  being  tempted  of  the  Devil  as 
we  all  likewise  are,  missed  the  door  of  hope ;  and  gone  tum- 
bling into  dangerous  gulfs,  —  dangerous,  but  not  yet  beyond 
the  mercy  of  God.  Do  not  burn  them.  They  meant,  some  of 
them,  well ;  bear,  visibly  to  me,  the  scars  of  stern  true  battle 
against  the  Enemy  of  Man.  Do  not  burn  them  ;  —  lock  them 
up,  that  they  may  not  mislead  others.  On  frugal  wholesome 
diet  in  Pendennis  Castle,  or  Elizabeth  Castle  in  Jersey,  or 
here  in  the  Clink  Prison  at  London,  they  will  not  cost  you 
much,  and  may  arrive  at  some  composure.  Branding  and 
burning  is  an  ugly  business;  —  as  little  of  that  as  you  can. 

Friday,  29th  September,  1654.  His  Highness,  say  the  old 
Lumber-Books,  went  into  Hyde  Park ;  made  a  small  picnic 
dinner  under  the  trees,  with  Secretary  Thurloe,  attended  by  a 
few  servants  ;  —  was,  in  fact,  making  a  small  pleasure  excur- 
sion, having  in  mind  to  try  a  fine  new  team  of  horses,  whi.-h 
the  Earl  or  Duke  of  Oldenburg  had  lately  sent  him.  Din  un- 
done, his  Highness  himself  determined  to  drive,  —  two  in 
hand  I  think,  with  a  postilion  driving  other  two.  The  horses, 
beautiful  animals,  tasting  of  the  whip,  became  unruly;  gal- 
loped, would  not  be  checked,  but  took  to  plunging ;  plunged 
the  postilion  down;  plunged  or  shook  his  Highness  down, 
"dragging  him  by  the  foot  for  some  time,"  so  that  "a  pistol 
went  off  in  his  pocket,"  to  the  amazement  of  men.  Where- 
upon ?  Whereupon  —  his  Highness  got  up  again,  little  the 
worse ;  was  let  blood ;  and  went  alxmt  his  affairs  much  as 
usual  I1  Small  anecdote,  that  figures,  larger  than  life,  in  all 
the  Books  and  Biographies.  I  have  known  men  thrown  from 
their  horses  on  occasion,  and  less  noise  made  aliout  it,  my 
erudite  friend!  But  the  essential  point  was,  Jus  Highness 
wore  a  pistol.  —  Yes,  his  Highnnss  is  prepared  to  defend  him- 

»  Tliurluo,  i.  fi.ri2-CM  ;  Ludluw,  ii.  508. 
VOL.  XTIII.  SO 


4.r)0  PART  VIII.    FIRST  PARLIAMENT.         Sept.  1654. 

self;  has  men,  and  has  also  truculent-flunkies,  ami  devils  and 
deviVs-servants  of  various  kinds,  to  defend  himself  against ;  — 
and  wears  pistols,  and  what  other  furniture  outward  and  in- 
ward may  be  necessary  for  the  object.  Such  of  you  as  have 
an  eye  that  way  can  take  notice  of  it !  — 

Thursday,  16th  November,  1654.  On  the  other  hand,  what  a 
glimpse  into  the  interior  domesticities  of  the  Protector  House- 
hold have  we  in  the  following  brief  Note  !  Amid  the  darkness 
and  buzzard  dimness,  one  light-beam,  clear,  radiant,  mournfully 
beautiful,  like  the  gleam  of  a  sudden  star,  disclosing  for  a 
moment  many  things  to  us  !  On  Friday,  Secretary  Thurloe 
writes  incidentally  :  "  My  Lord  Protector's  Mother,  of  ninety- 
four  years  old,  died  last  night.  A  little  before  her  death  she 
gave  my  Lord  her  blessing,  in  these  words  :  '  The  Lord  cause 
His  face  to  shine  upon  you ;  and  comfort  you  in  all  your  ad- 
versities ;  and  enable  you  to  do  great  things  for  the  glory  of 
your  Most  High  God,  and  to  be  a  relief  unto  His  People.  My 
dear  Son,  I  leave  my  heart  with  thee.  A  good  night!'"1  — 
and  therewith  sank  into  her  long  sleep.  Even  so.  Words  of 
ours  are  but  idle.  Thou  brave  one,  Mother  of  a  Hero,  fare- 
well !  —  Ninety-four  years  old  :  the  royalties  of  Whitehall, 
says  Ludlow  very  credibly,  were  of  small  moment  to  her  :  "  at 
the  sound  of  a  musket  she  would  often  be  afraid  her  Son  was 
shot ;  and  could  not  be  satisfied  unless  she  saw  him  once  a 
day  at  least."  2  She,  old,  weak,  wearied  one,  she  cannot  help 
him  with  his  refractory  Pedant  Parliaments,  with  his  Anabap- 
tist plotters,  Royalist  assassins,  and  world-wide  confusions  ; 
but  she  bids  him,  Be  strong,  be  comforted  in  God.  And  so 
Good  night !  And  in  the  still  Eternities  and  divine  Silences 
—  Well,  are  they  not  divine  ?  — 

December  26th,  1654.  The  refractory  Parliament  and  other 
dim  confusions  still  going  on,  we  mark  as  a  public  event  of 
some  significance,  the  sailing  of  his  Highness's  Sea-Armament. 
It  has  long  been  getting  ready  on  the  Southern  Coast ;  sea- 
forces,  land-forces ;  sails  from  Portsmouth  on  Christmas  mor- 

1  Thurloe  to   Pell,   17th  November,  1654:    in  Vaughan'a   Protectorate  of 
Oliver  Cromwell  (London,  1839),  i.  81. 
8  Ludlow,  ii.  488 


1655.  LETTER  CXCVI.    WHITEHALL.  4.~>1 

row,  as  above  marked.1  —  None  yet  able  to  divine  whither 
bound ;  not  even  the  Generals,  Venables  and  Penn,  till  they 
reach  a  certain  latitude.  Many  are  much  interested  to  divine  ! 
<  Kir  Brussels  Correspondent  writes  long  since,  "  The  Lord 
Protector's  Government  makes  England  more  formidable  and 
.>lerable  to  all  .Nations  than  ever  it  has  been  in  my 
days."2 


LETTERS   CXCVI.-CXCVII. 

HKKK  are  Two  small  Letters,  harmlessly  reminding  us  of 
far  interests  and  of  near;  —  otherwise  yielding  no  new  light; 
but  capable  of  being  read  without  commentary,  liead  them  ; 
and  let  us  hasten  to  dissolve  the  poor  Coustitutioning  Par- 
liament, which  ought  not  to  linger  on  these  pages,  or  on 
any  page. 

LETTER  CXCVI. 

"  To  Richard  Bennet,  Esq.,  Governor  of  Virginia :  These. 

"WHITEHALL,  12th  January,  1654. 

"  SIK,  —  Whereas  the  differences  between  the  Lord  Baltimore 
and  the  Inhabitants  of  Virginia,  concerning  the  Bounds  by 
them  n-.s|»ectively  claimed,  are  depending  before  our  Council, 
an. I  yet  undetermined  ;  and  whereas  we  are  credibly  informed, 
you  have  notwithstanding  gone  into  his  Plantation  in  Mai  y- 
liinl,  ami  countenanced  some  people  their  in  opposing  the 
Lord  Baltimore's  Officers;  whereby,  and  with  other  forces 
from  Virginia,  you  have  much  disturl*Hl  that  Colony  and 
I'.-opl  •.  {<>  the  endangering  of  tumults  and  much  bloodshed 
tin-re,  if  not  timely  ]>revnt<-d  : 

"We  therefore,  at  (lie  request  of  the  Lord  Baltimore,  and 
[of]  (livers  other  PenoBl  "i  Quality  here,  who  are  engaged 
by  great  adventures  in  his  interest,  do,  for  preventing  of 

'     '  Penn'a  Narrative,  in  Thurloe,  ir.  28. 
•  Thurloo,  i   100  (llth  March,  1653-4). 


452  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  12  Jan. 

disturbances,  or  tumults  there,  will  and  require  you,  aud  all 
others  deriving  any  authority  from  you,  To  forbear  disturb- 
ing the  Lord  Baltimore,  or  his  Officers  or  People  in  Mary- 
land ;  and  to  permit  all  things  to  remain  as  they  were  before 
any  disturbance  or  alteration  made  by  you,  or  by  any  other 
upon  pretence  of  authority  from  you,  till  the  said  Differences 
above  mentioned  be  determined  by  us  here,  and  we  give 
farther  order  therein. 

"  We  rest  your  loving  friend, 

"OLIVER  P."1 

Commissioners,  it  would  appear,  went  out  to  settle  the 
business ;  got  it,  we  have  no  doubt,  with  due  difficulty  settled. 
See  Letter  CCIII.,— 26th  September,  1655,  "To  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Maryland." 


.  LETTER  CXCVII. 

HERE  again,  while  the  Pedant  Parliament  keeps  arguing 
and  constitutioning,  are  discontents  in  the  Army  that  threaten 
to  develop  themselves.  Dangerous  fermentings  of  Fifth- 
Monarchy  and  other  bad  ingredients,  in  the  Army  aud  out  of 
it;  encouraged  by  the  Parliamentary  height  of  temperature. 
Charles  Stuart,  on  the  word  of  a  Christian  King,  is  extensively 
bestirring  himself.  Royalist  preparations,  provisions  of  arms ; 
Anabaptist  Petitions :  abroad  and  at  home  very  dangerous 
designs  on  foot:  but  we  have  our  eye  upon  them. 

The  Scotch  Army  seems,  at  present,  the  questionablest. 
"  The  pay  of  the  men  is  thirty  weeks  in  arrear,"  for  one  thing ; 
the  Anabaptist  humor  needs  not  that  addition !  Colonel 
Alured,  we  saw,  had  to  be  dismissed  the  Service  last  year; 
Overton  and  others  were  questioned,  and  not  dismissed.  But 
now  some  desperate  scheme  has  risen  among  the  Forces  in 
Scotland,  of  deposing  General  Monk,  of  making  Eepublican 

1  Thurloe,  i.  724.  The  Signature  only  is  Oliver's ;  signature,  and  sense. 
Thurloe  has  jotted  on  the  back  of  this :  "  A  duplicate  als*o  hereof  was  writ, 
signed  by  his  Highness." 


1665.  LETTER  CXCVI1.    WHITEHALL.  453 

Overton  Commander,  —  and  so  marching  off,  all  but  the  in- 
dispensable Garrison-troops,  south  into  England,  there  to  seek 
pay  and  other  redress.1  This  Parliament,  now  in  its  Fourth 
Month,  supplies  no  money;  nothing  but  constitutional  de- 
batings.  My  Lord  Protector  had  need  be  watchful !  He 
again,  in  this  December,  summons  Overton  from  Scotland ; 
H'^iui  questions  him;  —  sees  good,  this  time,  to  commit  him 
to  the  Tower,2  and  end  his  military  services.  The  Army,  in 
Scotland  and  elsewhere,  with  no  settlement  yet  to  its  vague 
fermenting  humors,  and  not  even  money  to  pay  its  arrears, 
is  dangerous  enough. 

Of  Adjutant-General  Allen  whom  this  Letter  concerns,  it 
may  be  proper  to  say  that  Ludlow  in  mentioning  him  has 
mistaken  his  man.  The  reader  recollects,  a  good  while  ago, 
Three  Troopers,  notable  at  the  moment,  who  appeared  once 
before  the  Long  Parliament,  with  a  Petition  from  the  Army, 
in  the  year  Forty-seven?  Their  names  were  Allen,  Sexby, 
Sheppard :  Ludlow  will  have  it,  the  Trooper  Allen  was  this 
Adjutant-General  Allen;8  which  is  a  mistake  of  Ludlow's. 
Trooper  Sexby  we  did  since  see,  as  Captain  Sexby,  after 
Preston  Fight ;  and  shall  again,  in  sad  circumstances  see :  but 
of  Trooper  Allen  there  is  no  farther  vestige  anywhere  except 
this  imaginary  one;  of  Trooper  Sheppard  not  even  an  imagi- 
nary vestige.  They  have  vanished,  these  two ;  and  Adjutant- 
General  Allen,  vindicating  his  identity  such  as  it  is,  enters 
here  on  his  own  footing.  A  resolute  devout  man,  whom  we 
have  seen  before;  the  same  who  was  deep  in  the  Prayer- 
Meeting  at  Windsor  years  ago : 4  this  is  his  third,  and  we  hope 
his  last  appearance  on  the  stage  of  things. 

Allen  has  been  in  Ireland,  since  that  Prayer-Meeting;  in 

»  Poetea,  Speech  IV. ;  and  Thurloe,  iii.  110,  &c. 

1  16th  January,  1654-5  (Overtoil's  Letter,  Thurloe,  iii.  110). 

•  Ludlow,  i.  189  :  "  Edward  Sexby,"  "  William  Allen  ;  "  bnt  in  the  name 
of  the  third  Trooper,  which  is  not  "  Philips "  but  Sheppard,  he  is  mistaken 
(Commons  J-un.,!*.  'loth   April.  Ifi47);  and  aa  to  "  Adjutant-General  Allen" 
and  the  impossibility  of  his  identity  with  thia  William  Allow,  we  vol.  xvii. 
pp.   L'.VI,  304. 

*  Vol.  xvii.  p.  3(M. 


454  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  20  Jan. 

Ireland  and  elsewhere,  resolutely  fighting,  earnestly  praying, 
as  from  of  old;  has  had  many  darkeuings  of  mind;  expects, 
for  almost  a  year  past,  "  little  good  from  the  Governments  of 
this  world,"  one  or  the  other.  He  has  honored,  and  still  would 
fain  honor,  "the  Person  now  in  chief  place,"  having  seen  in 
him  much  "  upright-heartedness  to  the  Lord ; "  must  confess, 
however,  "the  late  Change  hath  more  stumbled  me  than  any 
ever  did;" — and,  on  the  whole,  knows  not  what  he  will 
resolve  upon.1  We  find  he  has  resolved  on  quitting  Ireland, 
for  one  thing;  has  come  over  to  "his  Father-in-law  Mr.  Huish's 
in  Devonshire:"  —and,  to  all  appearance,  is  not  building 
established-churches  there !  "  Captain  Unton  Crook,"  of 
whom  we  shall  hear  afterwards,  is  an  active  man,  son  of 
a  learned  Lawyer ; 2  very  zealous  for  the  Protector's  interest ; 
—  zealous  for  his  own  and  his  Father's  promotion,  growls 
Ludlow.  Desborow,  who  fitted  out  the  late  mysterious  Sea- 
A-rmament  on  the  Southern  Coast  (not  too  judiciously,  I  doubt), 
is  Commander-in-chief  in  those  parts. 

[For  Captain  Unton  Crook,  at  Exeter:  These.] 

"WHITEHALL,  20th  January,  1654. 

"  SIR,  —  Being  informed  by  a  Letter  of  yours  and  General 
Desborow,  also  by  a  Letter  from  the  High  Sheriff  of  Devon, 
that  Adjutant-General  Allen  doth  very  ill  offices  by  multi- 
plying dissatisfaction  in  the  minds  of  men  to  the  present 
Government,  I  desire  you  and  the  High  Sheriff  to  make  dili- 
gent inquiry  after  him,  and  try  to  make  out  what  can  be  made 
in  this  kind,  and  to  give  me  speedy  notice  thereof.  Not 
doubting  of  your  care  herein,  I  rest, 

"  Your  loving  friend, 

"OLIVER  P. 

"  If  he  be  gone  out  of  the  Country,  learn  whither  he  is  gone, 
arid  send  me  word  by  next  post."  8 

1  Two  intercepted  Letters  of  Allen's  (Thurloe,  ii.  214,  215),  "Dublin,  6th 
April,  1654." 

2  Made  Sergeant  Crook  in  1655  (Heath,  p.  693). 

3  Lansdowne   MSS.  1236,  fol.  102.     Superscription  torn  off; — only  the 
Signature  id  iu  Oliver's  hand  :  Address  supplied  hero  by  inference. 


16*5. 


ADJUTANT-GENERAL   ALLEN.  455 


Allen  was  not  gone  out  of  the  Country ;  he  was  seized  by 
Crook  "  in  his  Father-in-law  Mr.  Huish's  house,"  on  the  31st 
of  January,  1054-5;  his  papers  searched,  and  himself  ordered 
to  be  and  continue  prisoner,  at  a  place  agreed  upon,  —  Sand 
in  Somersetshire,  —  "under  his  note  of  hand."  So  much  we 
learn  from  the  imbroglios  of  Thurloe;1  where  also  are 
authentic  Depositions  concerning  Allen,  "  by  Captains  John 
Copleston  and  the  said  Uuton  Crook;"  and  two  Letters  of 
Allen's  own,  —  one  to  the  Protector;  and  one  to  "Colonel 
Daniel  Axtel  [the  Regicide  Axtel],  Dr.  Philip  Carteret,  or 
either  of  them,"  enclosing  that  other  Letter,  and  leaving  it  to 
them  to  present  it  or  not,  he  himself  thinking  earnestly  that 
they  should.  Both  of  these  Letters,  as  well  as  Unton  Crook's 
to  the  Protector,  and  the  authentic  Deposition  of  Copleston 
and  Crook  against  Allen,  are  dated  February  7th,  1654-5. 

The  witnesses  depose,8  That  he  has  bragged  to  one  "  Sir 
John  Davis  Baronet,"  of  an  interview  he  had  with  the  Pro- 
tector not  long  since,  —  wherein  he,  Allen,  told  the  Protector 
a  bit  of  his  mind ;  and  left  him  in  a  kind  of  huff,  and  even  at  a 
nonplus ;  and  so  came  off  to  the  West  Country  in  a  triumphant 
manner.  Farther  he  talks  questionable  things  of  Ireland,  of 
discontents  there,  and  in  laud  of  Lieutenant-General  Ludlow  ; 
says,  There  is  plenty  of  discontent  in  Ireland ;  he  himself 
me;ms  to  be  there  in  February,  but  will  first  go  to  London 
again.  The  Country  rings  with  rumor  of  his  questionable 
speeches.  He  goes  to  "  meetings "  about  Bristol,  whither 
many  persons  convene,  —  for  Anabaptist  or  other  purposes. 
Such  meetings  are  often  on  week-days.  Questionabler  still, 
he  rides  thither  "  with  a  vizard  or  mask  over  his  face ; " 
"  with  glasses  over  his  eyes,"  —  barnacles,  so  to  speak  !  Nay, 
(piestionablestof  all,  riding,  "on  Friday,  the  5th  of  last  month,'' 
month  of  January,  1654-5,  "to  a  meeting  at  Luppitnear  Honi- 
t-Mi,  Devon,"  there  rode  also  (but  not  I  think  to  the  same 
place!)  a  Mr.  Hugh  Courtenay,  once  a  flaming  Royalist 
<  Mlicer  in  Ireland,  and  still  a  flaming  zealot  to  the  lost  Cause  ; 
who  spake  nothing  all  that  afternoon  but  mere  treason,  of 
Anabaptists  that  would  rise  in  London,  of  &c.  &c.  Allen,  aa 
1  iii.  143 ;  aee  pp.  140,  141.  *  Thurlue,  ill  140. 


456  PART  VIII.    FIRST  PARLIAMENT.  22  Jan. 

we  say,  ou  the  last  morning  of  January  Avas  awoke  from  sleep 
In  his  Father-in-law  Mr.  Huish's,  by  the  entrance  of  two  armed 
troopers ;  who  informed  him  that  Captain  Crook  and  the  High 
Sheriff  were  below,  and  that  he  would  have  to  put  on  his 
clothes,  and  come  down. 

Allen's  Letter  to  the  Lord  Protector,  from  Sand  in  Somerset- 
shire, we  rather  reluctantly  withhold,  for  want  of  room.  A 
stubborn,  sad,  stingily  respectful  piece  of  writing :  Wife  and 
baby  terribly  ill  off  at  Sand ;  desires  to  be  resigned  to  the 
Lord,  "before  whom  both  of  us  shall  ere  long  nakedly 
appear ; "  —  petitions  that  at  least  he  might  be  allowed  "  to 
attend  ordinances  ; "  which  surely  would  be  reasonable  !  Are 
there  not  good  horses  that  require  to  be  ridden  with  a  dex- 
terous bridle-hand,  —  delicate,  and  yet  hard  and  strong  ? 
Clearly  a  strenuous  Anabaptist,  this  Allen;  a  rugged,  true- 
hearted,  not  easily  governable  man  ;  given  to  Fifth-Monarchy 
and  other  notions,  though  with  a  strong  head  to  control  them. 
Fancy  him  duly  cashiered  from  the  Army,  duly  admonished 
and  dismissed  into  private  life.  Then  add  the  Colonel  Over- 
tons  and  Colonel  Alureds,  and  General  Ludlows  and  Major- 
General  Harrisons,  and  also  the  Charles  Stuarts  and  Christian 
Kings ;  —  and  reflect  once  more  what  kind  of  task  this  of  my 
Lord  Protector's  is,  and  whether  he  needs  refractory  Pedant 
Parliaments  to  worsen  it  for  him ! 


SPEECH  IV. 

FINDING  this  Parliament  was  equal  to  nothing  in  the  Spirit- 
ual way  but  tormenting  of  poor  Heretics,  receiving  Petitions 
for  a  small  advance  towards  coal  and  candle ;  and  nothing  in 
the  Temporal  but  constitutional  air-fabrics  and  vigilant  check- 
ings and  balancings,  —  under  which  operations  sucli  precious 
fruits  at  home  and  abroad  were  ripening,  —  Oliver's  esteem 
for  this  Parliament  gradually  sank  to  a  marked  degree.  Check, 
check,  — like  maladroit  ship-carpenters  hammering,  adzing,  saw- 
ing at  the  Ship  of  the  State,  instead  of  diligently  calking  and 


1055.  SPEECH  IV.  4-37 

paying  it;  idly  gauging  and  computing,  nay  recklessly  tear- 
ing up  and  remodelling;  —  when  the  poor  Ship  could  hardly 
keep  the  water  as  yet,  and  the  Pirates  and  Sea-Krukens  were 
gathering  round !  All  which  most  dangerous,  not  to  say 
half-frantic  operations,  the  Lord  Protector  discerniug  well, 
ami  swallowing  in  silence  as  his  hest  was, — had  for  a  good 
while  kept  his  eye  upon  the  Almanac,  with  more  and  more 
impatience  for  the  arrival  of  the  Third  of  February.  That 
will  be  the  first  deliverance  of  the  poor  laboring  Common- 
wealth, when  at  the  end  of  Five  Months  we  send  these  Par- 
liament philosophers  home  to  their  Countries  again.  Five 
Months  by  the  Instrument  they  have  to  sit;  —  oh,  fly,  lazy 
Time;  it  is  yet  but  Four  Months  and —  Somebody  sug- 
gested, Is  not  the  .  Soldier-mouth  counted  by  Four  Weeks  ? 
Eight-and-twenty  days  are  a  Soldier's  Mouth :  they  have,  in 
a  sense,  already  sat  five  months,  these  vigilant  Honorable 
Gentlemen  ! 

Oliver  Protector,  on  Monday  morning,  22d  of  January, 
1654-5,  surprises  the  Coustitutioning  Parliament  with  a  mes- 
sage to  attend  him  in  the  Painted  Chamber,  and  leave  "  Settling 
of  th&  Government"  for  a  while.  They  have  yet  voted  no 
Supplies;  nor  meant  to  vote  any.  They  thought  themselves 
very  safe  till  February  3d,  at  soonest.  But  my  Lord  Pro- 
tector, froai  his  high  place,  speaks,  and  dissolves. 

Speech  Fourth,  "  printed  by  Henry  Hills,  Printer  to  his 
Hi^hnesL  the  Lord  Protector,"  is  the  only  one  of  these 
Speeches,  concerning  the  reporting,  printing  or  publishing  of 
which  there  is  any  visible  charge  or  notice  taken  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  time.  It  is  ordered  in  this  instance,  by  the 
Council  of  State,  That  nobody  except  Henry  Hills  or  those 
appointed  by  him  shall  presume  to  print  or  reprint  the  present 
Speech,  or  any  part  of  it.  Perhaps  an  official  precaution  con- 
sidered needful ;  perhaps  also  only  a  matter  of  copyright ;  for 
the  Order  is  so  worded  as  not  to  indicate  which.  At  all  events, 
there  is  no  trace  of  the  Report  having  been  anywhere  inter- 
fere^ with  ;  which  seems  altogether  a  spontaneous  one ;  prob- 
ably the  product  of  Rush  worth  or  some  such  artist.1 

1  bee  Uurton't  Lkary. 


458  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  82  Jan. 

The  Speech,  if  read  with  due  intensity,  can  be  understood ; 
and  what  is  equally  important,  be  believed ;  nay,  be  found  to 
contain  in  it  a  manful,  great  and  valiant  meaning,  —  in  tone 
and  manner  very  resolute,  yet  very  conciliatory ;  intrinsically 
not  ignoble  but  noble.  For  the  rest,  it  is,  as  usual,  sufficiently 
incondite  in  phrase  and  conception ;  the  hasty  outpouring  of  a 
mind  which  is  full  of  such  meanings.  Somewhat  difficult  to 
read.  Practical  Heroes,  unfortunately,  as  we  once  said,  do  not 
speak  in  blank-verse ;  their  trade  does  not  altogether  admit  of 
that !  Useless  to  look  here  for  a  Greek  Temple  with  its  por- 
ticos and  entablatures,  and  styles.  But  the  Alp  Mountain, 
with  its  chasms  and  cataracts  and  shaggy  pine-forests,  and 
huge  granite  masses  rooted  in  the  Heart  of  the  World :  this 
too  is  worth  looking  at,  to  some.  I  can  give  the  reader  little 
help ;  but  will  advise  him  to  try. 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  I  perceive  you  are  here  as  the  House  of 
Parliament,  by  your  Speaker  whom  I  see  here,  and  by  your 
faces  which  are  in  a  great  measure  known  to  me.  [Doubtless 
we  are  here,  your  Highness  /] 

"  When  I  first  met  you  in  this  room,  it  was  to  my  apprehen- 
sion the  hopefulest  day  that  ever  mine  eyes  saw,  as  to  the  con- 
siderations of  this  world.  For  I  did  look  at,  as  wrapt  up  in 
you  together  with  myself,  the  hopes  and  the  happiness  of,  — 
though  not  of  the  greatest,  — yet  a  very  great  [People]  ;  and 
the  best  People  in  the  world.  And  truly  and  uufeignedly  I 
thought  [it]  so  :  as  a  People  that  have  the  highest  and  clearest 
profession  amongst  them  of  the  greatest  glory,  namely  Ee- 
ligion  :  as  a  People  that  have  been,  like  other  Nations,  some- 
times up  and  sometimes  down  in  our  honor  in  the  world,  but 
yet  never  so  low  but  we  might  measure  with  other  Nations  :  — 
and  a  People  that  have  had  a  stamp  upon  them  from  God 
[Hah  /]  ;  God  having,  as  it  were,  summed  up  all  our  former 
honor  and  glory  in  the  things  that  are  of  glory  to  Nations,  in 
an  Epitome,  within  these  ten  or  twelve  years  last  past !  So 
that  we  knew  one  another  at  home,  and  are  well  known 
abroad. 

"  And  if  I  be  not  very  much  mistaken,  we  were  arrived  — 


IG55. 


SPEECH  IV.  4.*»0 


as  I,  and  truly  I  believe  as  many  others,  did  think  —  at  a  very 
safe  port ;  where  we  might  sit  down  and  contemplate  the 
Dispensations  of  God  and  our  Mercies ;  and  might  know  our 
Mercies  not  to  have  been  like  to  those  of  the  Ancients,  —  who 
did  make  out  their  peace  and  prosperity,  as  they  thought,  by 
their  own  endeavors  ;  who  could  not  say,  as  we,  That  all  ours 
were  let  down  to  us  from  God  Himself!  Whose  appearances 
and  providences  amongst  us  are  not  to  be  outmatched  by  any 
Story.  [Deep  silence  ;  from  the  old  Parliament,  and  from  nx.~\ 
Truly  this  was  our  condition.  And  I  know  nothing  else  we 
had  to  do,  save  as  Israel  was  commanded  in  that  most  excel- 
lent Psalm  of  David  :  '  The  things  which  we  have  heard  and 
known,  and  our  fathers  have  told  us,  we  will  not  hide  them 
from  our  children  ;  showing  to  the  generation  to  come  the 
praises  of  the  Lord,  and  His  strength,  and  His  wonderful 
works  that  He  hath  done.  For  He  established  a  Testimony 
in  Jacob,  and  appointed  a  Law  in  Israel  ;  which  He  com- 
manded our  fathers  that  they  should  make  known  to  their 
children  ;  that  the  generation  to  come  might  know  them,  even 
the  children  which  should  be  born,  who  should  arise  and  de- 
clare them  to  their  children  :  that  they  might  set  their  hope 
in  God,  and  not  forget  the  works  of  God,  but  keep  His  com- 
mandments.' * 

"This  I  thought  had  been  a  song  and  a  work  worthy  of 
England,  whereunto  you  might  happily  have  invited  them,  — 
had  you  had  hearts  unto  it.  [Alas!]  You  had  this  opjwtr- 
tunity  fairly  delivered  unto  you.  And  if  a  history  shall  be 
written  of  these  Times  and  Transactions,  it  will  be  said,  it  will 
not  be  denied,  that  these  things  that  I  have  spoken  are  tme  ! 
[No  TV.S-/ -"//.•-<  from  the  Moderns:  mere  silent  >•,  xftij><>r,  n»f  without 
8adwxs.~\  This  talent  was  put  into  your  hands.  And  I  ahull 
recur  to  that  which  I  said  at  the  first :  I  came  with  very  great 
joy  and  contentment  and  comfort,  the  first  time  I  met  you  in 

|.lar-.     I'.nt  we  and  these  Nations  are,  for  the  present, 
under    sonic    disappointment!  —  If    1   had    promised    to   have 

,1   the  Orator,  —  \vhieh    I   never  did  affeet,  nor  do.    nor    1 
;liall  [//ear/],  —  I  doubt  not  but  upon  easy  suppositions 
1  Psalm  Ixxviii.  3-7. 


460  PART  VTIT.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT,  22  Jan. 

which  I  am  persuaded  every  one  among  you  will  grant,  we  did 
meet  upon  such  hopes  as  these. 

"  I  met  you  a  second  time  here  :  and  I  confess,  at  that  meet- 
ing I  had  much  abatement  of  my  hopes  ;  though  not  a  total 
frustration.  I  confess  that  that  which  damped  my  hopes  so 
soon  was  somewhat  that  did  look  like  a  parricide.  It  is  ob- 
vious enough  unto  you  that  the  [then]  management  of  affairs 
did  savor  of  a  Not  owning,  —  too-too  much  savor,  I  say,  of  a 
Not  owning  of  the  Authority  that  called  you  hither.  But  God 
left  us  not  without  an  expedient  that  gave  a  second  possibility 
—  Shall  I  say  possibility  ?  It  seemed  to  me  a  probability  — 
of  recovering  out  of  that  dissatisfied  condition  we  were  all  then 
in,  towards  some  mutuality  of  satisfaction.  And  therefore  by 
that  Recognition  \_The  Parchment  we  had  to  sign:  Hum-m  /I. 
suiting  with  the  Indenture  that  returned  you  hither ;  to  which 
afterwards  was  also  added  your  own  Declaration,1  conformable 
to,  and  in  acceptance  of,  that  expedient:  thereby  [I  say]  you 
had,  though  with  a  little  check,  another  opportunity  renewed 
unto  you  to  have  made  this  Nation  as  happy  as  it  could  have 
been  if  everything  had  smoothly  run  on  from  that  first  hour 
of  your  meeting.  And  indeed,  —  you  will  give  me  liberty  of 
my  thoughts  and  hopes,  —  I  did  think,  as  I  have  formerly 
found  in  that  way  that  I  have  been  engaged  in  as  a  soldier, 
That  some  affronts  put  upon  us,  some  disasters  at  the  first, 
have  made  way  for  very  great  and  happy  successes  ; 2  and  I 
did  not  at  all  despond  but  the  stop  put  upon  you,  in  like  man- 
ner, would  have  made  way  for  a  blessing  from  God.  That 
Interruption  being,  as  T  thought,  necessary  to  divert  you  from 
violent  and  destructive  proceedings ;  to  give  time  for  better 
deliberations ;  —  whereby  leaving  the  Government  as  you  found 
it,  you  might  have  proceeded  to  have  made  those  good  and 
wholesome  Laws  which  the  People  expected  from  you,  and 
might  have  answered  the  Grievances,  and  settled  those  other 
things  proper  to  you  as  a  Parliament :  for  which  you  would 
ha,ve  had  thanks  from  all  that  intrusted  you.  [Doubtful 
''  Hum-m-m  !  "  from  the  old  Parliament."] 

1  Commons  Journals  (vii.  368),  14th  Sept.  1654. 

*  Characteristic  sentence,  and  seiitlment ; —  not  to  be  meddled  with. 


1655.  SPEECH   IV. 

"  What  hath  happened  since  that  time  I  have  not  taken 
public  notice  of ;  as  declining  to  intrench  on  Parliament  privi- 
leges. For  sure  I  am  you  will  all  bear  me  witness,  That  from 
your  entering  into  the  House  upon  the  Recognition,  to  this 
very  day,  you  have  had  no  manner  of  interruption  or  hindrance 
of  mine  in  proceeding  to  what  blessed  issue  the  heart  of  a  good 
man  could  propose  to  himself,  —  to  this  very  day  [none].  You 
see  you  have  me  very  much  locked  up,  as  to  what  you  have 
transacted  among  yourselves,  from  that  time  to  this.  ["  None 
dare  report  us,  or  whisper  what  we  do."]  But  some  things  I 
shall  take  liberty  to  speak  of  to  you. 

"  As  I  may  not  take  notice  what  you  have  been  doing ;  so 
I  think  I  have  a  very  great  liberty  to  tell  you  That  I  do  not 
know  what  you  have  been  doing  !  [  With  a  certain  tone  ;  as 
one  may  hearf]  I  do  not  know  whether  you  have  been  alive 
or  dead.  I  have  not  once  heard  from  you  all  this  time ;  I  have 
not :  and  that  you  all  know.  If  that  be  a  fault  that  I  have 
not,  surely  it  hath  not  been  mine  !  —  If  I  have  had  any  melan- 
choly thoughts,  and  have  sat  down  by  them,  —  why  might  it 
not  have  been  very  lawful  for  me  to  think  that  I  was  a  Person 
judged  unconcerned  in  all  these  businesses  ?  I  can  assure  you 
I  have  not  so  reckoned  myself !  Nor  did  I  reckon  myself 
unconcerned  in  you.  And  so  long  as  any  just  patience  could 
support  my  expectation,  I  would  have  waited  to  the  uttermost 
to  have  received  from  you  the  issue  of  your  consultations  and 
resolutions.  —  I  have  been  careful  of  your  safety,  and  the 
safety  of  those  that  you  represented,  to  whom  I  reckon  myself 
a  servant.  — 

"  But  what  messages  have  I  disturbed  you  withal  ?  What 
injury  or  indignity  hath  been  done,  or  offered,  either  to  your 
persons  or  to  any  privileges  of  Parliament,  since  you  sat  ?  I 
looked  at  myself  as  strictly  obliged  by  my  Oath,  since  your 
recognizing  the  Government  in  the  authority  of  which  you 
•;il  Ird  hither  and  sat,  To  give  you  all  possible  security, 
:unl  to  !«•••]!  you  from  any  unparliamentary  int«'rnij>tion.  Think 
}ou  I  could  not  say  more  upon  this  subject,  if  I  listed  to  ex- 
tli.Tcupon  ?  But.  ln-c:iiisr  my  actions  plead  for  me,  I 
say  uo  more  of  thia.  [O/</  /'«//•/,'///«>•///  <lu/>unuly  rolls  Us 


4C2  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  22  Jan. 

eyes."} — I  say,  I  have  been  caring  for  you,  for  your  quiet  sit- 
ting; caring  for  your  privileges,  as  I  said  before,  that  they 
might  not  be  interrupted  ;  have  been  seeking  of  God,  from  the 
great  God  a  blessing  upon  you,  and  a  blessing  upon  these  Na- 
tions. I  have  been  consulting  if  possibly  I  might,  in  anything, 
promote,  in  my  place,  the  real  good  of  this  Parliament,  of  the 
hopefulness  of  which  I  have  said  so  much  unto  you.  And  I 
did  think  it  to  be  my  1  nisi  ness  rather  to  see  the  utmost  issue, 
and  what  God  would  produce  by  you,  than  unseasonably  to 
intermeddle  with  you. 

"  But,  as  I  said  before,  T  have  been  caring  for  you,  and  for 
the  peace  and  quiet  of  these  Nations  :  indeed  I  have ;  and  that 
I  shall  a  little  presently  manifest  unto  you.  And  it  leadeth 
me  to  let  you  know  somewhat,  —  which,  I  fear,  I  fear,  will  be, 
through  some  interpretation,  a  little  too  justly  put  upon  you  ; 
whilst  you.  have  been  employed  as  you  have  been,  and,  —  in 
all  that  time  expressed  in  the  Government,  in  that  Govern- 
ment, I  say  in  that  Government,  —  have  brought  forth  nothing 
that  you  yourselves  say  can  be  taken  notice  of  without  infringe- 
ment of  your  privileges ! J  I  will  tell  you  somewhat,  which, 
if  it  be  not  news  to  you,  I  wish  you  had  taken  very  serious 
consideration  of.  If  it  be  news,  I  wish  I  had  acquainted  you 
with  it  sooner.  And  yet  if  any  man  will  ask  me  why  I  did  it 
not,  the  reason  is  given  already  :  Because  I  did  make  it  my 
business  to  give  you  no  interruption. 

"  There  be  some  trees  that  will  not  grow  under  the  shadow 
of  other  trees :  There  be  some  that  choose  —  a  man  may  say 
so  by  way  of  allusion — to  thrive  under  the  shadow  of  other 
trees.  I  will  tell  you  what  hath  thriven,  —  I  will  not  say  what 
you  have  cherished,  under  your  shadow ;  that  were  too  hard. 
Instead  of  Peace  and  Settlement,  —  instead  of  mercy  and  truth 
being  brought  together,  and  righteousness  and  peace  kissing 

1  An  embarrassed  sentence  ;  characteristic  of  his  Highness.  "  You  have 
done  nothing  noticeable  upon  this  '  Somewhat '  that  I  am  about  to  speak  of,  — 
nor,  indeed,  it  seems  upon  any  Somewhat;  —  and  ttii/t  was  one  you  may, 
without  much '  interpretation,'  be  blamed  for  doing  nothing  upon."  "  Govern- 
ment" means  Instrument  of  (government :  "  the  time  expressed  "  therein  is  Fire 
Months,  —  now,  by  my  way  of  calculating  it,  expired  !  Which  may  account 
for  the  embarrassed  iteration  of  the  phrase,  on  his  Highness's  part. 


loss.  SPEECH    IV  463 

each  other,  by  [your]  reconciling  tho  TTonest  People  of  these 
Nations,  and  settling  the  woful  distempers  that  are  amongst 
us  ;  which  had  been  glorious  things  and  worthy  of  Christians 
to  have  proposed,  —  weeds  and  nettles,  briers  and  thorns  have 
thriven  under  your  shadow  !  Dissettlement  and  division,  dis- 
content and  dissatisfaction ;  together  with  real  dangers  to  the 
whole,  —  have  been  more  multiplied  within  these  five  months 
of  your  sitting,  than  in  some  years  before !  Foundations  have 
also  been  laid  for  the  future  renewing  of  the  Troubles  of  these 
Nations  by  all  the  enemies  of  them  abroad  and  at  home.  Let 
not  these  words  seem  too  sharp:  for  they  are  true  as  any 
mathematical  demonstrations  are  or  can  be.  I  say,  the  ene- 
mies of  the  peace  of  these  Nations  abroad  and  at  home,  the 
discontented  humors  throughout  these  Nations,  —  which  [prod- 
ucts] I  think  no  man  will  grudge  to  call  by  that  name,  of 
briers  and  thorns,  —  they  have  nourished  themselves  under 
your  shadow  !  [Old  Parliament  looks  stil?  more  uneasy. ~\ 

"  And  that  I  may  clearly  be  understood :  They  have  taken 
their  opportunities  from  your  sitting,  and  from  the  hopes  they 
had,  which  with  easy  conjecture  they  might  take  up  and  con- 
clude that  there  would  be  no  Settlement ;  and  they  have 
framed  their  designs,  preparing  for  tin-  e\e< -ution  of  them 
accordingly.  Now  whether  —  which  appertains  not  to  me  to 
judge  of,  on  their  behalf — they  had  any  occasion  ministered 
for  this,  and  from  whence  they  had  it,  I  list  not  to  make  any 
scrutiny  or  search.  But  I  will  say  this :  I  think  they  had  it 
not  from  me.  T  am  sure  they  had  not  [from  me].  From 
whence  they  had,  is  not  my  business  now  to  discourse :  but 
f/mf  they  had,  is  obvious  to  every  man's  sense.  Wh;it  [.repara- 
tions they  have  made,  to  be  executed  in  such  a  season  as  they 
thought  fit  to  take  their  opportunity  from  :  that  I  know,  not 
as  men  know  things  by  conjecture,  but  l>y  certain  demonstrable 
knowledge.  That  they  have  been  for  some  time  past  furnish- 
ing themselves  with  arms;  nothing  doubting'  but  they  should 
have  a  day  for  it ;  and  verily  believing  that,  whatsoever  their 
former  disappointments  were,  they  should  have  more  done  for 
them  by  and  from  our  own  divisions,  than  they  were  able  to 
do  for  themselves.  I  desire  to  be  understood  That,  in  all  I 


464  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  22  Jan. 

have  to  say  of  this  subject,  yon  will  take  it  that  I  have  no 
reservation  in  my  mind,  — as  I  have  not,  — to  mingle  things  of 
guess  and  suspicion  with  things  of  fact :  but  [that]  the  things 
I  am  telling  of  are  fact ;  things  of  evident  demonstration. 

"These  weeds,  briers  and  thorns,  —  they  have  been  pre- 
paring, and  have  brought  their  designs  to  some  maturity,  by 
the  advantages  given  to  them,  as  aforesaid,  from  your  sittings 
and  proceedings.  [_"  Hum-m-m  f  ""]  But  by  the  Waking  Eye 
that  watched  over  that  Cause  that  God  will  bless,  they  have 
been,  and  yet  are,  disappointed.  [Yea!"]  And  having  men- 
tioned that  Cause,  I  say,  that  slighted  Cause,  —  let  me  speak 
a  few  words  in  behalf  thereof ;  though  it  may  seem  too  long  a 
digression.  Whosoever  despiseth  it,  and  will  say,  It  is  non 
Causa  pro  Causa  [a  Cause  without  Cause],  —  the  All-searching 
Eye  before  mentioned  will  find  out  that  man  ;  and  will  judge 
him,  as  one  that  regardeth  not  the  works  of  God  nor  the 
operations  of  His  hands !  [Moderns  look  astonished."]  For 
which  God  hath  threatened  that  He  will  cast  men  down,  and 
not  build  them  up.  That  [man  who],  because  he  can  dispute, 
will  tell  us  he  knew  not  when  the  Cause  began,  nor  where  it  is ; 
but  modelleth  it  according  to  his  own  intellect ;  and  submits 
not  to  the  Appearances  of  God  in  the  World ;  and  therefore 
lifts  up  his  heel  against  God,  and  mocketh  at  all  His  provi- 
dences ;  laughing  at  the  observations,  made  up  not  without 
reason  and  the  Scriptures,  and  by  the  quickening  and  teaching 
Spirit  which  gives  life  to  these  other ;  —  calling  such  obser- 
vations '  enthusiasms : '  such  men,  I  say,  no  wonder  if  they 
'stumble  and  fall  backwards,  and  be  broken  and  snared  and 
taken,' 1  by  the  things  of  which  they  are  so  wilfully  and  mali- 
ciously ignorant !  The  Scriptures  say,  '  The  Rod  has  a  voice, 
and  He  will  make  Himself  known  by  the  judgments  which  He 
executeth.'  And  do  we  not  think  He  will,  and  does,  by  the 
providences  of  mercy  and  kindness  which  He  hath  for  His 
People  and  their  just  liberties ;  '  whom  He  loves  as  the  apple 
of  His  eye '  ?  Doth  Pie  not  by  them  manifest  Himself  ?  And 
is  He  not  thereby  also  seen  giving  kingdoms  for  them,  'giving 

1  Isaiah,  xxviii.  13  A  text  that  had  made  a  great  impression  upon  Oliver : 
see  Letter  to  the  Genernl  Assembly^  antea,  p.  113. 


16.-.5. 


SPEECH   IV.  465 


for  them,  and  people  for  their  lives/  —  as  it  is  in  Isaiah 
Forty-third  ? l  Is  not  this  as  fair  a  lecture  and  as  clear  speak- 
in'-,r,  as  anything  our  dark  reason,  left  to  the  letter  of  the 
Scriptures,  can  collect  from  them  ?  By  this  voice  has  God 
spoken  very  loud  on  behalf  of  His  People,  by  judging  their 
enemies  in  the  late  War,  and  restoring  them  a  liberty  to 
worship,  with  the  freedom  of  their  consciences,  and  freedom 
in  estates  and  persons  when  they  do  so.  And  thus  we  have 
ion  ml  the  Cause  of  God  by  the  works  of  God;  which  are  the 
testimony  of  God.  Upon  which  rock  whosoever  splits  shall 
suffer  shipwreck.  But  it  is  your  glory,  —  and  it  is  mine,  if  I 
hav«>  any  in  the  world  concerning  the  Interest  of  those  that 
have  an  interest  in  a  better  world,  —  it  is  my  glory  that  I 
know  a  Cause  which  yet  we  have  not  lost;  but  do  hope  we 
shall  take  a  little  pleasure  rather  to  lose  our  lives  than  lose  1 
[//a A/]  —  But  you  will  excuse  this  long  digression. — 

"  I  say  unto  you,  Whilst  you  have  been  in  the  midst  of  these 
Transactions,  that  Party,  that  Cavalier  Party,  —  I  could  wish 
some  of  them  had  thrust  in  here,  to  have  heard  what  I  say,  — 
have  been  designing  and  preparing  to  put  this  Nation  in  blood 
i,  with  a  witness.  But  because  I  am  confident  there  are 
none  of  that  sort  here,  therefore  I  shall  say  the  less  to  that 
<  )nly  this  1  must  teH  you :  They  have  been  making  great  prep- 
arations of  arms ;  and  I  do  believe  it  will  be  made  evident  to 
you  that  they  have  raked  out  many  thousands  of  arms,  even  all 
that  this  City  could  afford,  for  divers  months  last  past.  But 
it  will  be  said,  '  May  we  not  arm  ourselves  for  the  defence 
of  our  houses?  Will  anybody  find  fault  for  that?'  Not  for 
tli.it.  But  the  reason  for  their  doing  so  hath  been  as  explicit, 
ami  under  as  rlrar  proof,  as  the  fact  of  doing  so.  For  which 
I  li«  |>e,  by  the  justice  of  the  land,  some  will,  in  the  face  of  the 
Nation,  answrr  it  with  their  lives:  and  then  the  business  will 
l.c  pretty  well  out  of  doubt.  —  Banks  of  money  have  been 
ii  lining,  lor  these  and  other  such  like  uses.  Letters  have  been 
issued  with  Privy-seals,  to  as  great  Persons  as  most  are  in  the 

n,   for   tin-   ailvauce  of   money. —  whirli    flutters]    have 

I    il.ili.  xliii   .T,  I      Another  prophecy  of  awful  nioin.-nt  t..  hi*  HighlieM: 
,.-••  S|*-...-li  I  ,  aiiUtu,  p  :»I'J. 

-.11.  30 


4G6  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  92  Jan. 

been  discovered  to  us  by  the  Persons  themselves.  Commis. 
sions  for  Regiments  of  horse  and  foot,  and  command  of  Castles, 
have  been  likewise  given  from  Charles  Stuart,  since  your  sit- 
ting. And  what  the  general  insolences  of  that  Party  have 
been,  the  Honest  People  have  been  sensible  of,  and  can  very 
well  testify. 

"  It  hath  not  only  been  thus.  But  as  in  a  quinsy  or  pleurisy, 
where  the  humor  fixeth  in  one  part,  give  it  scope,  all  [disease] 
will  gather  to  that  place,  to  the  hazarding  of  the  whole :  and 
it  is  natural  to  do  so  till  it  destroy  life  in  that  person  on  whom- 
soever this  befalls.  So  likewise  will  these  diseases  take  acci- 
dental causes  of  aggravation  of  their  distemper.  And  this  was 
that  which  I  did  assert,  That  they  have  taken  accidental  causes 
for  the  growing  and  increasing  of  those  distempers,  —  as  much 
as  would  have  been  in  the  natural  body  if  timely  remedy  were 
not  applied.  And  indeed  things  were  come  to  that  pass,  —  in 
respect  of  which  I  shall  give  you  a  particular  account,  —  that 
no  mortal  physician,  if  the  Great  Physician  had  not  stepped 
in,  could  have  cured  the  distemper.  Shall  I  lay  this  upon  your 
account,  or  my  own  ?  I  am  sure  I  can  lay  it  upon  God's  ac- 
count :  That  if  He  had  not  stepped  in,  the  disease  had  been 
mortal  and  destructive ! 

"  And  what  is  all  this  ?  [What  are  these  new  diseases  that 
have  gathered  to  this  point  ?]  Truly  I  must  needs  still  say  : 
'  A  company  of  men  like  briers  and  thorns ; '  and  worse,  if 
worse  can  be.  Of  another  sort  than  those  before  mentioned 
to  you.  These  also  have  been  and  yet  are  endeavoring  to  put 
us  into  blood  and  into  confusion  ;  more  desperate  and  dan- 
gerous confusion  than  England  ever  yet  saw.  .  [Anabaptist 
Levellers.'}  And  I  must  say,  as  when  Gideon  commanded  his 
son  to  fall  upon  Zeba  and  Zalmunna,  and  slay  them,  they 
thought  it  more  noble  to  die  by  the  hand  of  a  man  than  of 
a  stripling,  —  which  shows  there  is  some  contentment  in  the 
hand  by  which  a  man  falls  :  so  it  is  some  satisfaction  if  a  Com- 
monwealth must  perish,  that  it  perish  by  men,  and  not  by  the 
hands  of  persons  differing  little  from  beasts  !  That  if  it  must 
needs  suffer,  it  should  rather  suffer  from  rir>h  men  than  from 
poor  men,  who,  as  Solomon  says,  '  when  they  oppress,  leave 


1655. 


SPEECH  IV.  467 


nothing  behind  them,  but  are  as  a  sweeping  rain.'  Now  such 
as  these  also  are  grown  up  under  your  shadow.  But  it  will  be 
asked,  What  have  they  done  ?  I  hope,  though  they  pretend 
'  Commonwealth's  Interest,'  they  have  had  no  encouragement 
from  you  ;  but  have,  as  in  the  former  case,  rather  taken  it  than 
that  you  have  administered  any  cause  unto  them  for  so  doing. 
[Any  cause]  from  delays,  from  hopes  that  this  Parliament 
would  not  settle,  from  Pamphlets  mentioning  strange  Votes 
and  Resolves  of  yours ;  which  I  hope  did  abuse  you  !  But  thus 
you  see  that,  whatever  the  grounds  were,  these  have  been  the 
effects.  And  thus  I  have  laid  these  things  before  you  ;  and 
you  and  others  will  be  easily  able  to  judge  how  far  you  are 
concerned. 

"  '  What  these  men  have  done  ? '  They  also  have  labored 
to  pervert,  where  they  could,  and  as  they  could,  the  Honest- 
meaning  People  of  the  Nation.  They  have  labored  to  engage 
some  in  the  Army  :  —  and  I  doubt  that  not  only  they,  but  some 
others  also,  very  well  known  to  you,  have  helped  to  this  work 
of  debauching  and  dividing  the  Army.  They  have,  they  have  ! 
rton,  Allen  ami  Company,  your  Hiyhne&s  ?]  I  would  be 
loath  to  say  Who,  Where,  and  How  ?  much  more  loath  to  say 
they  were  any  of  your  own  number.  But  I  can  say :  Endeavors 
have  been  [made]  to  put  the  Army  into  a  distemper,  and  to 
I '-I'll  that  which  is  the  worst  humor  in  the  Army.  Which 
Hi.  'ii;,'h  it  was  not  a  mastering  humor,  yet  these  took  advantage 
in 'in  delay  of  the  Settlement,  and  the  practices  before  men 
tioin-d,  and  tin;  stopping  of  the  pay  of  the  Army,  to  run  us  into 
ipiartrr,  and  to  bring  us  into  the  inconveniences  most  In 
i red  ami  avoided.  —  What  if  I  am  able  to  make  it  appeal- 
in  fact,  That  some  amongst  you  have  run  into  the  City  of 
London,  to  persuade  to  Petitions  and  Addresses  to  you  for  re- 
:  ng  your  own  Votes  that  you  have  passed  ?  Whether  these 
pr.H'tir.-s  were  in  favor  of  your  Liberties,  or  tended  to  beget 
hopes  of  Peace  and  Settlement  from  you;  and  whether  d»>- 
banrhing  the  Army  in  England,  as  is  before  expressed,  and 
starving  it,  and  putting  it  ujMm  Free-quarter,  and  occa  ioniir: 
and  necessitating  the  greatest  part  thereof  in  Si-otland  to 
iiiaifh  into  Knglaiid,  leaving  the  remainder  thereof  to  have 


468  PART  VIII.    FIRST  PARLIAMENT.  22  Jan. 

their  throats  cut  there ;  and  kindling  by  the  rest  a  fire  in  our 
own  bosoms,  were  for  the  advantage  of  affairs  here,  let  the 
world  judge ! 

"This  I  tell  you  also:  That  the  correspondence  held  with 
the  Interest  of  the  Cavaliers,  by  that  Party  of  men  called 
Levellers  who  call  themselves  Commonwealth's-men  [is  in  our 
hands].  Whose  Declarations  were  framed  to  that  purpose,  and 
ready  to  be  published  at  the  time  of  their  [projected]  common 
Rising ;  whereof  [I  say]  we  are  possessed ;  and  for  which  we 
have  the  confession  of  themselves  now  in  custody  ;  who  confess 
also  they  built  their  hopes  upon  the  assurance  they  had  of  the 
Parliament's  not  agreeing  to  a  Settlement :  —  whether  these 
humors  have  not  nourished  themselves  under  your  boughs,  is 
the  subject  of  my  present  discourse ;  and  I  think  I  shall  say 
not  amiss,  if  I  affirm  it  to  be  so.  [His  Highness  looks  ani- 
mated /]  And  I  must  say  it  again,  That  that  which  hath  been 
their  advantage,  thus  to  raise  disturbance,  hath  been  by  the 
loss  of  those  golden  opportunities  which  God  had  put  into  your 
hands  for  Settlement.  Judge  you  whether  these  things  were 
thus,  or  not,  when  you  first  sat  down.  I  am  sure  things  were 
not  thus !  There  was  a  very  great  peace  and  sedateness 
throughout  these  Nations  ;  and  great  expectations  of  a  happy 
Settlement.  Which  I  remembered  to  you  at  the  beginning  in 
my  Speech ;  and  hoped  that  you  would  have  entered  on  your 
business  as  you  found  it.  ["  Hum-m-m!  We  had  a  Constitu- 
tion to  make!  "] 

"There  was  a  Government  [already]  in  the  possession  of 
the  People,  —  I  say  a  Government  in  the  possession  of  the 
People,  for  many  months.  It  hath  now  been  exercised  near 
Fifteen  Months  :  and  if  it  were  needful  that  I  should  tell  you 
how  it  came  into  their  possession,  and  how  willingly  they  re- 
ceived it ;  how  all  Law  and  Justice  were  distributed  from  it, 
in  every  respect,  as  to  life,  liberty  and  estate  ;  how  it  was 
owned  by  God,  as  being  the  dispensation  of  His  providence 
after  Twelve  Years'  War ;  and  sealed  and  witnessed  unto  by 
the  People,  —  I  should  but  repeat  what  I  said  in  my  last 
Speech  unto  you  in  this  place  :  and  therefore  I  forbear.  When 
you  were  entered  upon  this  Government;  ravelling  into  it  — 


1655.  SPEECH  IV.  409 

You  kuow  I  took  no  notice  what  you  were  doing  —  [JVbr  will 
now,  your  Jliyhness  ;  let  the  Sentence  drop  /]  —  If  you  had  gone 
upon  that  foot  of  account,  To  have  made  such  good  and  whole- 
some provisions  for  the  Good  of  the  People  of  these  Nations 
[as  were  wanted] ;  for  the  settling  of  such  matters  in  things 
of  Religion  as  would  have  upheld  and  given  countenance  to 
a  Godly  Ministry,  and  yet  [as]  would  have  given  a  just  liberty 
to  godly  men  of  different  judgments,  —  [to]  men  of  the  same 
faith  with  them  that  you  call  the  Orthodox  Ministry  in  Eng- 
land, as  it  is  well  known  the  Independents  are,  and  many 
under  the  form  of  Baptism,  who  are  sound  in  the  faith,  and 
though  they  may  perhaps  be  different  in  judgment  in  some 
lesser  matters,  yet  as  true  Christians  both  looking  for  salva- 
tion only  by  faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  men  professing  the 
fear  of  God,  and  having  recourse  to  the  name  of  God  as  to  a 
strong  tower,  —  I  say  you  might  have  had  opportunity  to  have 
settled  peace  and  quietness  amongst  all  professing  Godliness  ; 
and  might  have  been  instrumental,  if  not  to  have  healed  the 
breaches,  yet  to  have  kept  the  Godly  of  all  judgments  from 
running  one  upon  another ;  and  by  keeping  them  from  being 
overrun  by  a  Common  Enemy,  [have]  rendered  them  and  these 
Nations  both  secure,  happy  and  well  satisfied.  [And  the  Con- 
stitution'.' Ham-m-/m!~\ 

"  Are  these  things  done  ;  or  any  things  towards  them  ?  Is 
thrn:  not  yet  upon  the  spirits  of  men  a  strange  itch  ?  Nothing 
will  satisfy  them  unless  they  can  press  their  linger  upon  their 
bivt.hren's  consciences,  to  pinch  them  there.  To  do  this  was 
no  part  of  the  Contest  we  had  with  the  Common  Adversary. 
For  [indeed]  Religion  was  not  the  thing  at  first  contested  for 
[at  all]  : '  but  God  brought  it  to  that  issue  at  last ;  and  gav« 
it  unto  us  by  way  of  redundancy  ;  and  at  last  it  proved  to  be 
that  which  was  most  dear  to  us.  And  wherein  consisted  this 
more  than  In  obtaining  that  liberty  from  the  tyranny  of  the 
l.ishops  to  all  species  of  Protestants  to  worship  God  according 
to  their  own  light  and  consciences  ?  For  want  of  which  many  of 
our  brethren  forsook  their  native  countries  to  seek  their  bread 

'  Power  of  thr  Militia  was  thi-  jM>int  U|K>II  whii-li  th«-  :i'-'u.d  War  began 
A  fUtoment  uut  fab* ,  yet  truer  in  form  than  it  is  iu  caseuce.  ^ 


470  PAKT  VIII.     FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  22  Jan. 

from  strangers,  and  to  live  in  howling  wildernesses  [Our  poor 
brethren  of  New  England  /]  ;  and  for  which  also  many  that  re- 
mained here  were  imprisoned,  and  otherwise  abused  and  made 
the  scorn  of  the  Nation.  Those  that  were  sound  in  the  faith, 
how  proper  was  it  for  them  to  labor  for  liberty,  for  a  just 
liberty,  that  men  might  not  be  trampled  upon  for  their  con- 
sciences !  Had  not  they  [themselves]  labored,  but  lately, 
under  the  weight  of  persecution  ?  And  was  it  fit  for  them 
to  sit  heavy  upon  others  ?  Is  it  ingenuous  to  ask  liberty,  and 
not  to  give  it  ?  What  greater  hypocrisy  than  for  those  who 
were  oppressed  by  the  Bishops  to  become  the  greatest  op- 
pressors themselves,  so  soon  as  their  yoke  was  removed  ?  I 
could  wish  that  they  who  call  for  liberty  now  also  had  not  too 
much  of  that  spirit,  if  the  power  were  in  their  hands !  —  As 
for  profane  persons,  blasphemers,  such  as  preach  sedition ; 
the  contentious  railers,  evil-speakers,  who  seek  by  evil  words 
to  corrupt  good  manners;  persons  of  loose  conversation, — 
punishment  from  the  Civil  Magistrate  ought  to  meet  with 
these.  Because,  if  they  pretend  conscience ;  yet  walking  dis- 
orderly and  not  according  but  contrary  to  the  Gospel,  and 
even  to  natural  lights,  —  they  are  judged  of  all.  And  their 
sins  being  open,  make  them  subjects  of  the  Magistrate's  sword, 
who  ought  not  to  bear  it  in  vain.  —  The  discipline  of  the  Army 
was  such,  that  a  man  would  not  be  suffered  to  remain  there, 
of  whom  we  could  take  notice  he  was  guilty  of  such  practices 
as  these.  — 

"  And  therefore  how  happy  would  England  have  been,  and 
you  and  I,  if  the  Lord  had  led  you  on  to  have  settled  upon 
such  good  accounts  as  these  are,  and  to  have  discountenanced 
such  practices  as  the  other,  and  left  men  in  disputable  things 
free  to  their  own  consciences  !  Which  was  well  provided  for 
by  the  [Instrument  of]  Government ;  and  liberty  left  to  pro- 
vide against  what  was  apparently  evil.  Judge  you,  Whether 
the  contesting  for  things  that  were  provided  for  by  this  Gov- 
ernment hath  been  profitable  expense  of  time,  for  the  good  of 
these  Nations  !  By  means  whereof  you  may  see  you  have 
wholly  elapsed  your  time,  and  done  just  nothing!  —  I  will 
say  this  to  you,  in  behalf  of  the  Long  Parliament :  That,  had 


ifcvi.  SPEECH   IV.  471 

such  an  expedient  as  this  Government  been  proposed  to  them  ; 
and  could  they  have  seen  the  Cause  of  God  thus  provided  for ; 
and  been,  by  debates,  enlightened  in  the  grounds  [of  it],  where- 
by the  difficulties  might  have  been  cleared  [to  them],  and  the 
reason  of  the  whole  enforced,  and  the  circumstances  of  time 
and  persons,  with  the  temper  and  disposition  of  the  People, 
and  affairs  l>oth  abroad  and  at  home  when  it  was  undertaken 
might  have  been  well  weighed  [by  them]  :  I  think  in  my  con 
science,  —  well  as  they  were  thought  to  love  their  seats,  —  they 
would  have  proceeded  in  another  manner  than  you  have  done ! 
And  not  have  exposed  things  to  these  difficulties  and  hazards 
they  now  are  at;  nor  given  occasion  to  leave  the  People  so 
dissettled  as  they  now  are.  Who,  I  dare  say,  in  the  soberest 
and  most  judicious  part  of  them,  did  expect,  not  a  questioning, 
l»ut  a  doing  of  things  in  pursuance  of  the  [Instrument  of] 
Government.  And  if  I  be  not  misinformed,  very  many  of 
you  came  up  with  this  satisfaction ;  having  had  time  enough 
to  weigh  and  consider  the  same. 

"  And  when  I  say  '  such  an  expedient  as  this  Government/ 

—  wherein  I  dare  assert  there  is  a  just  Liberty  to  the  People 
of  God,  and  the  just  Rights  of  the  People  in  these  Nations 
provided  for,  —  I  can  put  the  issue  thereof  upon  the  clearest 
reason ;  whatsoever  any  go  alxnit  to  suggest  to  the  contrary. 
Hut  this  not  being  the  time  and  place  of  such  an  averment 
[I  forbear  at  present].     For  satisfaction's  sake  herein,  enough 
is  said  in  a  Book  entituled  'A  State  of  t/te  Case  of  the  Common- 
ir,,iltkj  published  in  January,  1G53.1     And  for  myself,  I  desire 
not  to  keep  my  place  in  this  Government  an  hour  longer  than 
I  may  preserve  England  in  its  just  rights,  and  may  protect  the 
iVople  of  God  in  such  a  just  Liberty  of  their  Consciences  as 
I   have  already  mentioned.     And  therefore  if  this  Parliament 
have  jud-i-il  tilings  to  be  otherwise  than  as  I  have  stated  them, 

—  it  had  been  huge  friendliness  between  persons  who  had  such 
a  reciprocation  in  so  great  concernments  to  the  public,  for  them 
to  have  convinced  me  in  what  particulars  therein  my  error  lay  ! 

1  Read  it  he  who  wanta  «atisf:i<  ti<m  "  rrininl  liy  Thomas  Newcomb,  Lon- 
don, 1653-4; " —  "wruU'with  prr;it  spirit  <>f  l.m^ua^  ami  suhtilty  of  «rgu 
ineiit,"  wya  the  rarliammlary  Hillary  (xx.  41'J) 


472  PART  VIII.    FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  22  Jan. 

Of  which  I  never  yet  had  a  word  from  you  !  But  if,  instead 
thereof,  your  time  has  been  spent  in  setting  up  somewhat  else, 
upon  another  bottom  than  this  stands  [upon],  —  it  looks  as  if 
the  laying  grounds  for  a  quarrel  had  rather  been  designed  than 
to  give  the  People  settlement.  If  it  be  thus,  it 's  well  your 
labors  have  not  arrived  to  any  maturity  at  all !  [Old  Parlia- 
ment looks  agitated  ;  —  agitated,  yet  constant  /] 

"  This  Government  called  you  hither ;  the  constitution  there- 
of being  limited  so,  —  a  Single  Person  and  a  Parliament.  And 
this  was  thought  most  agreeable  to  the  general  sense  of  the 
Nation; — having  had  experience  enough,  by  trial,  of  other 
conclusions  ;  judging  this  most  likely  to  avoid  the  extremes 
of  Monarchy  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  Democracy  on  the  other ; 
—  and  yet  not  to  found  Dominium  in  Gratia,  [either.  —  Your 
Highness  does  not  claim  to  be  here  as  Kings  do,  By  Gi'ace,  then  ? 
No  /]  And  if  so,  then  certainly  to  make  the  Authority  more 
than  a  mere  notion,  it  was  requisite  that  it  should  be  as  it  is 
in  this  [Frame  of]  Government;  which  puts  it  upon  a  true 
and  equal  balance.  It  has  been  already  submitted  to  the  judi- 
cious, true  and  honest  People  of  this  Nation,  Whether  the  bal- 
ance be  not  equal  ?  And  what  their  judgment  is,  is  visible,  — 
by  submission  to  it ;  by  acting  upon  it ;  by  restraining  their 
Trustees  from  meddling  with  it.  And  it  neither  asks  nor 
needs  any  better  ratification  !  [Hear  /]  But  when  Trustees 
in  Parliament  shall,  by  experience,  find  any  evil  in  any  parts 
of  this  [Frame  of  ]  Government,  [a  question]  referred  by  the 
Government  itself  to  the  consideration  of  the  Protector  and 
Parliament,  —  of  which  evil  or  evils  Time  itself  will  be  the 
best  discoverer:  —  how  can  it  be  reasonably  imagined  that  a 
Person  or  Persons,  coming  in  by  election,  and  standing  under 
such  obligations,  and  so  limited,  and  so  necessitated  by  oath 
to  govern  for  the  People's  good,  and  to  make  their  love,  under 
God,  the  best  underpropping  and  only  safe  footing :  —  how 
can  it,  I  say,  be  imagined  that  the  present  or  succeeding  Pro- 
tectors will  refuse  to  agree  to  alter  any  such  thing  in  the  Gov- 
ernment as  may  be  found  to  be  for  the  good  of  the  People  ? 
Or  to  recede  from  anything  which  he  might  be  convinced  casts 
the  balance  too  much  to  the  Single  Person  ?  And  although, 


IBM.  SPEECH  nr  i: .; 

for  the  present,  the  keeping  up  and  having  in  his  power  tne 
Miliua  seems  the  hardest  [condition],  yet  if  the  power  of  the 
Militia  should  be  yielded  up  at  such  a  time  as  this,  when  there 
is  as  much  need  of  it  to  keep  this  Cause  (now  most  evidently 
impugned  by  all  Enemies),  as  there  was  to  yet  it  [for  the  sake 
of  this  Cause].  —  what  would  become  of  us  all!  Or  if  it 
should  not  be  equally  placed  in  him  and  the  Parliament,  but 
yielded  up  at  any  time,  —  it  determines  his  power  either  for 
doing  the  good  he  ought,  or  hindering  Parliaments  from  per- 
petuating themselves ;  from  imposing  what  Religion  they  please 
on  the  consciences  of  men,  or  what  Government  they  please 
upon  the  Nation.  Thereby  subjecting  us  to  dissettlement  ii: 
every  Parliament,  and  to  the  desperate  consequences  thereof. 
And  if  the  Nation  shall  happen  to  fall  into  a  blessed  Peace, 
how  easily  and  certainly  will  their  charge  be  taken  off,  and 
their  forces  be  disbanded !  And  then  where  will  the  danger 
be  to  have  the  Militia  thus  stated  ?  —  What  if  I  should  say  : 
If  there  be  a  disproportion,  or  disequality  as  to  the  power,  i; 
is  on  the  other  hand !  — 

"  And  if  this  be  so,  Wherein  have  you  had  cause  to  quarrel  ? 
What  demonstrations  have  you  held  forth  to  settle  me  to  your 
opinion  ?  I  would  you  had  made  me  so  happy  as  to  have  let 
me  known  your  grounds  1  I  have  made  a  free  and  ingenuous 
confession  of  my  faith  to  you.  And  I  could  have  wished  it 
had  been  in  your  hearts  to  have  agreed  that  some  friendly  and 
cordial  debates  might  have  been  toward  mutual  conviction. 
Was  there  none  amongst  you  to  move  such  a  thing  ?  No  lit 
n. -ss  to  listen  to  it?  No  desire  of  a  right  understanding? 
If  it  IK;  not  folly  in  me  to  listen  to  Town  talk,  such  thin  • 
li-ii;-  l..-1-n  proposed;  and  rejected,  with  stillness  and  .severity, 
•  nice  .iii.l  again  Was  it  not  likely  to  have  been  more  advun 
tagj-ous  to  the  good  of  this  Nation  ?  I  will  say  this  to  you 
tor  myself  i  and  to  that  I  have  my  conscience  as  a  thousan-1 
witnesses,  and  I  have  my  comfort  and  contentment  in  it;  and 
I  have  the  witness  [too]  of  divers  here,  who  I  think  truly 
[would]  scorn  to  own  me  in  a  lie  :  That  I  would  not  have  been 
averse  to  any  alteration,  of  the  good  of  which  I  mk'ht  have 
been  convinced.  Although  1  could  not  huvo  agreed  to  the 


474  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT. 

taking  it  off  the  foundation  on  which  it  stands ;  namely,  the 
acceptance  and  consent  of  the  People.  [""  Our  sanction  not 
needed^  then  !  "J 

"I  will  not  presage  what  you  have  been  about,  or  doing, 
in  all  this  time.  Nor  do  I  love  to  make  conjectures.  But  I 
must  tell  you  this :  That  as  I  undertook  this  Government  in 
the  simplicity  of  my  heart  and  as  before  God,  and  to  do  the 
part  of  an  honest  man,  and  to  be  true  to  the  Interest,  —  which 
in  my  conscience  [I  think]  is  dear  to  many  of  you;  though 
it  is  not  always  understood  what  God  in  His  wisdom  may  hide 
from  us,  as  to  Peace  and  Settlement :  —  so  I  can  say  that  no 
particular  interest,  either  of  myself,  estate,  honor  or  family, 
are,  or  have  been,  prevalent  with  me  to  this  undertaking.  For 
if  you  had,  upon  the  old  Government,1  offered  me  this  one, 
this  one  thing,  —  I  speak  as  thus  advised,  and  before  God  ; 
as  having  been  to  this  day  of  this  opinion ;  and  this  hath  been 
my  constant  judgment,  well  known  to  many  who  hear  me 
speak  :  —  if  [I  say]  this  one  thing  had  been  inserted,  this  one 
thing,  That  the  Government  should  have  been  placed  in  my 
Family  hereditarily,  I  would  have  rejected  it ! a  And  I  could 
have  done  no  other  according  to  my  present  conscience  and 
light.  I  will  tell  you  my  reason ;  —  though  I  cannot  tell  what 
God  will  do  with  me,  nor  with  you,  nor  with  the  Nation,  for 
throwing  away  precious  opportunities  committed  to  us 

"  This  hath  been  my  principle ;  and  I  liked  it,  when  this 
Government  came  first  to  be  proposed  to  me,  That  it  puts  us 
off  that  hereditary  way.  Well  looking  that  God  hath  de- 
clared what  Government  He  delivered  to  the  Jews,  and  [that 
He]  placed  it  upon  such  Persons  as  had  been  instrumental  for 
the  Conduct  and  Deliverance  of  His  People.  And  considering 
that  Promise  in  Isaiah,  'That  God  would  give  Rulers  as  at 
the  first,  and  Judges  as  at  the  beginning,'  I  did  not  know  but 

J  Means  "  the  existing  Instrument  of  Government "  without  modification 
of  yours. 

2  The  matter  in  debate,  running  very  high  at  this  juncture,  in  the  Parlia- 
ment, was  with  regard  to  the  Single  1'ersou's  being  hereditary  Hence  partly 
the  Protector's  emphasis  here- 


SPEECH  IV.  475 

that  God  might  [now]  begin,  —  and  though,  at  present,  with 
a  most  unworthy  person ;  yet,  as  to  the  future,  it  might  be 
after  this  manner ;  and  I  thought  this  might  usher  it  in  !  [A 
noble  thouyht,  your  Highness  /]  I  am  speaking  as  to  my  judg- 
ment against  making  Government  hereditary.  To  have  men 
chosen,  for  their  love  to  God,  and  to  Truth  and  Justice ;  and 
not  to  have  it  hereditary.  For  as  it  is  in  the  Ecclesiastes  : 
•  Who  knoweth  whether  he  may  beget  a  fool  or  a  wise  man  ?  ' 
Honest  or  not  honest,  whatever  they  be,  they  must  come  in, 
on  that  plan  ;  because  the  Government  is  made  a  patrimony  ! 
And  this  I  perhaps  do  declare  with  too  much  earnestness ;  as 
being  my  own  concernment;  — and  know  not  what  place  it  may 
have  in  your  hearts,  and  in  those  of  the  Good  People  in  the 
Nation.  But  however  it  be,  I  have  comfort  in  this  my  truth 
and  plainness. 

"  I  have  thus  told  you  my  thoughts ;  which  truly  I  have  de- 
clared to  you  in  the  fear  of  God,  as  knowing  He  will  not 
l>e  mocked;  and  in  the  strength  of  God,  as  knowing  and  re- 
joicing that  I  am  supported  in  my  speaking;  —  especially  when 
I  do  not  form  or  frame  things  without  the  compass  of  in- 
tegrity and  honesty ;  [so]  that  my  own  conscience  gives  me 
not  the  lie  to  what  I  say.  And  then  in  what  I  say,  I  can 
rejoice. 

'•  Now  to  speak  a  word  or  two  to  you.  Of  that,  I  must  pro- 
11  the  name  of  the  same  Lord,  and  wish  there  had  been 
no  cause  that  I  should  have  thus  spoken  to  you!  I  told  you 
that  I  came  with  joy  tho  first  time;  with  some  regret  the  sec- 
ond ;  yet  now  I  speak  with  most  regret  of  all !  I  look  upon 
you  as  having  :imong  you  many  persons  that  I  could  lay  down 
my  life  individually  for.  I  could,  through  tin  ^raee  of  God, 
desire  to  lay  down  my  life  for  yon.  So  far  am  I  from  having 
an  unkind  or  unchristian  heart  towards  you  in  your  particular 
capacities !  I  have  this  indeed  ;is  a  work  most  incumbent 
upon  me  [this  of  speaking  the^e  tiling  to  you].  I  consulted 
what  might.  IN-  my  duty  in  sm-li  a  day  as  this;  casting  up  all 
considerations.  1  must  cm  I  told  you.  that  I  did  think 

occasionally,  This  Nation  h.nl  suffered  extremely  in  the  respects 
mentioned ;  as  also  in  the  disappointment  of  their  expec* 


476  PART  VIIT.    FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  22 Jan. 

tations  of  that  justice  which  was  due  to  them  by  your  sitting 
thus  long.  [Sitting  thus  long;]  and  what  have  you  brought 
forth  ?  I  did  not  nor  cannot  comprehend  what  it  is.  I  would 
be  loath  to  call  it  a  Fate ;  that  were  too  paganish  a  word.  But 
there  has  been  Something  in  it  that  we  had  not  in  our  expec- 
tations. 

"  I  did  think  also,  for  myself,  That  I  am  like  to  meet  with 
difficulties ;  and  that  this  Nation  will  not,  as  it  is  fit  it  should 
not,  be  deluded  with  pretexts  of  Necessity  in  that  great  busi- 
ness of  raising  of  Money.  And  were  it  not  that  I  can  make 
some  dilemmas  upon  which  to  resolve  some  things  of  my  con- 
science, judgment  and  actions,  I  should  sink  at  the  very  pros- 
pect of  my  encounters.  Some  of  them  are  general,  some  are 
more  special.  [Hear  the  "dilemmas"]  Supposing  this  Cause 
or  this  Business  must  be  carried  on,  it  is  either  of  God  or  of 
man.  If  it  be  of  man,  I  would  I  had  never  touched  it  with  a 
finger.  [Hear  /]  If  I  had  not  had  a  hope  fixed  in  me  that 
this  Cause  and  this  Business  was  of  God,  I  would  many  years 
ago  have  run  from  it.  If  it  be  of  God,  He  will  bear  it  up.  [  Yea  /] 
If  it  be  of  man,  it  will  tumble ;  as  everything  that  hath  been 
of  man  since  the  world  began  hath  done.  And  what  are  all 
our  Histories,  and  other  Traditions  of  Actions  in  former  times, 
but  God  manifesting  Himself,  that  He  hath  shaken,  and 
tumbled  down,  and  trampled  upon,  everything  that  He  had 
not  planted  ?  [  Yes,  your  Highness  ;  such  is,  was  and  forever 
will  be,  the  History  of  Man,  deeply  as  we  poor  Moderns  have  now 
forgotten  it:  and  the  Bible  of  every  Nation  is  its  Own  History  - 
if  it  have,  or  had,  any  real  Bible  /]  And  as  this  is,  so  [let] 
the  All-wise  God  deal  with  it.  If  this  be  of  human  structure 
and  invention,  and  if  it  be  an  old  Plotting  and  Contriving  to 
bring  things  to  this  Issue,  and  that  they  are  not  the  Births  of 
Providence, — then  they  will  tumble.  But  if  the  Lord  take 
pleasure  in  England,  and  if  He  will  do  us  good,  —  He  is  very  able 
to  bear  us  up  !  Let  the  difficulties  be  whatsoever  they  will,  we 
shall  in  His  strength  be  able  to  encounter  with  them.  And  I 
bless  God  I  have  been  inured  to  difficulties  ;  and  I  never  found 
God  failing  when  I  trusted  in  Him.  I  can  laugh  and  sing,  in 
my  heart,  when  I  speak  of  these  things  to  you  or  elsewhere. 


1655. 


SPEECH   IV.  477 


And  though  some  may  think  it  is  an  hard  thing  To  raise 
Money  without  Parliamentary  Authority  upon  this  Nation; 
yd  I  have  another  argument  to  the  Good  People  of  this  Na- 
tion, if  they  would  be  safe,  and  yet  have  no  better  principle: 
Whether  they  prefer  the  having  of  their  will  though  it  be 
their  destruction,  rather  than  comply  with  things  of  Neces- 
sity ?  That  will  excuse  me.  But  I  should  wrong  my  native 
country  to  suppose  this. 

"  For  I  look  at  the  People  of  these  Nations  as  the  blessing 
of  the  Lord :  and  they  are  a  People  blessed  by  God.  They 
have  been  so ;  and  they  will  be  so,  by  reason  of  that  immortal 
seed  which  hath  been,  and  is,  among  them  :  those  Regenerated 
Ones  in  the  land,  of  several  judgments ;  who  are  all  the  Flock 
of  Christ,  and  lambs  of  Cnrist.  [His,]  though  perhaps  under 
many  unruly  passions,  and  troubles  of  spirit;  whereby  they 
give  disquiet  to  themselves  and  others :  yet  they  are  not  so  to 
God;  since  to  us  He  is  a  God  of  other  patience;  and  He  will 
own  the  least  of  Truth  in  the  hearts  of  His  People.  And  the 
People  being  the  blessing  of  God,  they  will  not  be  so  angry 
but  they  will  prefer  their  safety  to  their  passions,  and  their 
renl  security  to  forms,  when  Necessity  calls  for  Supplies.  Had 
they  not  well  been  acquainted  with  this  principle,  they  had 
never  seen  this  day  of  Gospel  Liberty. 

*  1 5ut  if  any  man  shall  object,  '  It  is  an  easy  thing  to  talk 
Necessities  when  men  create  Necessities:  would  not  the 
Lord  Protector  make  himself  great  and  his  family  great? 
Doth  not  he  make  these  Necessities?  And  then  he  will 
come  upon  the  People  with  his  argument  of  Necessity!' 
-  This  were  something  hard  indeed.  But  I  have  not  yet 
known  what  it  is  to  'make  Necessities,'  whatsoever  the 
thoughts  or  judgments  of  men  are.  And  I  say  this,  not  only 
to  this  Assembly,  but  to  the  world,  That  the  man  liveth  not 
who  can  come  to  me  and  charge  me  with  having,  in  these 
great  Revolutions,  'made  Necessities.'  I  challenge  even  all 
that  fear  God.  And  as  God  hath  said,  '  My  glory  I  will  not 
give  unto  another.' let  men  tnke  heed  and  be  twice  ;nl\isr,l 
how  they  call  His  Revolutions,  the  things  of  God,  ;nnl  H  ; 
'  .  tmiu  om-  jH-rioil  l<>  ;uiutlici, — how,  I  say, 


478  PART  VIII.    FIRST   PARLIAMENT.  39  Jan. 

they  call  them  Necessities  of  men's  creation!  For  by  so 
doing,  they  do  vilify  and  lessen  the  works  of  God,  and  rob 
Him  of  His  glory  ;  which  He  hath  said  He  will  not  give  unto 
another,  nor  suffer  to  be  taken  from  Him !  We  know  what 
God  did  to  Herod,  when  he  was  applauded  and  did  not  ac- 
knowledge God.  And  God  knoweth  what  He  will  do  with 
men,  when  they  call  His  Revolutions  human  designs,  and  so 
detract  from  His  glory.  These  issues  and  events  have  not 
been  forecast ;  but  [were]  sudden  Providences  in  things : 
whereby  carnal  and  worldly  men  are  enraged ;  and  under  and 
at  whicli,  many,  and  I  fear  some  good  men,  have  murmured 
and  repined,  because  disappointed  of  their  mistaken  fancies. 
But  still  all  these  things  have  been  the  wise  disposings  of  the 
Almighty  ;  though  instruments  have  had  their  passions  and 
frailties.  And  I  think  it  is  an  honor  to  God  to  acknowledge 
the  Necessities  to  have  been  of  God's  imposing,  when  truly 
they  have  been  so,  as  indeed  they  have.  Let  us  take  our  sin 
in  our  actions  to  ourselves ;  it 's  much  more  safe  than  to  judge 
things  so  contingent,  as  if  there  were  not  a  God  that  ruled 
the  Earth  ! 

"  We  know  the  Lord  hath  poured  this  Nation  from  vessel 
to  vessel,  till  He  poured  it  into  your  lap,  when  you  came  first 
together.  I  am  confident  that  it  came  so  into  your  hands ; 
and  was  not  judged  by  you  to  be  from  counterfeited  or  feigned 
Necessity,  but  by  Divine  Providence  and  Dispensation.  And 
this  I  speak  with  more  earnestness,  because  I  speak  for  God 
and  not  for  men.  I  would  have  any  man  to  come  and  tell  of 
the  Transactions  that  have  been,  and  of  those  periods  of  time 
wherein  God  hath  made  these  Revolutions;  and  find  where 
he  can  fix  a  feigned  Necessity  !  I  could  recite  particulars,  if 
either  my  strength  would  serve  me  to  speak,  or  yours  to  hear. 
If  you  would  consider  *  the  great  Hand  of  God  in  his  great 
Dispensations,  you  would  find  that  there  is  scarce  a  man  who 
fell  off,  at  any  period  of  time  when  God  had  any  work  to  do, 
who  can  give  God  or  His  work  at  this  day  a  good  word. 

"  '  It  was/  say  some,  '  the  cunning  of  the  Lord  Protector,'  — 
I  take  it  to  myself,  —  'it  was  the  craft  of  such  a  man,  and  his 

1  "  if  that  you  would  revolve  "  in  orig. 


1855.  SPEEC'II  IV.  479 

plot,  that  hath  brought  it  about ! '  And,  as  they  say  in  other 
countries,  •  There  are  five  or  six  cunning  men  in  England  that 
have  skill ;  they  do  all  these  things.'  Oh,  what  blasphemy  is 
this !  Because  men  that  are  without  God  in  the  world,  and 
walk  not  with  Him,  know  not  what  it  is  to  pray  or  believe, 
and  to  receive  returns  from  God,  and  to  be  spoken  unto  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  —  who  speaks  without  a  Written  Word  some- 
times, yet  according  to  it!  God  hath  spoken  heretofore  in 
divers  manners.  Let  him  speak  as  He  pleaseth.  Hath  He  not 
givi-n  us  liberty,  nay  is  it  not  our  duty,  To  go  to  the  Law  and 
the  Testimony  ?  And  there  we  shall  find  that  there  have  been 
impressions,  in  extraordinary  cases,  as  well  without  the  Writ- 
ten Word  as  with  it.  And  therefore  there  is  no  difference  in 
the  thing  thus  asserted  from  truths  generally  received,  —  ex- 
cept we  will  exclude  the  Spirit ;  without  whose  concurrence  all 
other  teachings  are  ineffectual.  [  Yea,  your  Highness  ;  the  true 
God's-  Voice,  Voice  of  the  Eternal)  is  in  the  heart  of  every  Man  ; 
—  there,  wherever  else  it  be.~]  He  doth  speak  to  the  hearts  and 
consciences  of  men  ;  and  leadeth  them  to  His  Law  and  Testi- 
mony, and  there  [also]  He  speaks  to  them :  and  so  gives  them 
double  teachings.  According  to  that  of  Job:  <  God  speaketh 
once,  yea  twice ; '  and  to  that  of  David :  '  God  hath  spoken 
once,  yea  twice  have  I  heard  this.'  These  men  that  live  upon 
their  mtimpsinnift  and  sumpsimus  \Bulstrode  looks  astonished"], 
their  Masses  and  Service-Books,  their  dead  and  carnal  wor- 
ship, —  no  marvel  if  they  be  strangers  to  God,  and  to  the 
works  of  God,  and  to  spiritual  dispensations.  And  because 
tin- ij  say  and  believe  thus,  must  we  do  so  too?  We,  in  this 
land,  luive  been  otherwise  instructed;  even  by  the  Word,  and 
Works,  and  Spirit  of  God. 

'•'  To  say  that  HKMI  bring  forth  these  things  when  God  doth 
them,  —  judge  you  if  God  will  bear  this?  I  wish  that  every 
sober  heart,  though  he  hath  had  temptations  upon  him  of  de- 
serting this  Cause  of  God,  yet  may  take  heed  how  he  provokes 
and  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  Living  God  by  such  blasphemies 
as  these!  According  to  tin-  '!'•  nth  of  the  Hebrews:  'If  we 
sin  wilfully  aft«-r  that  we  have  received  the  knowledge  of  Un- 
truth, there  remains  no  more  sacrifice  for  sin.'  [A  terrible 


480  PART  VIII.    FIRST    PARLIAMENT.  582  Jan. 

word.]  It  was  spoken  to  the  Jews  who,  having  professed 
Christ,  apostatized  from  Him.  What  then  ?  Nothing  but  a 
fearful  l  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Living  God ! '  —  They 
that  shall  attribute  to  this  or  that  person  the  contrivances  and 
production  of  those  mighty  things  God  hath  wrought  in  the 
midst  of  us ;  and  [fancy]  that  they  have  not  been  the  Revolu- 
tions of  Christ  Himself, '  upon  whose  shoulders  the  government 
is  laid,'  —  they  speak  against  God,  and  they  fall  under  His 
hand  without  a  Mediator.  That  is,  if  we  deny  the  Spirit  of 
Jesus  Christ  the  glory  of  all  His  works  in  the  world ;  by  which 
He  rnles  kingdoms,  and  doth  administer,  and  is  the  rod  of  His 
strength,  —  we  provoke  the  Mediator :  and  He  may  say :  I 
will  leave  you  to  God,  I  will  not  intercede  for  you ;  let  Him 
tear  you  to  pieces  !  I  will  leave  thee  to  fall  into  God's  hands ; 
thou  deniest  me  my  sovereignty  and  power  committed  to  me  ; 
I  will  not  intercede  nor  mediate  for  thee ;  thou  fallest  into  the 
hands  of  the  Living  God !  —  Therefore  whatsoever  you  may 
judge  men  for,  howsoever  you  may  say,  '  This  is  cunning,  and 
politic,  and  subtle,'  —  take  heed  again,  I  say,  how  you  judge 
of  His  Revolutions  as  the  product  of  men's  inventions !  — 
I  may  be  thought  to  press  too  much  upon  this  theme.  But 
I  pray  God  it  may  stick  upon  your  hearts  and  mine.  The 
worldly-minded  man  knows  nothing  of  this,  but  is  a  stranger 
to  it ;  and  thence  his  atheisms,  and  murmurings  at  instruments, 
yea  repining  at  God  Himself.  And  no  wonder ;  considering 
the  Lord  hath  done  such  things  amongst  us  as  have  not  been 
known  in  the  world  these  thousand  years,  and  yet  notwith- 
standing is  not  owned  by  us  !  — 

"  There  is  another  Necessity,  which  you  have  put  upon  us, 
and  we  have  not  sought.  I  appeal  to  God,  Angels  and  Men, 
—  if  I  shall  [now]  raise  money  according  to  the  Article  in  the 
Government  [whether  I  am  not  compelled  to  do  it!].  Which 
[Government]  had  power  to  call  you  hither;  and  did;  —  and 
instead  of  seasonably  providing  for  the  Army,  you  have  labored 
to  overthrow  the  Government,  and  the  Army  is  now  upon  Free- 
quarter  !  And  you  would  never  so  much  as  let  me  hear  a  tittle 
from  you  concerning  it.  Where  is  the  fault  ?  Has  it  not 
been  as  if  you  had  a  purpose  to  put  this  extremity  upon  us 


1*55.  SPEECH   IV.  481 

and  the  Nation  ?  I  hope,  this  was  not  in  your  minds.  I  am 
not  willing  to  judge  so :  —  but  such  is  the  state  into  which  we 
are  reduced.  By  the  designs  of  some  in  the  Army  who  are 
now  in  custody,  it  was  designed  to  get  as  many  of  them  as 
possible,  —  through  discontent  for  want  of  money,  the  Arm)' 
being  in  a  barren  country,  near  thirty  weeks  behind  in  pay. 
and  upon  other  specious  pretences,  —  to  march  for  England 
out  of  Scotland;  and,  in  discontent,  to  seize  their  General 
there  [General  Monk'],  a  faithful  and  honest  man,  that  so  an- 
other [Colonel  Overton~\  might  head  the  Army.  And  all  tins 
opportunity  taken  from  your  delays.  Whether  will  this  be  a 
thing  of  feigned  Necessity  ?  What  could  it  signify,  but  '  The 
Army  are  in  discontent  already ;  and  we  will  make  them  live 
upon  stones;  we  will  make  them  cast  off  their  governors  and 
discipline '  ?  What  can  be  said  to  this  ?  I  list  not  to  un- 
saddle myself,  and  put  the  fault  upon  your  backs.  Whether 
it  hath  been  for  the  good  of  England,  whilst  men  have  been 
talking  of  this  thing  or  the  other  [/><///<//«//  Cnnstitutions],  and 
pretending  liberty  and  many  good  words,  —  whether  it  has 
been  as  it  should  have  been  ?  I  am  confident  you  cannot 
think  it  has.  The  Nation  will  not  think  so.  And  if  the  worst 
should  be  made  of  things,  I  know  not  what  the  Cornish  men 
nor  the  Lincolnshire  men  may  think,  or  other  Counties ;  but 
I  believe  they  will  all  think  they  are  not  safe.  A  temporary 
suspension  of  'caring  for  the  greatest  liberties  and  privileges ' 
(if  it  were  so,  which  is  denied)  would  not  have  been  of  such 
damage  as  the  not  providing  against  Free-quarter  hath  run  the 
Nation  upon.  And  if  it  be  my  'liberty'  to  walk  abroad  in  the 
fields,  or  to  take  a  journey,  yet  it  is  not  my  wisdom  to  do  so 
when  my  house  is  on  fire !  — 

"  I  have  troubled  you  with  a  long  Speech  ;  and  I  believe  it 
may  not  have  the  same  resentment '  with  all  that  it  hath  with 
some.  But  because  that  is  unknown  to  me,  I  shall  leave  it  to 
God; — and  conclude  with  this:  That  I  think  myself  bound, 
as  in  my  duty  to  God,  and  to  the  People  of  these  Nations  for 
their  safety  and  good  in  ovcry  respect,  —  I  think  it  my  duty 
to  tell  you  that  it  is  not  for  the  profit  of  these  Nations,  nor 

1  Means  "KUM  excited  bjr  it." 
rot.  XVMI.  31 


482  PART  VITT.    FIRST  PARLIAMENT.      22  Jan.  ir,r,5. 

for  common  and  public  good,  for  you  to  continue  here  any 
longer.  And  therefore  I  do  declare  unto  you,  That  I  do  dis- 
solve this  Parliament."  1 

So  ends  the  First  Protectorate  Parliament ;  suddenly,  very 
unsuccessfully.  A  most  poor  hide-bound  Pedant  Parliament : 
which  reckoned  itself  careful  of  the  Liberties  of  England  ;  and 
was  careful  only  of  the  Sheepskin  Formulas  of  these ;  very 
blind  to  the  Realities  of  these  !  Regardless  of  the  facts  and 
clamorous  necessities  of  the  Present,  this  Parliament  consid- 
ered that  its  one  duty  was  to  tie  up  the  hands  of  the  Lord 
Protector  well ;  to  give  him  no  supplies,  no  power ;  to  make 
him  and  keep  him  the  bound  vassal  and  errand-man  of  this 
and  succeeding  Parliaments.  This  once  well  done,  they  thought 
all  was  done  :  —  Oliver  thought  far  otherwise.  Their  painful 
new-modelling  and  rebuilding  of  the  Instrument  of  Govern- 
ment, with  an  eye  to  this  sublime  object,  was  pointing  towards 
completion,  little  now  but  the  key-stones  to  be  let  in :  —  when 
Oliver  suddenly  withdrew  the  centres  !  Constitutional  arch 
3,nd  ashlar-stones,  scaffolding,  workmen,  mortar-troughs  and 
scaffold-poles  sink  in  swift  confusion  ;  and  disappear,  regretted 
or  remembered  by  no  person,  —  not  by  this  Editor  for  one. 

By  the  arithmetical  account  of  heads  in  England,  the  Lord 
Protector  may  surmise  that  he  has  lost  his  Enterprise.  But 
by  the  real  divine  and  human  worth  of  thinking-souls  in  Eng- 
land, he  still  believes  that  he  has  it ;  by  this,  and  by  a  higher 
mission  too;  —  and  "will  take  a  little  pleasure  to  lose  his  life" 
before  he  loses  it !  He  is  not  here  altogether  to  count  heads, 
or  to  count  costs,  this  Lord  Protector ;  he  is  in  the  breach 
of  battle ;  placed  there,  as  he  understands,  by  his  Great  Com- 
mander :  whatsoever  his  difficulties  be,  he  must  fight  them, 
cannot  quit  them  ;  must  fight  there  till  he  die.  This  is  the 
law  of  his  position,  in  the  eye  of  God,  and  also  of  men.  There 
is  no  return  for  him  out  of  this  Protectorship  he  has  got  into  ! 
Called  to  this  post  as  I  have  been,  placed  in  it  as  I  am,  "  To 
quit  it,  is  what  I  will  be  willing  to  be  rolled  into  my  grave, 
and  buried  with  infamy,  before  I  will  consent  unto!"-— 

1  Old  Pamphlet    reprinted  in  Parliamentary  History,  xx.  404-431. 


PART   IX. 

THE  MAJOR-GENERALS. 
1655-1656. 

CHRONOLOGICAL. 

THE  Plots  and  perils  to  the  Commonwealth  which  my  Lord 
Protector  spoke  of  to  his  honorable  Members,  were  not  an 
imagination,  but  a  very  tragic  reality.  Under  the  shadow  of 
this  Constitutioning  Parliament  strange  things  had  been  riju-n- 
ing :  without  some  other  eye  than  the  Parliament's,  Constitu- 
tion and  Commonwealth  in  general  had  been,  by  this  time,  in 
;i  lad  way !  A  universal  rising  of  Royalists  combined  with 
Anabaptists  is  in  a  real  state  of  progress.  Dim  meetings  there 
have  been  of  Royalist  Gentlemen,  on  nocturnal  moors,  in  this 
quarter  and  in  that,  "  with  cart-loads  of  arms," — terrified  at 
their  own  jingle,  and  rapidly  dispersing  again  till  the  grand 
hour  come.  Anabaptist  Levellers  have  had  dim  meetings, 
dim  communications ;  will  prefer  Charles  Stuart  himself  to 
tin-  traitor  Oliver,  who  has  dared  to  attempt  actual  "govern- 
ing" ut  men.  Charles  Stuart  has  come  down  to  Middle- 
burg,  on  the  Dutch  coast,  to  be  in  readiness ;  "  Hyde  is  cock- 
sure." *  From  the  dreary  old  Thurloes,  and  rubbish-continents, 
of  Spy  Letters,  Intercepted  Letters,  Letters  of  Intelligence; 
where,  scattered  at  huge  intervals,  the  History  of  England  for 
those  years  still  lies  entombed,  it  is  inaml>  i  •  n»u^h  what  a 
winter  and  spring  this  was  in  England.  A  Prut.vt.or  left  with- 
out supplies,  obliged  to  cut  his  Parliament  adrilt,  and  front 

l  Mouuiiig'tf  letter,  in  Tkurlot,  iii.  384. 


484  PART  IX.    THE   MAJOR-GENERALS.  12  Feb. 

the  matter  alone ;  England,  from  end  to  end  of  it,  ripe  for  an 
explosion  ;  for  a  universal  blazing  up  of  all  the  heterogeneous 
combustibilities  it  had ;  the  Sacred  Majesty  waiting  at  Middle- 
burg,  and  Hyde  cock-sure  ! 

Nevertheless  it  came  all  to  nothing ;  —  there  being  a  Pro- 
tector in  it.  The  Protector,  in  defect  of  Parliaments,  issued 
his  own  Ordinance,  the  best  he  could,  for  payment  of  old  rates 
and  taxes ;  which,  as  the  necessity  was  evident,  and  the  sum 
fixed  upon  was  low,  rather  lower  than  had  been  expected,  the 
Country  quietly  complied  with.  Indispensable  supply  was 
obtained :  and  as  for  the  Plots,  the  Protector  had  long  had 
his  eye  on  them,  had  long  had  his  nooses  round  them ;  —  the 
Protector  strangled  them  everywhere  at  the  moment  suitablest 
for  him,  and  lodged  the  ringleaders  of  them  in  the  Tower.  Let 
us,  as  usual,  try  to  extricate  a  few  small  elucidative  facts  from 
the  hideous  old  Pamphletary  Imbroglio,  where  facts  and  fig- 
ments, ten  thousand  facts  of  no  importance  to  one  fact  of  some, 
lie  mingled,  like  the  living  with  the  dead,  in  noisome  darkness 
all  of  them :  once  extricated,  they  may  assist  the  reader's 
fancy  a  little.  Of  Oliver's  own  in  reference  to  this  period,  too 
characteristic  a  period  to  be  omitted,  there  is  little  or  nothing 
left  us  :  a  few  detached  Letters,  hardly  two  of  them  very  sig- 
nificant of  Oliver ;  which  cannot  avail  us  much,  but  shall  be 
inserted  at  their  due  places. 

February  12th,  1654-5.  News  came  this  afternoon  that 
Major  John  Wildman,  chief  of  the  frantic  Anabaptist  Party, 
upon  whom  the  Authorities  have  had  their  eye  of  late,  has 
been  seized  at  Exton,  near  Marlborough,  in  Wilts ;  "  by  a  party 
of  Major  Butler's  horse."  In  his  furnished  lodging;  "in  a 
room  up-stairs ; "  his  door  stood  open :  stepping  softly  up,  the 
troopers  found  him  leaning  on  his  elbow,  dictating  to  his  clerk 
"  A  Declaration  of  the  free  and  well-affected  People  of  Eng- 
land now  in  Arms  [or  shortly  to  be  in  Arms]  against  the 
Tyrant  Oliver  Cromwell :  " l  a  forcible  piece,  which  can  still 
be  read,  but  only  as  a  fragment,  the  zealous  Major  never  hav- 
ing had  occasion  to  finish  it.  They  carried  him  to  Chepstow 

1  Whitloeke,  p.  599;   Cromwelliana,  p.  151. 


i«».  CHRONOLOGICAL,  485 

Castle ;  locked  him  up  there :  and  the  free  and  well-affected 
People  of  England  never  got  to  Arms  against  the  Tyrant,  but 
only  in  hopes  of  getting.  Wildman  was  in  the  last  Par- 
liament ;  but  could  not  sign  the  Recognition ;  went  away  in 
virtuous  indignation,  to  ;ict  against  the  Tyrant  by  stratagem 
In  nceforth.  He  has  been  the  centre  of  an  extensive  world  of 
Plots  this  winter,  as  his  wont  from  of  old  was  :  the  mainspring 
of  Royalist  Auabaptistry,  what  we  call  the  frantic  form  of 
Republicanism,  which  hopes  to  attain  its  object  by  assisting 
even  Charles  Stuart  against  the  Tyrant  Oliver.  A  stirring 
man  ;  very  flamy  and  very  fuliginous  :  perhaps,  since  Freeborn 
John  was  sealed  up  in  Jersey,  the  noisiest  man  in  England. 
The  turning  of  the  key  on  him  in  Chepstow  will  be  a  deliver- 
ance to  us  henceforth. 

We  take  his  capture  as  the  termination  of  the  Anabaptist- 
Royalist  department  of  the  Insurrection.  Thurloe  has  now 
got  all  the  threads  of  this  Wildman  business  in  his  hand  :  the 
ringleaders  are  laid  in  prison,  Harrison,  Lord  Grey  of  Groby 
and  various  others  ;  kept  there  out  of  harm's  way  ;  dealt  with 
in  a  rigorous,  yet  gentle,  and  what  we  must  call  great  and  man- 
ful manner.  It  is  remarked  of  Oliver  that  none  of  this  Party 
was  ever  brought  to  trial :  his  hope  and  wish  was  always  that 
they  might  yet  be  reconciled  to  him.  Colonel  Sexby,  once 
Captain  Sexby,  Trooper  Sexby,  our  old  acquaintance,  one  of 
Wildman's  people,  —  has  escaped  on  this  occasion:  better  for 
himself  had  he  been  captured  now,  and  saved  from  still  mad- 
der courses  he  got  into. 

Sunday,  March  llt/i,  16o4-5,  in  the  City  of  Salisbury,  about 
midnight,  there  occurs  a  thing  worth  noting.  What  may  1* 
i -ailed  the  general  outcome  of  the  Royalist  department  of  the 
1  usurruction.  This  too  over  England  generally  has,  in  all  quar- 
ters where  it  showed  itself,  found  some  "  Major  Butler  "  with 
due  "  troops  of  horse  "  to  seize  it,  to  trample  it  out,  and  lay  the 
ringleaders  under  lock  and  key.  Hardly  anywhere  could  it  get 
the  length  of  lighting :  too  happy  if  it  could  but  gallop  and 
hide.  In  Yorkshire,  there  was  some  appearance,  and  a  few 
shots  fired;  but  t«>  n«>  •  •fl'i-td:  i*K>r  Sir  Henry  Slingaby,  and  a 
Lord  Malevrier,  and  others  were  laid  hold  of  here  ;  of  whom 


PART  IX.    THE   MAJOR-GENERALS.          11  March, 

the  Lord  escaped  by  stratagem ;  and  poor  Sir  Henry  lies 
prisoner  in  Hull,  —  where  it  will  well  behoove  him  to  keep 
quiet  if  he  can!  But  on  the  Sunday  night  above  men- 
tioned, peaceful  Salisbury  is  awakened  from  its  slumbers  by 
a  real  advent  of  Cavaliers.  Sir  Joseph  Wagstaff,  "a  jolly 
knight "  of  those  parts,  once  a  Royalist  Colonel ;  he  with 
Squire  or  Colonel  Penruddock,  "a  gentleman  of  fair  for- 
tune," Squire  or  Major  Grove,  also  of  some  fortune,  and  about 
two  hundred  others,  did  actually  rendezvous  in  arms  about 
the  big  Steeple  that  Sunday  night,  and  ring  a  loud  alarm 
in  those  parts. 

It  was  Assize  time ;  the  Judges  had  arrived  the  day  before. 
Wagstaff  seizes  the  Judges  in  their  beds,  seizes  the  High 
Sheriff,  and  otherwise  makes  night  hideous ;  —  proposes  on 
the  morrow  to  hang  the  Judges,  as  a  useful  warning,  which 
Mr.  Hyde  thinks  it  would  have  been  ;  but  is  overruled  by 
Penruddock  and  the  rest.  He  orders  the  High  Sheriff  to  pro- 
claim King  Charles;  High  Sheriff  will  not,  not  though  you 
hang  him ;  Town-crier  will  not,  not  even  he  though  you  hang 
him.  The  Insurrection  does  not  speed  in  Salisbury,  it  would 
seem.  The  Insurrection  quits  Salisbury  on  Monday  night 
hearing  that  troopers  are  on  foot ;  marches  with  all  speed 
towards  Cornwall,  hoping  for-  better  luck  there.  Marches  ;  — 
but  Captain  Unton  Crook,  whom  we  once  saw  before,  marches 
also  in  the  rear  of  it ;  marches  swiftly,  fiercely ;  overtakes  it 
at  South  Molton  in  Devonshire  '-on  Wednesday  about  ten  at 
night,"  and  there  in  few  minutes  puts  an  end  to  it.  "  They 
fired  out  of  windows  on  us,"  but  could  make  nothing  of  it. 
We  took  Penruddock,  Grove,  and  long  lists  of  others :  Wag- 
staff  unluckily  escaped.1  The  unfortunate  men  were  tried,  at 
Exeter,  by  a  regular  assize  and  jury ;  were  found  guilty,  some 
of  High  Treason,  some  of  "  Horse-stealing:  "  Penruddock  and 
Grove,  stanch  Royalists  both  and  gallant  men,  were  beheaded ; 

1  Crook's  Letter, "  South  Molton,  15th  March,  1654,  two  or  three  in  the 
morning"  (King's  Pamphlets,  small  4to,  no.  637,  §  15).  State  Trials,  v.  767 
et  seqq. ;  Whitlocke,  p.  COl  ;  Thurloe.  iii.  365,  384,  391,  445;  Cramwel- 
liana,  pp  152,  153  — Official  Letters  ID  reference  to  this  Plot,  Appendix, 
No.2& 


1655.  CHRONOLOGICAL.  487 

several  were  hanged  ;  a  great  many  "  sent  to  Barbadoes  ; "  — 
and  this  Royalist  conflagration  too,  which  should  have  blazed 
all  over  England,  is  entirely  damped  out,  having  amounted  to 
smoke  merely,  whereby  many  eyes  are  bleared !  Indeed  so 
prompt  and  complete  is  the  extinction,  thankless  people  be- 
gin  to  say  there  had  never  been  anything  considerable  to 
extinguish.  Had  they  stood  in  the  middle  of  it,  —  had  they 
sivn  the  nocturnal  rendezvous  at  Marston  Moor,  seen  what 
Shrewsbury,  what  Rufford  Abbey,  what  North  Wales  in  gen- 
rnil,  would  have  grown  to  on  the  morrow,  —  in  that  case, 
thinks  the  Lord  Protector  not  without  some  indignation,  they 
had  known!1  Wagstaff  has  escaped,  and  Wilmot  Earl  of 
Rochester  so  called  ;  right  glad  to  be  beyond  seas  again ;  and 
will  look  twice  at  an  Insurrection  before  they  embark  in  it  in 
time  coming. 

A  terrible  Protector  this ;  no  getting  of  him  overset !  He 
has  the  ringleaders  all  in  his  hand,  in  prison  or  still  at  large ; 
—  as  they  love  their  estates  and  their  life,  let  them  be  quiet. 
He  can  take  your  estate :  —  is  there  not  proof  enough  to  take 
your  head,  if  he  pleases  ?  He  dislikes  shedding  blood ;  but  is 
very  apt "  to  barbadoes  "  an  unruly  man,  —  has  sent  and  sends  us 
liy  hundreds  to  Barbadoes,  so  that  we  have  made  an  active  verb 
of  it :  "  barbadoes  yon."  a  Safest  to  let  this  Protector  alone ! 
Charles  Stuart  withdraws  from  Middleburg  into  the  interior 
obscurities ;  and  Mr.  Hyde  will  not  be  so  cock-sure  another  time. 
Mr.  Hyde,  much  pondering  how  his  secret  could  have  been  let 
out,  finds  that  it  is  an  underling  of  his,  one  Mr.  Manning,  a  gen- 
tleman by  birth,  "  fond  of  fine  clothes,"  and  in  very  straitened 
circuiiistain  <  s  at  present,  who  has  been  playing  the  traitor. 
Indisputably  a  traitor:  wherefore  the  King  in  Council  has 
him  doomed  to  death;  has  him  shot,  in  winter  following,  "  in 
MM-  Duke  of  Neuburg's  territory."'  Diligent  Thurloe  finds 
is  to  take  his  place. 

M<nj  L'S//(,  1665.  Desborow,  who  commands  the  Reguhir 
Troops  in  that  insurrectionary  Southwest  region,  is,  by  Com- 

1  I  'oste*.  Speech  V. 

*  Intercepted  Letters,  ThnrW,  iii. 

•  Clarendon,  iii.  752;  Whitlocke.p.  618  (Dec.  1655) ;  Lndlow,  ii  606. 


488  PART  IX.    THE   MAJOR-GENERALS.  28  May, 

mission  bearing  date  this  day,  appointed  Major-General  of  the 
Militia-forces  likewise,  and  of  all  manner  of  civic  and  mili- 
tary forces  at  the  disposal  of  the  Commonwealth  in  those 
parts,  Major-General  over  six  counties  specified  in  this  Docu- 
ment ;  with  power  somewhat  enlarged,  and  not  easy  to  specify, 
—  power,  in  fact,  to  look  after  the  peace  of  the  Common- 
wealth there,  and  do  what  the  Council  of  State  shall  order 
him.1  He  coerces  Royalists ;  questions,  commits  to  custody 
suspected  persons  ;  keeps  down  disturbance  by  such  methods 
as,  on  the  spot,  he  finds  wisest.  A  scheme  found  to  answer 
well.  The  beginning  of  a  universal  Scheme  of  MAJOR-GEN- 
ERALS, which  develops  itself  into  full  maturity  in  the  autumn 
of  this  year  ;  the  Lord  Protector  and  his  Council  of  State  hav- 
ing well  considered  it  in  the  interim,  and  found  it  the  feasi- 
blest;  if  not  good,  yet  best. 

By  this  Scheme,  which  we  may  as  well  describe  here  as 
afterwards,  All  England  is  divided  into  Districts  ;  Ten  Dis- 
tricts, a  Major-General  for  each ;  let  him  be  a  man  most 
carefully  chosen,  a  man  of  real  wisdom,  valor  and  veracity, 
a  man  fearing  God  and  hating  covetousness ;  for  his  powers 
are  great.  He  looks  after  the  Good  of  the  Commonwealth, 
spiritual  and  temporal,  as  he  finds  wisest.  Ejects,  or  aids  in 
ejecting,  scandalous  ministers;  summons  disaffected,  suspected 
persons  before  him ;  demands  an  account  of  them  ;  sends  them 
to  prison,  failing  an  account  that  satisfies  him; — and  there 
is  no  appeal  except  to  the  Protector  in  Council.  His  force 
is  the  Militia  of  his  Counties  ;  horse  and  foot,  levied  and 
kept  in  readiness  for  the  occasion ;  especially  troops  of  horse. 
Involving,  of  course,  new  expense ;  —  which  we  decide  that 
the  Plotting  Royalists,  who  occasion  it,  shall  pay.  On  all 
Royalist  disaffected  Persons  the  Major-General  therefore,  as 
his  first  duty,  is  to  lay  an  Income-tax  of  Ten  per  cent ;  let 
them  pay  it  quietly,  or  it  may  be  worse  for  them.  They 
pay  it  very  quietly.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  Country  sub- 
mits very  quietly  to  this  arrangement; — the  Major-Generals 
being  men  carefully  chosen.  "  It  is  an  arbitrary  Government ! " 
murmur  many.  Yes  ;  arbitrary,  but  beneficial.  These  are  powers 
1  Thurloe,  iii.  486. 


1855  CHRONOLOGICAL.  489 

unknown  to  the  English  Constitution,  I  believe ;  but  they 
are  vnry  necessary  for  the  Puritan  English  Nation  at  this 
time.  With  men  of  real  wisdom,  who  do  fear  God  and  hate 
covetuuMie.->.  when  you  can  find  such  men,  you  may  to  some 
purpose  intrust  considerable  powers  ! 

It  is  in  this  way  that  Oliver  Protector  coerces  the  un- 
ruly elements  of  England;  says  to  them  :  "Peace,  ye!  With 
tin-  aid  ol  Parliament  and  venerable  Parchment,  if  so  may 
!«•;  without  it,  if  so  may  not  be,  —  I,  called  hither  by  a 
very  good  Authority,  will  hold  you  down.  Quiet  shall  you, 
for  your  part,  keep  yourselves;  or  be  '  barbadoesed,'  and 
worse.  Mark  it;  not  while  I  live  shall  you  have  dominion, 
you  nor  the  Master  of  you ! "  —  Cock-matches,  Horse-races 
and  other  loose  assemblages  are,  for  limited  times,  forbid- 
den. ;  over  England  generally,  or  in  Districts  where  it  may 
be  thought  somewhat  is  a-brewing.  Without  cock-fighting  we 
can  do;  but  not  without  Peace,  and  the  absence  of  Charles 
Stuart  and  his  Copartueries.  It  is  a  Government  of  some 
arbitrariness. 

And  yet  singular,  observes  my  learned  friend,  how  popular 
it  seems  to  grow.  These  considerable  infringements  of  the 
constitutional  fabric,  prohibition  of  cock-fights,  ameirings  of 
I  loyalists,  taxing  without  consent  in  Parliament,  seem  not  to 
awaken  the  indignation  of  England ;  rather  almost  the  grati- 
lude  and  confidence  of  England.  Next  year,  we  have  "  Let- 
of  great  appearances  of  the  Country  at  the  Assizes;  and 
how  the  Gentlemen  of  the  greatest  quality  served  on  Grand 
Juries;  which  is  fit  to  be  observed."1 

We  mention,  but  cannot  dwell  upon  it,  another  trait  belong- 
ing to  those  Spring  Months  of  1655:  the  quarrel  my  Lord 
1'roteetor  hud  in  n-.rard  to  his  Ordinance  for  the  Reform  of 
Chancery.  Ordinance  passed  merely  by  the  Protector  in 
Council;  never  confirmed  by  any  Parliament;  which  never- 
theless he  insists  upon  having  obeyed.  How  our  learned  15ul- 
strode,  leai  iied  Widdrington,  two  of  the  Keepers  of  the  Great 
Se;il,  durst  not  obey;  and  Lisle  the  other  Keeper  durst;  — 
uud  Old-Speaker  I^-nt.liall,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  "  would  be 

1   WlutWkc,  p.  624  (April,  1666). 


490  PART  IX.    THE    MAJOR-GENERALS.  3  June, 

hanged  at  the  Rolls  Gate  before  he  would  obey."  What  pro- 
found consults  there  were  among  us  ;  buzz  in  the  Profession, 
in  the  Public  generally.  And  then  how  Oliver  Protector, 
with  delicate  patient  bridle-hand  and  yet  with  resolute  spur, 
made  us  all  obey,  or  else  go  out  of  that,  —  which  latter  step 
Bulstrode  and  Widdrington,  with  a  sublime  conscientious 
feeling,  preferred  to  take,  the  big  heart  saying  to  itself,  "  I 
have  lost  a  thousand  pounds  a  year  !  "  And  Leuthall,  for  all 
his  bragging,  was  not  hanged  at  the  Rolls  Gate  ;  but  kept  his 
skin  whole,  and  his  salary  whole,  and  did  as  he  was  bidden. 
The  buzz  in  the  Profession,  notwithstanding  much  abatement 
of  fees,  had  to  compose  itself  again.1  —  Bulstrode  adds,  some 
two  months  hence,  "  The  Protector  being  good-natured,  and 
sensible  of  his  harsh  proceeding  against  Whitlocke  and  Wid- 
drington," made  them  Commissioners  of  the  Treasury,  which 
was  a  kind  of  compensation.  There,  with  Montague  anw 
Sydenham,  they  had  a  moderately  good  time  of  it ;  but  saw, 
not  without  a  sigh,  the  Great  Seal  remain  with  Lisle  who 
durst  obey,  and  for  colleague  to  him  a  certain  well-known 
Nathaniel  Fiennes,  a  shrewd  man,  Lord  Say  and  Sele's  sou,  — 
who  knew  nothing  of  that  business,  says  Bulstrode,  nay  Lisle 
himself  knew  nothing  of  it  till  he  learned  it  from  us.*  Con- 
sole thyself,  big  heart.  How  seldom  is  sublime  virtue  re- 
warded in  this  world ! 

June  3d,  1655.  This  day  come  sad  news  out  of  Piedmont ; 
confirmation  of  bad  rumors  there  had  been,  which  deeply 
affects  all  pious  English  hearts,  and  the  Protector's  most  of 
all.  It  appears  the  Duke  of  Savoy  had,  not  long  since,  de- 
cided on  having  certain  poor  Protestant  subjects  of  his  con- 
verted at  last  to  the  Catholic  Religion.  Poor  Protestant 
people,  who  dwell  in  the  obscure  valleys  "of  Lucerna,  of 
Perosa  and  St.  Martin,"  among  the  feeders  of  the  Po,  in  the 
Savoy  Alps  :  they  are  thought  to  be  descendants  of  the  old 
Waldenses  ;  a  pious  inoffensive  people :  dear  to  the  hearts  and 
imaginations  of  all  Protestant  men.  These,  it  would  appear, 
the  Duke  of  Savoy,  in  the  past  year,  undertook  to  himself  to 
get  converted  ;  for  which  object  he  sent  friars  to  preach  among 

1  Whitlocke,  pp.  602-608.  2  Ibid.  p.  608. 


1055.  CHRONOLOGICAL.  491 

them.  The  friars  could  convert  nobody  ;  one  of  the  friars,  on 
the  contrary,  was  found  assassinated,  —  signal  to  the  rest  that 
they  had  better  take  themselves  away.  The  Duke  thereupon 
sent  other  missionaries :  six  regiments  of  Catholic  soldiers ; 
and  an  order  to  the  People  of  the  Valleys  either  to  be  con- 
verted straightway,  or  quit  the  country  at  once.  They  could 
not  be  converted  all  at  once  :  neither  could  they  quit  the 
country  well ;  the  month  was  December ;  among  the  Alps  ; 
and  it  was  their  home  for  immemorial  years  !  Six  regiments, 
however,  say  they  must;  six  Catholic  regiments;  —  and  three 
of  them  are  Irish,  made  of  the  banished  Kurisees  we  knew 
long  since ;  whose  humor,  on  such  an  occasion,  we  can  guess 
at !  It  is  admitted  they  behaved  "  with  little  ceremony  ;  "  it 
is  not  to  be  denied  they  behaved  with  much  bluster  and  vio- 
lence :  ferocities,  atrocities,  to  the  conceivable  amount,  still 
stand  in  authentic  black-on-white  against  them.  The  Protes- 
tants of  the  Valleys  were  violently  driven  out  of  house  and 
home,  not  without  slaughters  and  tortures  by  the  road  ;  —  had 
to  seek  shelter  in  French  Dauphinu  or  where  they  could  ;  and, 
in  mute  or  spoken  supplication,  appeal  to  all  generous  hearts 
of  men.  The  saddest  confirmation  of  the  actual  banishment, 
the  actual  violences  done,  arrives  at  Whitehall  this  day,  3d 
June,  1655.1 

Pity  is  perennial :  "  Ye  have  compassion  on  one  another,"  — 
is  it  not  notable,  beautiful  ?  In  our  days  too,  there  are  Polish 
Balls  and  such  like :  but  the  pity  of  the  Lord  Protector  and 
Puritan  England  for  these  poor  Protestants  among  the  Alps  is 
not  to  be  measured  by  ours.  The  Lord  Protector  is  melti -.1 
into  tears,  and  roused  into  sacred  fire.  This  day  tin-  French 

'y,  not  unimportant  to  him,  was  to  be  signed  :  this  d.iy 
he  refuses  to  sign  it  till  the  King  and  Cardinal  undertake  to 

i  him  in  getting  right  done,  in  those  poor  Valleys.*  He 
.-.••mis  the  poor  exiles  £2,000  from  his  own  purse  ;  appoints  a 
l»  ..f  Humiliation  :ind  a  general  Collection  over  Knijland  for 
tint  object;  has,  in  short,  deeid«d  that  lie  will  bring  help 
to  these  p. .or  men  ;  that  Kii-jlaml  and  lie  will  see  them  helped 

1   Letter  of  the  French  Ambassador  (ill  Thurlut,  in   470). 

•  Tlnirl.M     nl  i  -uprk 


492  PART  IX.    THE   MAJOR-GENERALS.  3  June, 

and  righted.  How  Envoys  were  sent ;  how  blind  Milton 
wrote  Letters  to  all  Protestant  States,  calling  on  them  for 
co-operation ;  how  the  French  Cardinal  was  shy  to  meddle, 
and  yet  had  to  meddle,  and  compel  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
much  astonished  at  the  business,  to  do  justice  and  not  what 
he  liked  with  his  own :  all  this,  recorded  in  the  unreada- 
blest  stagnant  deluges  of  old  Official  Correspondence,1  is  very 
certain,  and  ought  to  be  fished  therefrom  and  made  more 
apparent. 

In  all  which,  as  we  can  well  believe,  it  was  felt  that  the 
Lord  Protector  had  been  the  Captain  of  England,  and  had 
truly  expressed  the  heart  and  done  the  will  of  England  ;  —  in 
this,  as  in  some  other  things.  Milton's  Sonnet  and  Six  Latin 
Letters  are  still  readable  ;  the  Protector's  Act  otherwise  re- 
mains mute  hitherto.  Small  damage  to  the  Protector,  if  no 
other  suffer  thereby  !  Let  it  stand  here  as  a  symbol  to  us 
of  his  Foreign  Policy  in  general ;  which  had  this  one  object, 
testified  in  all  manner  of  negotiations  and  endeavors,  noticed 
by  us  and  not  noticed,  To  make  England  Queen  of  the  Protes- 
tant world ;  her,  if  there  were  no  worthier  Queen.  To  unite 
the  Protestant  world  of  struggling  Light  against  the  Papist 
world  of  potent  Darkness.  To  stand  upon  God's  Gospel,  as 
the  actual  intrinsic  Fact  of  this  Practical  Earth  ;  and  defy  all 
potency  of  Devil's  Gospels  on  the  strength  of  that.  Wherein, 
again,  Puritan  England  felt  gradually  that  this  Oliver  was  her 
Captain  ;  and  in  heart  could  not  but  say,  Long  life  to  him  !  — 
as  we  do  now. 

Let  us  note  one  other  small  private  trait  of  Oliver  in  these 
months  ;  and  then  hasten  to  the  few  Letters  we  have.  Dull 
Bulstrode  has  jotted  down  :  "  The  Protector  feasted  the  Com- 
missioners for  Approbation  of  Ministers."  2  Means  the  Com- 
mission of  Triers ; 8  whom  he  has  to  dinner  with  him  in 
Whitehall.  Old  Sir  Francis,  Dr.  Owen  and  the  rest.  "He 
sat  at  table  with  them ;  and  was  cheerful  and  familiar  in 
their  company :  "  Hope  you  are  getting  on,  my  friends  :  how 

1  Thnrloe  (much  of  vol.  iii.) ;  Vaugkau's  Protectorate,  &c. 
*  Whitlocke,  April,  1655. 
8  Antea,  p.  386. 


1055 


CHRONOLOGICAL.  493 


this  is,  and  how  that  is  ?  "  By  such  kind  of  little  caresses," 
adds  Bulstrode,  "  he  gained  much  upon  many  persons."  Me, 
as  a  piece  of  nearly  matchless  law-learning  and  general  wis- 
dom, I  doubt  he  never  sufficiently  respected  ;  though  he  knew 
my  fat  qualities  too,  and  was  willing  to  use  and  recognize 
theml  — 


RINTEO  IN  US   A. 


IIIIIII 


A     000  884  673 


